2003 Scottish Parliament Election Manifesto

PEACE

The Communist Party stands for immediate military disengagement from Iraq, the removal of all US bases from Britain and the ending of Britain’s NATO membership. We also call for the closure of the nuclear submarine base at Faslane and all other nuclear weapons facilities. They are a danger both to world peace and the people of Scotland.

The Blair government has dragged this country into a shameful war in defiance of the United Nations and word opinion. It is a war that can only lead to more terrorism and still greater political instability in the middle east and make Britain major tearget. The stated objective of the US government is the strategic military control of the middle east and its oil reserves and the breaking of control by the Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries over the oil price. It is directly imperialist. It is in the interests of the biggest of big businesses and against the interests of working people everywhere. In anticipation of a big fall in the oil price BP and Shell have been selling off their oil holdings in the North Sea. As a consequence investment and exploration have fallen sharply, jobs are being lost and this key resource off Scotland’s coast will never be fully developed. The same applies to all other areas of the economy.

Imperialism is about plundering the resources of the poor countries for benefit of the rich. Imperialism also destroys jobs in this country. Money which should be invested in our own economy flows overseas in search of super-profits – both in low wage third world countries and in the lucrative high tech companies of the USA and Europe. Big business has no loyalty to the people of Britain. In 1980 total British investments overseas were equal to one third of all the wealth produced in Britain in one year (or Gross Domestic Product). In 1990 overseas investments were equal to two thirds. In 2002 they were worth one and a half times the GDP – a huge £1,600 billion. A third is invested in US big business. The oil companies, the banks, the hi-tech weapons companies, aerospace and pharmaceuticals firms are still exporting billions. They seek to do well out of this war both directly and indirectly. Just think what it would mean if this money was invested here in terms of industries, services and research. Just think of what it costs to defend these overseas holdings – in Colombia, Central Asia, Indonesia – and the consequences of being tied to the US war machine.

Britain has the highest military budget in Europe. The combined total of the 2003 defence budget and the Treasury estimates of the costs of war exceed £30 billion. Far more than the total budget of the Scottish Executive. Consider what this means in terms of money NOT spent on hospitals, schools, pensions, security and social services !

DEMOCRACY

The Scottish Parliament was established to give the people of Scotland a measure of democratic control over key aspects of their lives. Its re-establishment in 1999 was the result of years of campaigning by all sections of Scottish society. It has some achievements to its credit: its abolition of student fees, free bus travel for the elderly, its provision of free nursing care for older people, its initiatives to secure equality of treatment irrespective of gender, ethnic background or disability.

But the Scottish Parliament has in no way met the aspirations of 1999 – or what people in Scotland will need if we are to have a viable and humane society. It has pressed ahead with vast privatisation programmes giving Scotland more PFI than any other part of Britain. Schools, hospitals, housing, roads, water, sewage and transport have all been sacrificed to shoddy schemes by which big business makes millions. These PFI schemes mortgage our future and cut jobs and standards. They mean annual payments stretching ahead for 30 years and amounting to two or three times the original borrowing. Scotland now has £6 billion PFI debt, a financial millstone round the neck of the coming generation.

The Scottish Parliament has also presided over the decimation of Scotland’s productive economy. Exports have fallen by 20 per cent. Electronics production is down by 35 per cent. Over 10,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost and take-overs have removed still more company headquarters out of Scotland. Spending on research and development has plunged to less than half the British average.

A Scottish Parliament was meant to give people MORE democratic control over their lives. Yet the Scottish Executive has reduced democratic control. It has handed massive chunks of the public sector over to privateers and failed to take responsibility for the productive economy.

Communists support the demand for more powers for the Scottish Parliament – particularly powers of economic and industrial intervention. Communists also say that the Scottish Parliament should use the tax-raising powers which it has. But Communists argue that this by itself does not get to the root of the problem. The real problem is that Britain has ceded key elements of its democratic power to the European Community.

Public spending is hamstrung by deflationary monetarist spending limits imposed under the EU Stability Pact. Britain is obliged under the EU treaties negotiated by Mrs Thatcher to open its public services to competition. EU Directives compel Britain to subject transport, energy, water, postal services and all local government services to the private sector. Britain is forbidden by the EU competition laws to give any form of direct assistance or subsidy to industry. Britain has to abide by EU Directives that decimate fishing and farming.

This is the real problem. Unless these powers are regained at British level a Scottish Parliament will be able to do very little. This is why Communists do not see the SNP demand for ‘Fiscal Autonomy’ or Independence in Europe as the solution. Fiscal Autonomy would give the Scottish Parliament control of tax raised in Scotland including control over the North Sea oil revenues and the power to borrow. But given the run down in North Sea oil production, this proposal is likely to leave Scotland worse off – possibly much worse off. As long as EU membership remains, the Scottish Parliament will have no powers to intervene where it matters and it would still be hamstrung by the limits on public spending.

That is why Communists say Democracy is a key issue in this election. There has to be a united push to recover the democratic powers of Parliament at British level – which means withdrawing from the EU and renegotiating economic relations internationally in a way that protects the rights of working people and not big business..

These policies would cost money. They would demand a tax on big business and the rich – the top 5 per cent who have increased their share of marketable wealth from 35 to 44 per cent since 1988. This money would not be wasted, as it is at present, on overseas speculation and war. It would be invested in productive industry, in research and education and in providing a secure and supportive environment for young and older, women and men. But to do this we need democracy.

SOCIALISM

Socialism. That’s when those who work for their living can collectively and democratically control their productive resources and use them for the common good. This was what the Labour Party had as its aim for the past century. It was the founding objective of the Scottish Trades Union Congress. It has always been the objective of the Communist Party. It was also the aim that motivated generations of ordinary people in Scotland and Britain. Socialism was not achieved. But the result was the creation of welfare provision, public services and socially-owned industries that were among the best in the world - until recently.

There is a key lesson here. If ordinary people are united, and motivated by a common goal, social advance can be achieved. But only then – if people are united. Otherwise big business will rule. Big business always has the power, wealth and control of the media to override individuals. Yet democracy can bring results for ordinary people if they organise. The greatest damage ever done by Thatcher and then the new Labour clique under Blair was to convince many people that ‘there is no alternative’: that global capital is too powerful and working people could do nothing.

The Communist Party exists to demonstrate the opposite. We believe that we are now at a turning point. People see the consequences of privatisation. They see what happens when the Labour Party allows itself to be run by big business ideas. They are witnesses to the social despair which produces in rising racism and conflict. They are frightened for their future and their children’s future.

Urgent steps need to be taken. The trade union movement has already started to fight back for social justice as also have the best elements inside the Labour Party. . What needs to done next is develop a united movement at Scottish and British level for socialist objectives and to root out the bankrupt New Labour clique from the Labour Party. Immediately people across Britain have to be united for peace and for the defence of our democracy. Peace, Democracy, Socialism. This is what the Communist Party stands for. We hope you will support us. .