We are committed to class politics.
Rebuild British industry
The social catastrophe that we see in our communities today has long roots – longer than the Covid pandemic, longer even than the 2008 financial crisis.
The destruction of British industry led by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher was felt nowhere more painfully than in Scotland.
The closure of the Lanarkshire coal mines, the terminal decline of the shipyards of Clydeside, the end of the steelworks in Motherwell – these are at the root of the problems we face day to day.
Unemployment and job insecurity. Rampant drug use. Young people without direction and without hope.
We do not want to live on benefits and food banks. We want work – meaningful, secure work around which we can build our lives and our communities.
Not zero hours contracts but living wages, paid holidays, sick leave, maternity, paternity, the whole shebang.
We do not believe this is too much to ask – in fact, we can build it for ourselves.
We do believe that now is the time to press for it. Brexit has cut off the supply of cheap foreign labour and, post-Covid, workers are more than ready to fight for what they know they deserve.
By the workers, for the workers.
Free healthcare, disabled and elderly support services
Alongside our industry, the NHS has been hollowed out over decades. Systematic underfunding since 2008 has led to the closure of beds, services and hospitals.
This made us desperately unprepared to deal with the effects of Covid-19. The authorities knew we could not cope with a pandemic as early as 2016, but did nothing to stem the tide of privatisation that has ravaged it.
In fact, the pandemic has been used to make further widespread changes in practice – it is well-known that access to GPs has been further limited in favour of telephone or virtual consultations.
Further privatisation is inevitably proposed as the solution to the problems that privatisation itself has caused. We disagree.
We want to see free and comprehensive healthcare with no waiting lists, accompanied by easy access to cheap and nutritious food.
Likewise, the crisis in our social care services for the disabled and the elderly simply would not be happening if they were free to use and run by the state.
This is why we are demanding high-quality, free provision of all necessary support services for the disabled, as well as the elderly.
Full state support should be provided to families, to help us look after our elderly, with nursing homes and sheltered accommodation for those in need of it. In this way, all workers can live full, dignified and meaningful lives.
You don’t need to fight for the soul of this party.
Decent, affordable, secure housing for all
The problems we face with housing are multifaceted and show no signs of being solved under the SNP.
Those of us in private rentals suffer under exorbitant rents – landlords neglect the homes of tenants while holding the threat of eviction over our heads.
A generation is growing up priced out of the housing market – the average price of a home in Edinburgh has increased by a hundred grand in the last ten years.
Welcome to Dickensian Britain – in the twenty-first century. Communities are encroached on with luxury flat developments – not for the likes of us – while young workers are crying out for decent council housing.
Decent because so much housing in Scotland has fallen into disrepair because of lazy landlords.
Affordable because people should not have to spend half or more of their income on rent.
Secure because currently, only the gated communities of the middle class are protected.
For all – because a home is a right.
Contact Us
mail: scotland@workerspartybritain.org
tel: pete at +447832788366
SCOTTISH WORKER 