Scottish Parliament set to move further to the right

Vince Mills

THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. WHEN SCOTLAND EMERGES FROM THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS IN 2007 THINGS WILL HAVE CHANGED. But only on the surface. The reasons for the change are themselves hardly edifying, at least from a Left point of view.

The Scottish Socialist Party has now formally split. The reasons for that will be explored in a later issue of the Citizen. For the purposes of this article it is enough to note that the consequences of that rupture will reverberate well beyond that hapless party itself. The SSP’s votes will now be up for grabs. And Scottish Labour will not be the beneficiaries of the fall-out. Despite Cathy Jamieson’s insistence in the Morning Star of all newspapers that much had been done, Scottish society has had little benefit from Scottish New Labour’s time in office. It may have been a pale reflection of the Westminster model but it had nevertheless bleached any hint of red out of its banner. The hard facts are that Scotland’s low wage low skill economy has produced a new working poor and an insecure better off workforce. Pierre Bourdieu describes the tensions and insecurities it produces only too well:

‘Without a doubt the practical establishment of this world of struggle would not succeed so completely without the complicity of all the precarious arrangements that produce insecurity and of the existence of a reserve army of employees rendered docile by these social processes that make their situation precarious, as well as by the permanent threat of unemployment. This reserve army exists at all levels of the hierarchy even at the higher levels, especially among managers. The ultimate foundation of this entire economic order placed under the sign of freedom is in effect the structural violence of unemployment, of the insecurity of job tenure and the menace of lay off that it implies.’

If professions once considered ‘middle class’ are now insecure the consequences of this economic model at the low end of the income spectrum have been even more damaging. As Stephen Maxwell of Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations argues, despite improvements in Scotland in child poverty and pensioner poverty, the number of working age adults without children in poverty has risen from 28% in the mid 1990s to 34% today. Early this year, we learned that in parts of Scotland, levels of poverty and ill health produced statistics that were truly shocking even on a global scale. In Glasgow’s east end, life expectancy is 54. In parts of Glasgow’s west end, 58 per cent of children live in workless households.

A life expectancy of 54 is worse than Bosnia, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, although I dare say that Israel is doing its level best to alter that. That takes us to another reason why Scottish New Labour will struggle at the next election. The Westminster government invaded Afghanistan in support of US imperialism. The Scottish Labour leadership said nothing. The Westminster government invaded Iraq in support of US imperialism and the Scottish Labour leadership tried unsuccessfully to stop Scottish Labour conference from discussing it, but managed to avoid any decisions being taken and, ultimately, said nothing. When the Westminster government allowed Scottish airports to help transport death to Lebanese civilians at the hands of US proxy Israel, you can probably guess what the response of the Scottish Labour leadership was.

Nothing.

If it were not for a few Labour MSPs like the Campaign for Socialism’s Elaine Smith, you might believe that the Scottish Labour public representatives had lost the power of speech, never mind critical analysis.

So, the very alliance that brought New Labour to power - lower income groups and progressive white collar professionals - is now united in opposition to what new Labour has done. If the SSP cannot capitalise on this dissent, if, for historical reasons, the Tories are in no position to claim a radical mantle and if the Liberal Democrats, perhaps anti-war but also anti-trade union and without a significant base in the West Central belt, are unable to pick up the votes, who could benefit from Scottish New Labour’s discomfort? Enter stage left the SNP, in red-tinged tartan cladding, proclaiming itself to be a left-of-centre, social democratic party. Really? Take a look at its economic policy document. First, I challenge you to find the bit that extols the virtues of trade unions. Second, tell me how this differs significantly from the neo-liberal, trickle-down theories that have crucified the working class across the globe. The SNP proposes to lower corporation tax to 20 per cent, lower business rates with a new focus on small businesses, reduce business burdens, refocus the business support network, encourage innovation and improve access to capital and to institute a proactive immigration policy that welcomes “new Scots” and encourages people to move back to Scotland.

Even those elements of its approach which are critical of some of New Labour’s worst sucking up to the private sector, like the private finance initiative, signally fail to increase the role of the public sector and instead glorify the role of private capital.

“Our approach will change the focus of government assistance and public care to choose the best and most efficient use of capital.”

It is likely that the SNP will increase its share of the vote at the next election by posing as a left alternative to New Labour. In reality, it will be a case of Labour shedding votes rather than the SNP winning them and the more that the trade unions and ordinary working people come to understand the reality of the SNP policies, the less support it will receive. So, in the new parliament, unless there are some fundamental changes within parties, only the Greens, themselves split on left-right lines, will be in a position to confront the toxic tenets of neo-liberalism.

There are no quick fixes to the mess that the labour movement is in, but at least Labour MP John McDonnell, who is challenging for the leadership of the Labour Party, is offering to begin the process of renewal in that party. That means its affiliated unions as well.

His campaign is an offer to build for a different world, for a world of social justice and for a Britain that promotes equality at home and peace and justice in the world. I would ask that all socialists who are in the Party, those who have left the Party or, indeed, those who were never in the Party to give this serious consideration. It is a chance that we will get but rarely.