Rise of the SSP

I agreed with much of Joyce McMillan’s article (Opinion, 1 October), reflecting on the double standards women face in politics. As she also pointed out, the number of women in the Scottish Parliament is due to decline due to the failure of the SNP, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives properly to reflect the population by selecting women as candidates.

She also reinforces Wendy Alexander’s letter to Jim Sillars, bemoaning the lack of original thought in new Labour’s ranks, although I think Wendy Alexander misses the point that new Labour has got most of its new ideas, such as the private finance initiative, from the Conservatives

However, Joyce McMillan herself misses out a major part of the new political landscape of Scotland: the rise of the Scottish Socialist Party. The last three opinion polls have put the SSP on 8 per cent of the vote, on course for six to eight seats in the Parliament, the highest share of the vote of any left socialist party in Europe, and similar to the share the Greens have just won in Germany.

Women will top the lists in four of the eight regions, and at no 2 in Glasgow, where the SSP is likely to win two seats. So, we are likely to see four or five very capable, experienced women SSP MSPs next May. No longer will the press be able to claim that the SSP is a one-man band.

Joyce MacMillan also ignores the role of the SSP in introducing new ideas to Scottish politics, for example the abolition of poindings and warrant sales, which the Executive is shamefully trying to reintroduce by the back door.

We have also proposed a service tax, which would replace the unfair council tax; a new water charging system which abolishes domestic water rates; and the free school meals bill, which was widely supported across Scotland and has forced the Executive to come up with its own rather feeble policy.

HUGH KERR

Press Officer, SSP

The Mound

Edinburgh