THE Scottish Socialist Party have backed calls for a left-wing alternative to the SNP’s Growth Commission, to win over “Scotland’s working class majority”.
The party held a debate over the controversial prospectus for an independent Scotland this weekend, with former SNP MP George Kerevan, Green Councillor Susan Rae, RMT Union executive Paul Shaw, economist Margaret Cuthbert and SSP spokesman Colin Fox, all speaking from the panel.
Fox said: “The SSP supports the idea of a common programme of agreed demands capable of tackling the big challenges facing
working class Scots and building momentum for a Yes victory in a second indyref.
“In what was a very serious and stimulating Forum discussion the call to work on such a programme was a really positive development. I will now, on behalf of the SSP, be contacting organisations and individuals on the work that needs to be done to shape such an alternative which can be a crucial part of case for a Yes vote.”
Andrew Wilson’s Growth Commission was meant to be more economically realistic than the white paper published ahead of the 2014 referendum.
Its call for tight public spending to half the country’s deficit, and to use the pound, leaving Scotland tied to UK monetary policy, left it being much criticised by voices on the left.
Labour characterised the report as a “cuts commission”.
Nicola Sturgeon was forced to intervene, saying it's wrong that following the commission’s blueprint would not mean continued austerity for a newly independent Scotland.
Fox previously said his party would boycott any future independence campaign that put the Growth Commission at its centre.
Back in May Sturgeon said the report “explicitly rejects austerity”. She went on: “We have a choice – stay as we are, locked into the Brexit spiral and continued austerity that the Westminster parties offer no alternative to – or decide to equip ourselves with the powers to build our way to a better future. We should welcome debate – but without independence, these choices will always be far too limited. That’s the case we must win”.
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