THE Scottish Socialist Party’s national spokesperson has called on the Yes movement to build the case not just for holding indyref2, but for winning it.
In a statement released after a meeting of the left-wing group’s executive committee, Colin Fox said he wasn’t surprised by the General Election result and urged Scots to “get independence done”.
He also accused Jeremy Corbyn of “offering a fudge which satisfied neither Remain or Leave voters”.
“The defeat was predicted in more than 125 opinion polls during the campaign,” the former MSP said.
READ MORE: Richard Leonard considering shift on Scottish Labour's indyref2 stance
The statement went on: “The result places heavy responsibilities on the SNP as the bearer of the indy case and it and the Yes [movement] must prioritise the work of building a broad movement to not just secure indyref2 but to win it.
“The SSP rejects the claim that the Labour defeat is a rejection of a socialist solution, such as public ownership and urgent action on climate change.
“Our efforts to put that socialist case as part of the broader Yes case will be central to our work to win working class Scotland to not just independence but the vision of a country putting the needs of people and planet at its centre.
“In this work we also urge the many socialist who backed the Corbyn project to recognise that, for Scotland, independence is the key to winning such change and to back it. Independence is not about flags or symbols but an essential democratic route to Scotland ending poverty, tackling the housing shortage and introducing free public transport as part of real action to tackle the climate emergency.”
Meanwhile, Britain’s youngest MP is to follow the example of the SSP and take a worker’s wage rather than her full parliamentary salary.
Labour’s Nadia Whittome, 23, will donate a fair whack of her £79,000 a year wage to Nottingham charities, taking home £35,000 after tax for herself.
She told Nottinghamshire Live: “It’s not about philanthropy and it’s not that MPs don’t deserve that salary, it’s the fact our teaching assistants, nurses and firefighters do as well. When they get the pay rise they deserve, so will I. I hope this decision sparks a conversation about earnings.”
It has been more than 12 years since the SSP has had any MSPs, but during their time in Parliament they were expected to give half of their parliamentary salaries to the party, leaving them with the same wage as a skilled worker.
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