by Bill Heaney
The Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) have announced candidates for Holyrood including for Dumbarton, Renfrewshire North and Cardonald, where well known former EIS teachers’ union rep Jim Halfpenny, pictured right, is standing for election.
Their candidates include trade unionists with a record of leading struggles against cuts and for pay justice – including leading socialists with a long track record of campaigning against war and oppression.
Their candidate standing in the Dumbarton constituency against Labour’s long-serving Jackie Baillie, deputy leader and health spokesman at Holyrood, is Lynda McEwan.
Lynda lives in Dumbarton and is campaigning against the rapidly rising cost of living and energy prices.
Sophie Traynor, currently a councillor for the SNP in Clydebank, is also standing in Dumbarton, Helensburgh and Lomond, as is the UK Reform Party’s David Smith, a retired Navyman.
Reform are not have to seek problems following a riot of bad publicity over their Scottish leader Lord Offord having made a pornographic speech attacking the trans gender community.
Not to mention confusion over having named in a press release someone called Andy White to stand for them in Clydebank who, they claim, is not the same Andy White as the Andy White, a controversial former Labour leader of West Dunbartonshire Council, who was named as a bully at an inquiry in Clydebank Town Hall.
If that were to be the case then White would be standing against his sister Marie McNair, the SNP’s choice of candidate for the seat previously held by Labour’s Des McNulty. She too is a former West Dunbartonshire councillor.
Reform UK’s spokesperson has threatened to sue The Dumbarton Democrat for repeating their “error” if indeed it was that for defamation. It has finally emerged that the ex councillor is not the Reform UK candidate.
Remarkably, they would not reveal to us the identity of the person they named to stand for Clydebank and Milngavie in their media release and hung up the telephone when we asked.
A genuine Reform UK candidate will be standing in Dumbarton. David Smith (second left) in the picture above, has been active in politics in this area for some time and is a lay member of the Health and Social Care Partnership attached to West Dunbartonshire Council. That picture was taken at a “Hindu Hustings”.
Andrew Muir
Andrew Muir, second from right in the Hindu Hustings picture, tells us: “I attended my first election hustings on Saturday – organised by the Hindus. There are 30,000 Hindus in Scotland, yet they have two MSPs and were well organised. There are 720,000 Catholics in Scotland with no MSPs. The Bishops’ Conference has sent a general letter about the election, but has not organised any hustings.
Labour’s Jackie Baillie has revealed in a letter through the letterboxes in the Barloan area that a new Dumbarton health centre would be her top priority if the electorate returns her to Holyrood.
She wrote asking for support for this: “I have spoken with our local GPs and their teams, and I know that the current building, which opened in 1973, is no longer fit for purpose.
“As your MSP, I pledge to deliver a new Dumbarton Health Centre as my top priority for the town. Your support will make all the difference.”
Cllr Sophie Trainer SNP, Dame Jackie Baillie, Labour; David Smith Reform UK and Lynda McEwan — all candidates for the election to the Scottish Parliament on May 7.
Andrew Muir is a Dumbarton man who is married with one teenage daughter. I would put local issues first. I would look closely at West Dunbartonshire Council affairs, bringing a fresh voice of integrity, decency, originality and common sense. I previously stood for the Scottish Family Party, for which a vote supports protecting children and helping families. Strong academic teaching is the best way out of poverty and a great equaliser. We can’t all quote Homer in Greek, but I can quote Pink Floyd. We must make school a safe place to learn without questions that endorse pornography, underage sex and controversial sexual practices for children. Adults can choose, but leave our kids alone.”
The Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC):
Local candidates thus far are:
Lynda McEwan – Dumbarton
Jim Halfpenny – Renfrewshire North and Cardonald
The need for a socialist election challenge has never been clearer. All the main parties have a record of carrying out cuts to public services and other anti-working-class policies.
15 core policies that Scottish TUSC candidates will stand on
1. End all cuts and austerity – elected politicians in councils, Holyrood and Westminster must refuse to make cuts and fight for fully funded NHS, council and social care services
2. No coalitions or electoral agreements with parties or independents who have a record of implementing cuts and who refuse to sign up to a no-cuts platform
3. For a massive programme of council house building to tackle the housing crisis
4. Scrap the council tax and replace it with a tax on income that makes the rich pay
5. Increase the minimum wage to an immediate £15 an hour with no age exemptions – wages must rise automatically with inflation
6. Abolish all anti-trade union laws
7. Stop benefit cuts – benefits must match the cost of living
8. Take the wealth off the billionaires – Tax the rich and big business – For public ownership and democratic control of the multinationals that dominate the economy
9. End the genocide – End the occupation of Gaza – Build mass struggle for Palestinian rights and an independent Palestinian state
10. End the war in the Middle East
11. Oppose all forms of racism – Fight for jobs, homes and public services for all – Defend the right to asylum and fight against the onslaught against refugees
12. Defend and extend LGBTQ+ and women’s rights
13. For socialist change, public ownership and democratic planning to tackle the environmental crisis
14. For the right of self-determination for Scotland, including the right of the Scottish parliament to organise a second independence referendum. Fight for an independent socialist Scotland
15. All candidates will stand on the pledge, if elected, of only taking the average wage of a skilled worker as an MSP
Dumbarton Health Centre, which Labour’s Jackie Baillie says will be her top priority if she is re-elected to the Dumbarton constituency seat.