Colin Fox takes on Chancellor Darling in General Election challenge
SSP press release 01-02-2010
SSP joint national spokesman Colin Fox will challenge Chancellor
Alistair Darling in the General Election and the party will look to target
10 key seats across Scotland in the poll.
Colin Fox said :
"The SSP will fight the General Election on two key battlegrounds,
the economy and Afghanistan.
"We will take the fight to Alastair Darling in his own constituency on his stewardship of the economy, the fact that he took this country into the deepest and worst recession in 80 years and because he now intends to slaughter the jobs and services of working people to pay for his incompetence and his banker’s greed.
"Equally, we will be the only party in this election
opposed to the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan and calling for an immediete
withdrawal of British troops.
“Despite the undemocratic voting system and exorbitant cost of standing
candidates the Scottish Socialist Party will offer a bright alternative
to the 4 neo-liberal, warmongering parties in Scotland—Labour, Lib Dem,
Tories and SNP—who are shamefully trying to outdo one another to see
who can make the most savage cuts in jobs and essential services.
“Our message is clear therefore—those who caused the banking crisis should
pay for it. That means higher taxes and sacrifices by those enjoying
their luxury lifestyles. Working people like nurses, teachers, firefighters
and postalworkers didn’t cause the crisis and they shouldn’t be expected
to pick up the bill for it with pay cuts and sackings. That's the social
justice we believe millions of Scots expect to see.
“In what will be an unsavoury 'doom and gloom' election contest about
which party can best satisfy the City of London's demands for slashed
public services and cuts jobs the SSP will stand out as a bright alternative,
a welcome light of optimism, with our message that there is no way we
will accept cuts and hardship for working people. There is an alternative,
the SSP say another way is possible.”
“I particularly relish the prospect of challenging Alastair Darling the
former revolutionary socialist and now arch conservative neo-liberal
Chancellor justifying his plans for feather bedding the rich and assaulting
the pay and conditions of those who used to be Labour’s key supporters
in Edinburgh South West.”