People's Charter gives evidence to the Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Committee of the People's Charter gave  evidence to the Petitions Committee of the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 11th December. 

Introducing the Scottish Charter's demands to the Petitions Committee, People's Charter Committee members  Vince Mills and John Foster told the Petition's Committee that The  People's Charter should be seen as a response to and a refutation of the politics of austerity.  They outlined the  six key areas where the Scottish Parliament could act  to build a better life for the vast majority of the Scottish people and they argued that the austerity mongers by contrast give us recession, fewer jobs, poor services for the poor and decent services only for the rich, greater inequality and continuous conflict.

Elaine Smith MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston supporting the Petition  said: "these are exactly the kind of demands that those who began the campaign for a Scottish Parliament in the 1970s would have wanted the parliament to be discussing. These demands are about advancing the interests of ordinary working people. This is all the more important because the gains that working people have made through the labour movement are now under severe attack. The People's Charter is a blueprint for an alternative to the politics of austerity an inequality."

The Official Report of the above meeting is now available on the Parliament’s website and can be accessed by following this link: Public Petitions Committee – 11 December 2012.

 

A big thanks for voting and promoting the Charter

The voting for the e-petition is now closed with just under 3,000 votes.  The Scottish Parliament petitions committee will now consider it and hopefully will take evidence on aspects of its implementation.

The organising committee would like to thank everyone who helped promote the Charter and everyone who signed it during the e-petition  phase.  Keep checking the blogsite for future activities.

Just Two Days Left To Vote

The Scottish Parliament e-petition closes on 2nd November.  If you have not voted yet, it is urgent that you do so now.  You will find the link to the Scottish Parliament website on your left under 'Links'.

The Scottish Left Review Supports the People's Charter

The Jimmy Reid Foundation, Scotland’s left-wing think tank, today brought together politicians from across party boundaries to urge Scots to back The People’s Charter as a way of changing Scottish politics.

The People’s Charter (click link for more information) is an initiative launched by political activists, trade unions, campaigning organisations and others who want to see a rebalancing of political priorities towards the real issues faced by ordinary people and away from the interests of ‘big money’. The Charter contains a wide range of policy proposals, organised under six themes:

• A fair economy for a fairer Britain.
• More and better jobs.
• Decent homes for all.
• Protect and improve our public services – no cuts.
• Fairness and Justice.
• Build a secure and sustainable future for all.

A Scottish Parliament petition urging the Scottish Government to adopt the principles of the Charter where it has the relevant powers closes on Friday (2 November) and XX MSPs from across party boundaries have joined together to encourage people to sign up. Today they issued a joint statement:

“The People’s Charter reminds us of the first principle of politics; that government should always serve the people first. But the economic crisis and the imposition of austerity on workers and families to protect big commercial interests shows that globally this principle has been forgotten. We do not agree on everything, but we all agree that it is time politics was rebalanced in favour of the people. That is why we have come together to urge people to sign the petition in support of the People’s Charter. Now is the time for Scotland, Britain and the world to change course.”

The MSPs supporting the statement are Jamie Hepburn, John Wilson, Elaine Smith, Neil Findlay, Patrick Harvie, Alison Johnstone, John Finnie and Jean Urquhart.

The petition has over 2,800 signatories so far. It has the full support of the trade union movement including the STUC , UNISON, RMT, FBU, PCS, NUJ and UCU as well as a number of trade union councils. It is also supported by organisations such as the Morning Star, the Campaign for Socialism, the SNP Trade Union Group and Glasgow International and by individuals such as Elaine C Smith and David Hayman. As well as the politicians supporting this statement, many others have signed the petition including Angela Constance, James Kelly, Bill Kidd, Ricky Henderson, Ewan Aitken, Stewart Clark, Linda Fabiani, Drew Smith, Lewis MacDonald, Siobhan McMahon, Michael McMahon, Anne McTaggart, Katy Clark, Ian Davidson and Anas Sarwar. Shona Robison, Roseanna Cunningham and Bruce Crawford have also offered support.

Reid Foundation Director Robin McAlpine said:

“I’m always talking to people who feel that politics is leaving them behind. Well, this is their chance to be heard. There are two days left for people to sign this petition and make sure that everyone hears the message that we want a politics for people and not just the politics of profit. If ordinary people do not make their voice heard then powerful commercial interests will continue to dominate public life - at our expense.”

ENDS

Further Information:

Robin McAlpine 07788 923 120 (mobile)
01899 221 677 (landline)
robin@reidfoundation.org

The People's Charter in Glasgow Green

The People's Charter made its presence felt at the demonstration in Glasgow on October 20th. Lynn Henderson Scottih Secretary of PCS in a stirring speech from the platform in Glasgow Green told the crowd to use their smart phones to sign the on-line petition or do it when they got home. She finished with: "Let's start the fightback right here, right now. Come together, stand together, fight together. And together we will win."

The People's Charter banners had been on the march between George Square and Glasgow Green and on the Green, People's Charter activists taking signatures for the petition had queues at their stall to sign up as the crowds streamed in.