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Luke Ivory Is SSP candidate for the north
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27 April 05 Colin Fox said; "The Liberal Democrats are at it again. On a UK basis they say they want to abolish the Council Tax but won't support the SSP's bill in the Scottish Parliament to do just that. "They have consistently supported the Council Tax in Scotland" "They say they want to abolish prescription charges but won't support the SSP's bill in the Scottish Parliament to do just that. "Now they are calling for troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year but in the Scottish Parliament debate on Iraq on 9th December last year the Liberal Democrats attacked the SSP's demand for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq as "utterly irresponsible". "The Scottish Socialist Party is the only party standing in this election in Scotland which has consistently called for the withdrawal of all troops from Iraq. "The Liberal Democrats are two-faced opportunists who deserve contempt from the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets to oppose the illegal war on Iraq." Luke Ivory, the SSP's candidate from Brora, Sutherland, added: "100,000 Iraqis have died so Bush could have his oil. Britain has spent �6.6 Billion to date to support him. When we hear that �75 million per day is spent on the war and Caithness lost a free CT scanner for want of a paltry �100,000 funding, people should question their rulers." "The LibDems are clever at sitting on fences. One or two individual LibDems have mumbled about the downgrading of Caithness Maternity unit, but you can write John Thurso's contribution - and that of his Party - on the back of a postage stamp." "They pretend to be shocked at the private rail companies getting four times the previous subsidies of British Rail but refuse to support re-nationalising the railways." "They are avid fans of privatisation and the ludicrous PFI schemes being inflicted on the Highlands and elsewhere but, by cleverly avoiding the issues, are never taken to task." Luke Ivory was also critical of Lib Dem candidate Lord Thurso who apparently failed to show up for a hustings in Alness on Tuesday 26 April. Luke Ivory said he was the only candidate at the hustings who actually lives in the Highlands. 7 March 05 Last week it emerged that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, set up by the Government, will be privatising nuclear site management from April 1st in order to 'introduce competition and improve efficiency'. However, the Scottish Socialists claim that bringing in privatisation will inevitably lead to companies taking shortcuts in order to carry out the work for less money. They argue that this could seriously compromise current safety levels for workers on the Dounreay site and that action should be taken to prevent this. SSP PPC for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Luke Ivory stated "Full credit must go to the trade union for exposing these shocking proposals that the Government are trying to impose on local workers and the people of Caithness. "Time and time again people have been forced to witness the fiasco of privatisation. Whether it be the railways, new hospitals such as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or even directory enquiries, privatisation has lead to an increased cost to the taxpayer or consumer, a lowering in the standard of service and or a reduction in safety. "Despite the fact that two nuclear safety bodies have warned the Goverment about the dangers regarding safety after privatisation of sites such as Dounreay, and also that similar work in the USA had been condemned by a US congressional committee, the Government seem determined to pursue their ideology that private enterprise knows best." The SSP say they will be stepping up their campairgning this week across Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, with the distribution of thousands of leaflets outlining their plans to campaign for socialism, independance, the environment and peace. |
