FAREWELL TO A FRIEND

Today I said farewell to a friend, Jimmy Reid, as I attended his funeral in Govan.

As I have commented elsewhere, he was quite simply a giant n every sense of the word.

A number of occasions stick out in my memory.  Firstly in 2000, at the Annual Conference, I chaired a fringe meeting with him and Roseanna Cunningham as part of the launch programme for the Scottish Left Review Magazine.  He opened his remarks by saying that he was convinced that Scotland was on the road to Independence.  This was a full five years before he joined the party.  Everytime Jimmy was speaking at a fringe event the room was crowded.

At the STUC in 2005 held in Dundee, my proudest moment being an SNP member arrived when Jimmy announced he had joined the party.  He was on great form and the pride of every SNP person in the room was simply uplifting.

For me, coming from a family involved in Shipbuilding this was a profound moment, Jimmy always has and always will be held n the highest regard with anyone who has a direct or indirect connection with shipbuilding.

When he joined the SNP it was only right and proper that we nominated him to be the President of the SNP Trade Union Group, along with Billy Wolfe who helped founded the Group in the first place. I and Malcolm Balfour had the honour of proposing and seconding both.

  

From then on, escorting Jimmy to SNP events was a massive honour.  I once joked with Jimmy that our members practically bowed when they shook hands with him.

One of my political highlights to date was chairing a fringe meeting in 2006 with Nerys Evans of the Plaid Cymru Trade Union section, and now an AM in the Welsh Assembly, Bill Speirs, and Jimmy.  Jimmy started by saying he was a proud member of the Trade Union and Labour Movement, not the Labour Party, and for half an hour, without notes, spoke about how Labour had destroyed their founding principles and how and why he had joined the SNP, as we hold those principles.  He was utterly convincing that night, and held the audience who were hanging on his every word.

Jimmy’s contribution to Scottish civic life will never be forgotten, and as his funeral showed today, just how admired he was from across the whole of Scottish society.

As a number of commentators have suggested over the last few days, his rectorial address in 1972 is as relevant today as it was then.

The best tribute we can pay him is to make sure we hold the principles of that address, or as the First Minister called it today a masterpiece, in our hearts and minds as we resolve the issues brought about by the current financial crisis. Far too many people try to tell us that resistance is useless, that the forces of global finance and faceless power brokers can’t be beaten and that workers need to “adapt” (code for accept what’s on offer whether it’s job loss or pay freeze). He and the workers of UCS showed that collective, disciplined, articulate resistance can deliver a result that’s right for the workforce, right for the industry and right for the economy and our country.

So long Jimmy, you and your principles will never be forgotten.

THE COUNCIL TAX LOVERS

Who is ripping off Glasgow?  Well we now know who wants to.  The news this week that Glasgow Council Leader, Gordon Matheson wants to increase the Council Tax, is the most inept piece of political thinking there has been for a long time.

Let’s consider this.  The Calman Commission estimates that a 1 % increase in Council Tax equates to raising £20 million for all of Scotland’s Local Authorities.  Therefore to replace the £70 million the Scottish Government puts in would require at least a 3.5% increase in Council Tax.  So to even replace this revenue would require an inflation busting rise. 

At a time when the public are justifiably angry at having to pay for the Bankers Bail Out, to call for an increase in a piece of taxation that is fundamentally regressive is the economics of the madhouse.  With some Banks now recording huge profits, the debate should move onto who pays, and turning the screw on the CON DEM coalition.  A golden opportunity for Labour you may think.

But no, what we get is a demand for an increase in a regressive piece of taxation that is so unpopular the only people who want to keep it, are the unionist parties in Holyrood.

You couldn’t make it up!

Considering that Scotland local authorities spend £48 million on consultants alone, you wonder about priorities.

What was even worse was Councillors Matheson’s performance on Newsnight Scotland where he stated that there will be pay restraint for public sector workers.  So applying this logic, low paid Council Workers will be hit with a double whammy to pay the price of the Bankers Bail out and see their local services cut – a triple kick in the teeth.

This absurd piece of thinking only shows how unfit Labour are to run our country.  The more questions they are asked between now and next May, the more Glasgow and Scotland will reject them.

The case for progressive taxation, full financial powers and Independence for Scotland grows stronger.