‘Is there a Scottish road to Socialism?’ This is the question posed in the third edition of this SLR Press book. The format is the same – a range of contributors from across the left wing spectrum in Scotland attempt to answer this question. The last edition was in 2013, pre-dating the independence referendum and […]
Lessons from Oldham for the 4.5%ers
Dec 6th, 2015 by Dave Watson.There has been little so entertaining this week as reading the bemused response to the Oldham by-election result in the mainstream media. All those ‘Corbyn must go’ stories had to binned and a whole raft of explanations dreamt up to explain why it didn’t go to script. Just for the record, Labour’s candidate Jim McMahon […]
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Why Scottish Labour was right to oppose the replacement of Trident
Nov 1st, 2015 by Dave Watson.At the Scottish Labour conference today, 70% of votes were cast against replacing Trident and to endorse the composite set out below. Dave Watson, UNISON Scotland’s Head of Bargaining & Campaigns and former Chair of the Scottish Party explains why his union backed that vote Trident is an expensive status symbol that has no military value […]
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Workers of the world unite to save your pensions!
Sep 8th, 2015 by Dave Watson.Workers pensions across the world are facing similar challenges and we need to learn and act together. I was at the 2015 Workers Capital Conference yesterday, meeting with union pension negotiators and trustees from across the world. There is great best practice that we need to learn from, but also recognise that funds are invested […]
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Corbyn’s campaign helps, but Scottish Labour’s solutions have to be home grown
Aug 19th, 2015 by Dave Watson.Congratulations to Kez Dugdale and Alex Rowley on winning the Scottish Labour leadership elections. The challenges haven’t gone away, but this is the right leadership team to start rebuilding Scottish Labour. The Scottish Labour leadership elections drifted to a conclusion, somewhat under the radar as Corbynmania dominates the political scene. There were no huge ideological […]
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What is Scottish Labour for?
Jun 9th, 2015 by Dave Watson.As Scottish Labour regroups after the General Election, the temptation will be to focus on organisation and structure. Important though these are, the real question the party has to ask itself is – what is Scottish Labour for? After the 2007 and 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, Scottish Labour held reviews that gave detailed consideration to […]
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Poverty is the real difference between school attainment levels
Apr 1st, 2015 by Dave Watson.The Scottish Government’s Parentzone website has published data on the performance of school leavers. The Daily Record highlighted how these figures show a shocking class divide between the wealthiest and least well off areas of Scotland. This is Dave Watson’s opinion piece in the Daily Record that ran alongside the article. In it he argues that the difference […]
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If you are going to tell porkies, tell big ones
Mar 19th, 2015 by Dave Watson.If you are going to tell porkies, tell big ones. That seemed to be the Chancellor’s strategy in yesterday’s budget. It was as if the past five years didn’t happen. The worst fall in real earnings in recorded history a total fall of 7.9% and even this is on the basis of the lower CPI […]
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Using public procurement for a fairer Scotland
Feb 18th, 2015 by Dave Watson.More than £10bn of Scottish taxpayers cash goes on buying goods and services in the private sector. This procurement activity could do much more to deliver the Scottish Government and other public bodies policy aims. Last year the Scottish Parliament passed the Procurement Reform Act and the EU passed a new Procurement Directive. These provide […]
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The case for fully devolving housing benefit to the Scottish government
Feb 3rd, 2015 by Dave Watson.UNISON’s case for the full devolution of housing benefit has been supported by the respected think tank IPPR. Scotland needs all the policy levers to effectively address our housing crisis. The command paper ‘Scotland in the United Kingdom: An enduring settlement‘, (love an optimistic title!) sets out the legislative provisions to enact the Smith Commission […]
