SNP NORTH AMERICAN NETWORK NEWSLETTER
Issue 13, May 1999

NOTE-- due to regulations set by the Labour party in London

SCOTTISH GENERAL ELECTION - SNP ESTABLISHED AS OFFICIAL OPPOSITION

SNP leader Salmond told Labour's Donald Dewar - who has now become First Minister - his party would not "criticise for the sake of criticism."

Mr Salmond, who will lead a 35-strong MSP group, added: "It's possible for us to avoid the yah-boo politics of Westminster in this new chamber. But there are areas where there are differences and there will be real political debate."

NORTH AMERICAN NETWORK UPDATES AND NEWS

David Young of the Network Advisory Committee is to work with the party on science policy. Having already been in touch with Senior Researcher Alex Bell and the deputy science spokesperson Roger Mullin.

He will also be getting in touch with US supporter Douglas Boyd and is asking for other individuals with a science/technology background to get in touch with him at p1ct1sh@yahoo.com

The Group are also asking for anyone with contacts at US Universities to get in touch to help organise lecture tours for SNP MSPs, MPs and MEPs. Again please get in touch with David on p1ct1sh@yahoo.com

SNP ONLY PARTY TO SEE SUBSTANTIAL RISE IN VOTE

In the first democratic elections to the Scottish Parliament the SNP recorded record swings from the Labour party whilst the Liberal vote stood still and the Tories fell back further.

Despite only gaining one first-past-the-post seat the SNP ran Labour close in many of their heartland constituencies. Only by throwing resources into marginal seats such as Govan, Ochil and Kilmarnock did the Labour party manage to hang on. However in other seats they assumed to be safe their vote fell dramatically.

In Ballieston the SNP recorded a 16% swing; in Dundee West a Labour majority of over 10,000 was slashed to 121; and in Aberdeen North a similar Labour majority crumbled to 393.

The SNP's Chief Executive and newly elected MSP for the South of Scotland Region said:

"Labour tried to fight a holding operation in their marginal first-past-the-post constituencies whilst forsaking what they thought were safe seats. It is a strategy doomed to failure in the long-term.

"In the 1992 election the Tory party fought a similar campaign. Whilst managing to hold onto marginals their vote began to crumble in what they thought were safe seats. The upshot is that whilst Labour becomes more unpopular they stand to lose big in the future."

"LOWEST LABOUR VOTE SHARE SINCE 1931 - TORIES' LOWEST SINCE 1865!"

The Leader of the Scottish Opposition Mr Alex Salmond MSP has said he was relishing the prospect of opposing a weakened Labour Party in Scotland. Mr Salmond pointed out that on the second regional vote in the Scottish Parliament election, Labour's share of the vote was just 34% - only six points ahead of the SNP - and the lowest Labour vote share for Labour in Scotland since the General Election of 1931.

Mr Salmond said: "London Labour's high water mark in Scotland lies in the past, and they are now experiencing substantial decline - as reflected in the Parliament's proportional voting system.

"On the regional voting element of the Scottish Parliament election - the most important as Labour described it - their vote was 34%, the lowest share of their vote in Scotland since the disastrous 1931 General Election.

"Even on the first-past-the-post vote, Labour's share fell below 40% - an extremely unusual occurrence for Labour in Scotland.

"The SNP are closing on Labour, whose vote melted away in their former heartland areas, and we are relishing the prospect of opposing their London-led policy agenda in the Parliament.

"With Labour at their weakest in Scotland for 70 years, the prospects for Scotland's Party have never been better.

"For Labour in Scotland, the only way is down, and an effective SNP Opposition will ensure that they continue to break new records by continuing to record historic low votes."

With just fifteen-and-a-half per cent of the vote on both constituency and regional votes, the Tories recorded their lowest share of the vote in Scotland since the General Election of 1865 - the last election before the franchise was extended to all male householders and tenants! Mr Salmond said:

"Both New Labour and the Tories experienced serious decline in Scotland last Thursday, and the Liberals were static. Labour got their worst vote since 1931 - only surpassed by the Tories, who turned in their worst performance since 1865!

"Unlike the London-based parties, the SNP moved forward significantly in terms of votes and seats, which is why we will be such a formidable and effective Opposition force in the Parliament."

Note: Figures giving the vote share with number of seats in brackets are:

Party           Constituency    Regional                Total
                        vote %                  vote %                  MPs

Labour          38.8% (53)              34.0% (3)               56

SNP             28.7% (7)               27.6% (28)              35

Tory            15.6% (0)               15.5% (18)              18

Liberal         14.2% (12)              12.6% (5)               17

Other*          2.8% (1)                        10.3% (2)               3

(*Independent Labour MP elected in Falkirk and Green and Scottish Socialist
elected on Regional vote)

LIBERALS SPLIT OVER BACK ROOM DEAL WITH LABOUR

Much to the dismay of the SNP, other opposition politicians and the public the Liberal MSPs have backed a coalition agreement with Labour and dropped several of their key manifesto pledges. One of these was the abolition of tuition fees which the Liberals said was non-negotionable.

Three of the Liberal's 16 MSPs voted against and Liberal voters expressed bewilderment and anger at a u-turn reminscent of Tony Blair's pre-election pledge in 1997 that Labour had no plans to introduce tuition fees.

The Scottish National Party leader, Alex Salmond, was critical about the deal and said his party is still determined to force a vote on the issue of tuition fees.

Mr Salmond said: "It's the most extraordinary climb-down on the part of the Liberals.

"It's not just tuition fees, there are five key climb-downs over Private Finance Initiative deals, the Skye Bridge tolls and the beef on the bone ban as well.

"Many will see this as an extraordinary document of surrender. I think there will be a high price to pay for them in the party and with the electorate.

"Tuition fees have been negotiated away in pursuit of ministerial limousines. A lot of people in Scotland will think this is sad and even deplorable."

In a reference to the plan to hold an independent inquiry into the issue of tuition fees for students, Mr Salmond added: "The Liberals have been sold a pup. It's to be kicked away to a commission and when it comes back they will be bound by ministerial responsibility.

"The Liberals, along with all those who have been afforded positions of patronage since Labour took power, should look at themselves in the mirror after accepting the Labour line. They should ask themselves if a better society for all will be created by accepting personal aggrandisement for themselves.

"The SNP intends to force the matter of tuition fees in the parliament.

"I think it's very important if the democratic will of the Scottish Parliament prevails to force that vote on the floor of the Scottish Parliament.

"The SNP have already accepted that Labour should form the Government as the largest party. We should be getting away from the idea that defeat for a Government in the legislature is the end of the world. It's not - it is accepting the democratic will of the people.

"They should accept the decisions of the people of Scotland as expressed on the floor of the Parliament not conduct back room deals which the voters are not party to. They should govern with grace."

BLAIR "INTERFERING IN SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT TALKS"

Commenting on the news that the Prime Minister's official spokesperson, Alastair Campbell, said that Tony Blair is involved in the negotiations about a Labour-Liberal coalition for the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Opposition Leader Mr Alex Salmond MSP said:

"This is an extraordinary statement by the Prime Minister's official spokesperson, which confirms what we warned about all along - London Labour want to run the Scottish Parliament from Westminster.

"But that's not what the Scottish people voted for in the Referendum, and not what they want in their new Parliament.

"News that Tony Blair is pulling the strings from behind the scenes runs counter to statements made by Labour over the course of the Scottish Parliament campaign, when they insisted that Donald Dewar would be master in his own house. This is clearly not the case."

SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE AS SNP VETERAN FIRST TO TAKE THE OATH

It was with some historic and symbolic significance that the first MSP to take the oath in the Scottish Parliament was the SNP's veteran campaigner - Winnie Ewing.

Winnie was first elected in the 1967 Hamilton by-election which is seen as the seminal event that thrust the SNP and the issue of a Scottish Parliament onto the political agenda. It further enhanced the feeling that the Scottish Parliament is moving Scotland forward as Hamilton South - successor seat to Hamilton - was the first to declare in the election.

Winnie Ewing, in her role as Oldest Member, was first to be sworn in. "They made a mistake on my birth certificate," Mrs Ewing joked. She is 69. The Mother of the House swore allegiance first in English and then in unfaltering Gaelic.

Mrs Ewing took the chair and demanded the attention of her 128 colleagues to start the proceedings. Never one to miss a chance, she also closed this first session with a reminder to MSPs that the old Scottish Parliament had been "adjourned" all those years ago, but not abolished. "I want to start with the words I have always wanted to say, or hear somebody else say - the Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the twenty-fifth day of March, 1707, is hereby reconvened."

"Our dream is for Scotland to be as sovereign as Denmark, Finland or Austria-no more, no less. However, we know that that dream can come true only when there is total consensus among the people of Scotland, and we accept that."

Mrs Ewing concluded the session by saying: "1707 was said to be the end of an auld sang. We together can begin to write a new Scottish song. I would urge all of you to sing it in harmony, fortissimo."

SNP MPs DECLARE LOYALTY TO THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE FIRST

Having to take an oath of allegiance to the Queen handed down from Westminster, the SNP's MSPs made clear before taking the oath that their primary allegiance was with the Scottish people.

Mr Salmond in his role as leader of the Opposition and before doing his legal duty he made a short and dignified speech expressing his "primary loyalty to the people of Scotland" and his belief that the people, not Parliament, are sovereign. "All of our Members of the Scottish Parliament take this view," he said, before making his peace with Her Majesty.

Two SNP Members were called to book for "rule-breaking". Dorothy-Grace Elder, columnist and campaigner, was monitored by the clerks who did not like her uttering the words "the people of Scotland..." just ahead of the mention of the Queen when asked to swear allegiance.

Gil Paterson also fell foul of the process. He swore his allegiance a second time and later swore again to the effect that he did not know what he had done wrong the first time.

Representatives of other parties also added their own pre-statement on the principle of Scottish popular sovereignty before taking the oath.

GEORGE REID ELECTED DEPUTY PRESIDING OFFICER

George Reid, the newly elected MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife Region, has been elected one of the two Deputy Presiding Officers in the new Scottish Parliament. The Presiding Officers are the Speakers of the new Parliament who will bring order to proceedings in the new Parliament.

Mr Reid, who visited Alexandria in Virginia for the Tartan Day Celebrations last month, had stood for the position of Presiding Officer but was beaten to the post by David Steel of the Liberals. Eventually he became Deputy Speaker alongside one of Labour's MSPs.

AND FINALLY

In the spirit of the new politics we'd just like to draw to the attention of David Young, one of our North American Advisory Committee members, how an old friend of his was interrupted during the oath taking ceremony.

Susan Deacon, a Labour MSP who remains to be persuaded about defecting to the SNP, took the oath to the sound of her daughter, C laire, aged 21 months, shouting "Hello" and "Mummy" from the gallery.

So disconcerted was Ms Deacon she forgot to sign the register and had to be recalled.

SNP