Nicola Sturgeon has resigned as First Minister of the Scottish Government. She has done so amid a crisis facing Scotland, a cost of living crisis forcing many below the poverty line, record hospital waiting lists, 800 ambulance calls for people suffering from hypothermia during December alone, workers on strike or in dispute throughout the country, manifest failures as a direct consequence of Scottish Government policies in many aspects of Scottish society. This seems a dereliction of duty on Nicola Sturgeon’s part and stranger so when only a few weeks ago in response to a question about her intentions following the resignation of Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand who cited having “no longer enough in the tank” Ms. Sturgeon stated she had “plenty in her tank”!
Nicola Sturgeon’s problem was her and her government’s managerial attitude to governing Scotland, attempting to work within a framework set by the dead hand of Westminster with her only alternative being a call for an ersatz independence implicit on rejoining the privatising, austerity obsessed, neoliberal European Union. Her successor, whomever that may be will face the exact same issues with no obvious candidate able to square the proverbial circle.
What Scotland needs is a socialist government in Holyrood, a government committed to public ownership, full employment with a minimum wage that allows people to live decent lives, pensions that match that same standard of subsistence for people in retirement. In short Scotland needs a Socialist Labour Party government. No other approach will meet the needs of the Scottish people for a life in peace, in dignity and free from fear.
James McDaid,
Leader Socialist Labour Party.