​We are now in a position where the leadership of the Scottish Labour Party, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats, think that we need to, at the very least, deepen our relationship with the EU and increase spending on defence. It is critical that the Scottish left takes these arguments on. Posed as a remedy to our economic ills and a means to keep us safe, they are neither. In fact they may well accelerate economic decline and help sustain illusions of post imperial glory.
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Despite much talk of a £5 billion “black hole” in Scotland’s funding, identified by Scotland's auditor general last year there was very little said by Scottish politicians on how such a deficit would impact on Local Government during the Scottish Parliament election campaign.

​Any objective assessment of the performance of the SNP incumbent administration in the Scottish Parliament, from a working-class perspective, ought to see them out on their ear. No matter where you turn, whether it’s the Cost of Living or Further and Higher Education, or Local Government, or the Health Service or the Schools or the Ferries, we find the same old neo-liberal obsession with fiscal rectitude and underfunding or poor planning or maladministration or all four.