Alex Miller
In the June 10 election for the European Parliament, the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) polled 61,356 votes, which represented 5.2% of all votes cast in Scotland.
Because of the expansion of the EU, Scotland elected seven members of the European Parliament, one fewer than in 1999. The Labour Party won two seats (down from three in 1999). The other results were the same as 1999: two each for the Scottish National Party and the Conservative Party, and the Liberal Democrats got the other seat.
An article in the June 15 Scotsman noted that although "on the surface, it appeared yesterday as if nothing much changed as a result of the European election in Scotland", one major change from 1999 was "the real electoral presence of the smaller parties".
Between them, the Greens and the SSP took nearly 12% of all votes cast. Neither party, however, was able to make the desired breakthrough into the European Parliament. In an analysis on the SSP website, Scottish Socialist Voice editor Alan McCombes described the result as "neither a cause for celebration nor a reason for despondency".
McCombes points out that the EU election was always going to be a difficult election for the SSP. Just 30.9% of eligible voters in Scotland voted, and participation was much higher in suburban and rural middle-class constituencies than in the areas where the SSP has its core vote.
McCombes commented, "For a lone parent living in a damp council flat and battling against poverty and debt, the European Parliament might as well be located on the planet Jupiter for all the relevance it has to their daily lives. Participating in an election to send an MEP to sit in a Parliament 1000 miles away in Strasbourg is never going to be a burning priority for people living on the breadline."
Coverage of the Scottish election campaign in the Britain-wide media was negligible, and where the media did give airtime to politicians calling for a protest vote against the Iraq war, they tended to be Liberal Democrats, whom McCombes notes "played no role whatsoever in campaigning against the slaughter and torture in Iraq".
In the run-up to the election, the SSP also faced threats from television companies to ban its four-and-a-half minute broadcast, starring and directed by award-winning actor and director Peter Mullan. A press release posted on the SSP website on May 29 reported: "After initially clearing the broadcast, the BBC contacted Tommy Sheridan saying that there was now a problem with the accusation that {British PM] Tony Blair was a liar and would have to be cut."
An hour later, Sheridan received a fax from solicitors acting on behalf of commercial TV companies Scottish Television and Grampian Television demanding that "the SSP 'edit/delete the statement' that Tony Blair had 'lied through his teeth about Iraq'".
The BBC backed down and agreed to air the broadcast on June 1, but the SSP had to begin legal action to force Scottish Television to put the broadcast to air uncut.
SSP leader Tommy Sheridan told the May 30 Scottish Sunday Mail, "BBC and STV are playing the part of propaganda tools for the government by trying to protect Tony Blair. We are not prepared to edit or delete our tape when we believe the statement about Tony Blair to be a fact. In relation to the possession of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and claims that Iraq posed a threat to British interests or had the ability to launch weapons within 45 minutes, every one of those statements were made by Tony Blair and every one of them has proved to be false. That, in layman's language, is lying. Blair is therefore a liar."
The June 2 Scotsman reported that the commercial television companies had followed the BBC and agreed to broadcast it uncut. In a press release posted on the SSP website on June 1, Sheridan pointed out that the SSP had been vindicated, but pointed out "the whole process has cost us money we can ill afford to waste".
Despite these difficult conditions, the SSP's 5.2% represents an increase on the 3% that the SSP polled in the last Britain-wide election and in Scotland's largest city, Glasgow, the SSP polled over 10.5% of all votes cast.
McCombes' analysis concludes: "Although there will be understandable disappointment that we were unable to break into the European Parliament this time round, the party remains in strong shape to face up to the more important battles that lie ahead over the next three years."
From Green Left Weekly, June 23, 2004.
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