Rise Announce List

16412799663_82464c3dc0RISE – Scotland’s Left Alliance has today published the candidates that will contest the regional lists in May’s Scottish Parliament elections bringing some well kent faces to the campaign trail and some intriguing battlegrounds, most notably in Glasgow where the list election will be competed between Patrick Harvie (Scottish Green Party), Cat Boyd (RISE), Adam Tomkins (Tory) and Rhiannon Valentine (SNP). Sitting independent MSP Jean Urquhart heads the Highlands & Islands list, trade union activist Cat Boyd tops the list in Glasgow and former SSP Lothians MSP Colin Fox is top in the Lothians.

A RISE statement declared: “RISE will be  standing ‘people’s candidates’ that have all signed up to a ‘charter of political ethics’ agreed by RISE members. If elected RISE MSPs have pledged to take a ‘workers wage’ (the average wage of a skilled worker in Scotland), keep a public log of anyone they have been lobbied by, use their position to promote marginalised and oppressed voices, and will serve a maximum of two consecutive terms in parliament to avoid political careerism.”

Cat Boyd, said it was a privilege to stand for RISE in Scotland’s biggest city: “It’s a privilege to have been selected to run in Glasgow for RISE. We’ll run a positive campaign out on the streets of our city, taking on the bad bosses who pay poverty wages, the rip-off landlords profiting out of poor housing and the politicians who have failed to represent the people. As a RISE candidate, I will do everything I can to fight for justice and equality for ordinary people and to make our voice heard in Scottish politics for long into the future.”

At a participatory Democracy Conference in December, RISE members voted for a series of radical policies in which to put to the Scottish people in May including:

  •  A maximum income of £100,000 and a minimum income of £20,000 to tackle inequality;
    –  Investing 3% of Scotland’s total economic output in creating 100,000 green jobs and 100,000 green homes to maximise Scotland’s green energy potential;
    –  A local Scottish Service Tax to replace the council tax and end cuts to local services
    –  A second independence referendum within the lifetime of the next Scottish Parliament, and for a ‘People’s Independence’ based on abolishing the monarchy and an independent Scottish currency.

25074918.jpg-pwrt3Former MSP Colin Fox, who was on the board of Yes Scotland during the independence referendum, said he was eager to take forward the RISE message of a second independence referendum within the lifetime of the next Scottish Parliament: “I’m delighted and honoured to be elected by my comrades and colleagues in RISE Lothian. 2016 is a really exciting time for Scotland’s Left Alliance. I’m particularly looking forward to putting the case forward for a second independence referendum, which RISE Supports within the lifetime of this parliament at a time of our choosing.”

Jean Urquhart MSP said: ”RISE brings a vital radicalism and freshness to Scottish Politics. I am pleased to be standing as a RISE candidate in the Highlands and Islands and look forward to what promises to be a big campaign that will put forward a progressive agenda for transformational change.”

Here is the full candidate list:
Glasgow: Cat Boyd, John Davidson, Pinar Asku, Bryan Simpson, Suki Sangha, James McEnaney, Deborah Waters, Andrew Rossetter
Lothians: Colin Fox, Natalie Reid, Calum Martin, Pat Smith, Sophia Lycouris, Basia Mindewicz
West of Scotland: Colin Turbett, Regan Marsh, Kieran McCallum, Sandra Webster, Lindsay Brown, Lindsay Webster, William Telfer
Central Scotland: Kevin McVey, Julie Silapasith, Liam Stevenson, Maria Feene, Sean Baillie, Fiona Gallagher, Derek Watson, Margaret Keenan
South of Scotland: Sarah Collins, Dan Foley, Laura Waters, John Dennis, Rosemary Dale, Stuart Cooper
Highlands and Islands: Jean Urquhart, Conor Cheyne

 

Comments (48)

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  1. Dave says:

    Some questions (appreciate you may not have the answers):

    None in Mid Scotland & Fife?

    Is that list ordered (i.e. by candidate preference)?

    I note that Glasgow and Central Scotland have 8 candidates, with only 7 able to be elected on the list…why?

    Rise aren’t running at the constituency level at all?

  2. Bryan says:

    The two other regions are still selecting candidates and will have them soon.

    It is ordered yes.

    You can have up to 12 candidates on a list even though there are only seven seats. If somebody steps down or dies the next person on the list gets the seat.

    RISE aren’t running in any constituencies, only on the regional lists.

  3. From Cat Boyd: “mid Scot and fife hustings held later, will be release mid Jan. Yes, it’s the order for Glasgow.”

    1. Dave says:

      Cheers!

  4. Dave Coull says:

    Aren’t there around a million folk in the North East of Scotland? Was it just an oversight that they got overlooked?

  5. Frank says:

    Mike Small wrote:

    ‘some intriguing battlegrounds, most notably in Glasgow where the list election will be competed between Patrick Harvie (Scottish Green Party), Cat Boyd (RISE), Adam Tomkins (Tory) and Rhiannon Valentine (SNP).

    Once again Tommy Sheridan is written out of history. I’m more and more convinced that it’s the official policy of this site and others never to mention his name. I’m no fan of Sheridan, but some balance would be appreciated. The fact that Sheridan and Cat Boyd will be standing in the same area for a small share of the vote on an identical policy platform ought to ensure that neither are elected. This is a pity because the parliament genuinely needs radical voices. This travesty for radical politics should really be the main issue, but is conveniently brushed aside for yet another PR piece on Rise window dressed as journalism.

    Colin Fox standing at the top of the list in the Lothians also confirms my view that the left in Edinburgh is struggling for fresh talent. Don’t get me wrong Fox is decent guy, but he’s been around for the best part of twenty years and has taken the SSP about as far as it goes – the fact that they are even in alliance with Rise suggests that they did not do too well out of the referendum.

    You would think that a group like Rise which talks up the politics of new social movements and grassroots activism might have found a fresh face to stand and importantly someone not tainted by the debacle of the last ten years. For me, as long as the likes of Fox and Sheridan desire to be MSPs the Scottish left will be forever stuck in 2006 and consigned to irrelevancy.

    1. Muscleguy says:

      Your knowledge seems scanty to taking such a judgemental position. The SSP are not ‘in coalition’ with RISE, they are half of RISE. Do try and keep up.

      As for the right of different parties to stand in the same place, see basic democracy 101. In terms of whether your scenario happens we shall just have to wait for the voting figures.

      I just hope RISE has enough campaign money to let people know they even exist. The level of ignorance about them is worrying.

      1. Frank says:

        Keep up with what exactly? I genuinely think the SSP has made a mistake by joining a group no one has heard of and I know for a fact that many SSP members feel the same way. The competing schisms on the far left all claiming to be the one true party of the people have done more harm to the cause of socialism than any good they have ever done it. The fact that socialists will be competing against one another on identical policies for a tiny % of the vote is an embarrassment and your failure to address this smacks of complacency. A divided anti-cuts left only benefits Scotland’s pro-cuts parties.

  6. Tommy Ball says:

    In a surprise development, the list of names leaked to the Sunday Herald as topping the lists, days before voting closed, are those who are now officially announced as topping the lists. Fancy that!

  7. Alf Baird says:

    £100k max wage? I can already detect thousands of the mainly unionist-elite across Scotland’s public sector spluttering in their gin and tonics. Not least the 120 ‘senior academics’ at Glasgow Uni on over £120k. Abject poverty beckons for the principal, having to come down from £400k. And the added bonus of a party actually campaigning for independence. Well worth a list vote, methinks.

  8. Frank says:

    There is a strong case for a maximum wage in the public sector. The Chief Executive of my local authority earns something like £110 thousand a year, whilst the directors earn around £90 thousand a year. That’s nothing short of scandalous especially in a context where frontline services are being cut. But I can’t see how such a policy applies in the private sector. As for the workers wage policy, the SSP simply put the money back into the party to pay for party staffers and I imagine that Rise would do the same?

  9. Redguantlet says:

    Great list, best wishes to all the candidates….

  10. greatbighoo says:

    “We’ll run a positive campaign out on the streets of our city, taking on the bad bosses who pay poverty wages”

    “Taking on” i.e. meaningless nonsense. What are you going to ‘take them on’ with ‘out on the streets’ – ?

    Knock on their doors, tell them what bad people they are, and how they better change their ways, or an army of socialists armed with slogans, banners and placards will come and take them away?

    “the rip-off landlords profiting out of poor housing”

    And what’s your solution for that? (beyond waving your banners and placards more vigorously)

    Rent controls? Which don’t work, and serve only to reduce to availability and diversity of housing stock.

    Mass social housing? You mean, like the Schemes? Yes, that was such a roaring success before. You should do that again.

    “and the politicians who have failed to represent the people”

    Which ones? All of them?

    Notwithstanding that, how can politicians ‘fail’ to ‘represent the people’.

    Politicians are elected, it follows that the represent the people.

    Oh, you mean, the politicians who have failed to implement the kind of loony Socialist hard left nutcase policies that I’d like to see?

    Or really, I’d like to pretend I’d like to see on my way to securing the money, power, status, influence and connections of being an MP?

    How much is this ‘average skilled workers wage’ btw? I’d like a number please.

  11. Alan Munro says:

    I personally believe that in 2016 terms like “Ieft alliance” mean absolutely nothing. I remember an organisation called “the left alliance” from Student politics in the early 80s. It came out of the broad left which preceded it. It included communists and liberals. Labour students had gone off to support a new organisation called NOLS. Bob Mclean and Tommy Shepherd and Jack McConnell were the leaders of that national organisation of labour students. I supported the Left alliance when I was president of Paisley College of Technology I am ashamed to say. Uk Left alliance leaders such as Sue Slipman later abandoned the ” left alliance” to help found the SDP!! And even worse, National union of Students leader and then communist David Aaronovitch was the absolute leader of said left alliance, you only need to read his rants about the middle east to see how humanitarian he is. So they have chosen a most unfortunate name,as if they didnt know anything about political history. A few years after this left alliance was riding high ( 1980 – 1982 ) the uk government intoduced the student loan system. But slipman and aaronovitch never looked back in their personal careers.

  12. Alan Munro says:

    “Rise” sounds like a throwback to Willie Gallacher’s “Rise up like Lions” which in itself was taken from Shelley, Percy rather than Pete.

  13. Antony says:

    It’s an economic fallacy to claim that government spending will “create jobs”

    http://scottishlibertarians.com/more-government-spending-will-not-create-jobs/

  14. Mike says:

    RISE is a premature and mistimed campaign which is going to hurt the cause of Independence.

    There is a time and place to split the pro Independence movement into its inevitable policy based factions but pre Independence is never the time or place to do it.

    FFS lets get our fully working Independent Parliament in place before we start trying to fill it with its opposition members.
    Unless of course RISE is actually a 5th column pro Union group looking to break the pro Independence grip on the Scottish Parliament and therefore end any chances of a second Indyref?

    1. Alf Baird says:

      Is the SNP still campaigning for independence?

    2. Garrion says:

      There’s a question worth answering.

      Here’s another one; if you are in a position where your ideology requires you to try to slide in the side door of political representation, rather than, ooh let’s say, actually do the work of acquiring legitimate representation through being voted for by the people who have weighed your position and believed that it represents them truly – how does this differentiate you from any other set of political chancers who believe that ‘the people’ aren’t ready, but they know what’s best?

      Sound familiar?

      1. Garrion says:

        Was referring of course to Mike’s question, rather than the non sequitur of Alf’s.

    3. Mark Crawford says:

      Funnily enough, I recently spoke to a member of the SNP who happily announced his conversion to an explicitly Maoist position of putting the campaign for independence before anything else. He explained in great historical detail that this was what the great Chairman Mao himself had done with the Second United Front (in which communists and nationalists decided to put aside their differences to fight the common enemy of the Japanese).

      I asked him if there were many Maoists in the SNP – and he said there were hundreds!

      Remarkable character.

      1. Valerie says:

        Sturgeon, 3/1/16

        ” But as Scotland’s largest party, we still carry a special responsibility to make the argument. It is our job now to lead a renewed debate about how the enduring principle of the independence case – that decisions about Scotland are best taken by people who live here – is relevant to, indeed demanded by, the circumstances of the world we live in today. It is by making the case, positively and powerfully – and in a realistic and relevant way – that we will persuade those we didn’t persuade in 2014 and, over the next few years, turn 45% into a majority.”

        Why do alleged pro Indy folk keep banging on that SNP are no longer pursuing Independence? I constantly read the word ‘betrayal’ on social media regarding this, and the allegation that SNP are now somehow in league with Westminster, it’s pathetic.

        It’s the founding principle of the party, it’s always in the manifesto, and they are the only ones competent to get us there.

        My only comment about RISE, is why is it not right to learn their craft at local level first in council elections? They won’t have a clue as to how politics work at Holyrood level, and that wastes time fannying about Learning about structures, processes, finance, layers of gov’t, how to influence etc. – there is skill to it.

        1. Flower of Scotland says:

          I agree Valerie!

          The SNP is full of “Lefties”. I’m one and have been in the SNP for 52 years.

          Rise is just a distraction!

      2. Alf Baird says:

        “putting the campaign for independence before anything else”

        Mark, the SNP are not even campaigning for independence any more. Rather looks more like they’ve fogotten about independence and plumped for the politico jobs trough, now c.1000 strong (cllrs, MPs, MSPs, researchers, staff etc). At the highest level they’re career politicians after all, not revolutionaries, and not in the least bit radical. I doubt career politicians ever won any nation’s independence; independence is a radical outcome requiring a different kind of leadership. The SNP seem more than content to ‘responsibly’ manage the UK’s Holyrood talking shop on behalf of the Tories, and with a unionist-elite still merrily running most of Scotland’s public sector institutions. If they were serious about independence they would have collaborated more with other Yes groups, “to fight the common enemy” as you refer to in the Chinese example.

        1. Julia Gibb says:

          Yes – lets quibble and be nasty to each other, including false statements.

          Nothing is more important than Independence because you can not change anything without gaining Independence.

          The unionist campaign always benefits from the Monty Python Party namesfactions of the left.

          I’m both left and Green but I will “unite” under one banner until the job is done.

          Only a resounding maintained vote for the SNP will drive change. You wish to focus on one term at Holyrood instead of several generations of progress.

  15. Mike says:

    Garrion

    Well that’s a whole lot of worthless nothing about nothing. I’m sure you tried to make a point but here’s the thing you didn’t.

    I think the idea you were trying to articulate is one of conviction and credibility. We all support what we support by being convinced of its credibility and worth. There is a movement in Scotland that encompasses a whole swath of various convictions with credibility none of which can be nurtured until a certain constitutional position is obtained.

    My conviction tells me that in order to realise the various goals and ambitions of the movement we have to get there by a staged stepping process the first step being a constitutional access to the power and authority required to exercise the changes in direction the various factions within the movement want to go.
    The best way in fact the only way to get over that initial hurdle is to ensure the whole movement moves in the same direction focused specifically on that goal and is not diverted and splintered off on irrelevant tangents of ideals which cant be realised within the present constitutional set up.

    Its not fucking rocket science.

    1. Garrion says:

      Hi Mike. Did I touch a nerve? You can support what you like, but as soon as you determine that it’s time to attempt to manipulate an electoral system to acquire influence and power, you are playing a game that isn’t democracy.

      I have lived a rather long time, long enough to have seen, with my own eyes, the utter failure of what was supposed to represent hard left socialism in Scotland, in terms of electoral appeal, and in terms of actually ever breaking out of the inevitable cult-like bubbles of cognitive dissonance that seemed inevitably to form around the true believers (of many a stripe) and the actual people they purported to represent.

      I still do not understand this strategy of RISE, in the context of the primary goal of independence. It does not take a rocket scientist (thanks for that by the way) to see the great dangers inherent in this, at this time.

      Personally I see independence as THE ONE goal, and then, in a context that we all control, defining a political spectrum that is free of the corruption and control that we currently suffer from. Ironically one that the real left has more of a chance of valid impact than under the butchers apron.

      Finally, I see that it’s now somewhat fashionable to dismiss the SNP as some kind of ‘sellouts’, without really comprehending the literally generations long struggle (much of which I have watched closely) that has most recently brought the WHOLE of Scotland to seriously and credibly consider independence. The irony of this should not escape you. No good deed, etc.

      Rocket science indeed.

  16. Alan Munro says:

    Maoist infiltration in the Snp more like. Of course the Snp membership shot up after they galvanised the scottish public after the referendum. There are career politicians who can sniff the jobs. Mao was educated at Har vard by the way, not a product of gordonstoun.

  17. Alan Munro says:

    In fact it was Yale University. Excuse me

  18. Mike says:

    “Hi Mike. Did I touch a nerve? You can support what you like, but as soon as you determine that it’s time to attempt to manipulate an electoral system to acquire influence and power, you are playing a game that isn’t democracy.”

    Where is the manipulation is pointing out the obvious and letting people make their own choice fully informed of the consequences of that choice?

    Isnt deprivation of information a method of manipulation? A method which has successfully kept us within the union against better judgement?

    The rest of your post is frankly drivel with no point or coherent meaning. I cant actually tell if your agreeing with me or not.

  19. old battle says:

    You may write me down in history
    With your bitter, twisted lies,
    You may tread me in the very dirt
    But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

    Maya Angelou

    1. Flower of Scotland says:

      @old battle

      Hope not! SNP x2 in May is the only way to Independence!

      1. Alf Baird says:

        “SNP x2 in May is the only way to Independence!”

        Is the SNP campaigning for Independence? I don’t see a draft Independence bill.

        1. yesindyref2 says:

          Ah well, in the debate on Tuesday at Holyrood, Sturgeon had this to say:

          ————-
          “Of course, I believe today as strongly as I ever have that independence is the best future for our country.

          “That’s why in the months to come we will also lead a renewed debate about how the enduring principle of that case, that decisions about Scotland are best taken by people who live here, is relevant to, demanded by, the circumstances of the world we live in today.

          “We will make that case positively and powerfully and we will do it in a realistic and relevant way and in doing so I’m confident that over the next few years we will build majority support for that proposition.”
          —————

          So that’s good news, isn’t it?

          1. Alf Baird says:

            The SNP are merely capaigning to continue to ‘manage’ Scotland on behalf of our Tory masters, nothing more, nothing less. That might excite you and other SNP doorknockers, but it disnae dae much fir Scotland. We would probably get independence faster if Ruth or Kez was in charge. If the SNP were serious about independence they would be drafting an independence bill now and waving it in front of the 50%+, and David Cameron’s face. They need tae up the ante.

          2. yesindyref2 says:

            Alf, I’ve seen Uni0nist anti-SNP posters make exactly the same arguments as you are making in this thread, and others I’ve read on this site.

  20. yesindyref2 says:

    Looking at Glasgow on the list (having done a uniform swing from 2011 on each region from the TNS pre-Christmas poll and calculated the 7 list seats, and presuming the SNP get all constituency seats, though this can’t be relied on), Labour with 24.57% would get 4 on the list, Conservatives with 5.45% would get 1, and Green with 11.33% would get 2.

    RISE don’t figure, probably because it’s not well known yet and because I don’t even think the pollsters ask the question – RISE need to lobby ALL polling companies to include them on the polls. Not just for predictions, but for publicity from results.

    If the Greens can hit all three Unionist parties they could get 1 more seat at the expense of the Conservatives. And if RISE hit the remaining Labour vote, they could get 1 or even 2, or Sheridan could get one seat. And the SNP could get a seat too because of the reduction in Lab and Con. I agree by the way, BC doesn’t mention Sheridan, it should, but this article is about RISE.

    Anyway, good luck to RISE from an SNP member but keep it clean, don’t do the “SNP Bad” routine, and don’t try to kid us on that “a list vote for the SNP is wasted”. It hacks us off because it’s just so wrong. It hacks me off, and I’d say I’m one of the more patient and moderate members. For me it’s Indy before any party, but we need a strong majority one-party Government to get Indy Ref 2, a coalition won’t do the job.

    I’m West of Scotland and I’m SNP + SNP. We’re not far off a list seat, and if SNP, RISE and Greens hit Labour and Conservatives more, both SNP and RISE could get a seat here, though I think it unlikely the Greens could get a second.

    1. Michael says:

      We have Scot libs at 4.9%, rise/ssp at 1.7%,Sheridan <.4%, various others 1% cumulatively.

      1. yesindyref2 says:

        Michael, for Glasgow I have Libs at 1.8%, down from 2.5% in 2011. I’ve no figures for SSP / RISE I’m sorry, I did mean to get more accurate figures from the TNS tables once I’d finished my speadsheet model, but still haven’t got around to it. Overall in Scotland I have Libs at 4% on the list.

    2. Alf Baird says:

      You are basically admitting here that an SNP list vote is wasted when the SNP win all the constituencies in a region, as the polls are telling us is exactly what is going to happen. You should instead be pushing all list votes to non-SNP indy parties as this is the only way to stop more unionists getting elected, and help maximise the indy vote/indy MSPs. By advocating a SNP x2 you are simply ensuring more unionist MSPs are returned. You know you have virtually no chance of even a single list seat. This suggests the SNP is putting party before people, and before independence. However I expect many Scots will figure this out and appreciate they have two votes and two voting strategies to make in May.

      1. yesindyref2 says:

        With the SNP in other regions getting a total of 7 list seats, I daresay the celebrations would go on for hours. Some of the SNP lost voters really would get totally wasted!

        I think many Scots will figure out that if a party tried to steal their votes by deception, then they’re not worth voting for. Clearly you don’t represent the SNP, I hope you don’t represent RISE or the Greens either, if you get my drift.

        1. yesindyref2 says:

          That should be “SNP list voters” not “SNP lost voters”, though I daresay there’d be great rejoicing and roast calf for any lost voters that returned to the fold.

        2. Alf Baird says:

          “Clearly you don’t represent the SNP”

          That’s true, I’m more interested in independence.

          1. Mike says:

            Who Independence? Clearly not Scotlands.

      2. Mike says:

        Alf suggests we use our second vote to ensure Labour and the Conservatives get a couple of extra seats.
        Looks like a bit of a unionist troll to me.
        WOS has done the maths in great detail. Anything other than giving the SNP your second vote will only result in Labour and Conservative gains which of course Alf knows.

        1. Alf Baird says:

          Mike, I’m more than happy to consider yours (or anyone else’s) expert analysis of the mathematically possible outcomes of the proposed SNP x 2 vote achieving, on the basis of polling, circa. 50% of total votes for both constuency and list.

      3. Boab says:

        OK, lets assume that the SNP vote may be wasted.
        Who to vote for? Greens? RISE? Solidarity? Socialist Labour?
        Maybe the STUSC will stand too.
        I’m not going to switch my vote from the SNP to another party who is polling close to zero, and neither will the vast majority of independence supporters.
        So one of the Socialist parties will somehow have to suddenly have a jump in support in order to have the slightest chance of gaining a single seat. It ain’t going to happen, and that’s the real waste.

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