Just a few days into the new coalition Government and it’s clear that the Con Dem’s planned “new politics” are even more undemocratic than the old. Not only have the Lib Dems surrendered PR but their coalition with the Tories now wants to make it harder to hold Parliament to account.

Vince Cable outlines his three priorities - brains, brains, brains.

The Con Dem coalition is planning to change the rules governing the dissolution of Parliament. The status quo is that if 50% plus one MP votes to dissolve the Government, it is forced to resign and call new elections. This happened in 1979 when the Labour Government lost a vote of confidence. The changes the Con Dem’s want to make is to raise the limit, so it has to be 55% of MP’s who vote in no confidence for the Government to be forced to call new elections. This means that a Government could stay in power with only 46% till the next election.

Ah yes, I see what you've done there, very good.

The diagram below outlines the reasoning behind this rule change – if the Liberals broke from the Tories, and allied with all the other parties in calling for new elections they still would not be able to dissolve Parliament, despite having 53% of the seats (which represents 64% of the vote). The only way Parliament can be dissolved is if the Con Dem coalition votes to dissolve it. This effectively means the Tories can stop any dissolution of their Government – and allow the Tories to run a “Zombie Government” which cannot be removed but cannot pass legislation either. This is far from the Zombie Government SSY has long hoped for, a Government based on a fundamental and irreversible shift in brains from the living to the undead. 

The Tories are also planning to change the number of constituencies to improve their electoral prospects, and making things harder for Labour. SSY has argued previously that it is ridiculous many opinion polls would have had Labour come third but still have the most seats in Parliament. the Tories planned reforms however, would further marginalise poorer working class constituencies where turnout is lower and are more likely to vote Labour. The Tories also plan to slash the number of Scottish seats in Westminster to 40, making Scotland’s political voice in the UK even more irrelevant.

On that note, the new fixed term Parliament David Cameron has introduced has decided on a date for the next elections in 5 years (which the Tories would be able to hang on to thanks to the new 55% limit). Fixed term parliaments can be progressive, because they remove the option of a ruling party calling an election later or early for their own advantage. This time however a small oversight appears to have been made – the next General Election has been called for the same day of the Scottish Parliamentary election. That means Scots will be asked to vote for their FPTP MP for Westminster, their FPTP MSP for Holyrood, and their List MSP for Holyrood.

It’s a disaster waiting for happen, a repeat of the 2007 fiasco where hundreds of thousands of votes were spoiled because people confused the vote for the council with the vote for Parliament. It was that disaster which forced them to hold the council elections separately from Holyrood. It now appears that logic has been thrown out the window. Also, it will mean that a Scottish Parliamentary election will take place with the backdrop of a British General election, which will confuse and skew the debate. Expect thousands of Scots to vote Labour for Holyrood who would otherwise not do so to “keep the Tories out” of a Parliament they have no chance of controlling.

Scotland should have it’s own Parliament, with full powers, no Crown involvement, and full PR in an Independent Socialist Republic – where MSP’s would only be paid the average wage of a skilled worker, and both they and the Government would be recallable. That’s a far cry from the undemocratic gerrymandering the Con Dems are trying to introduce.

New overlord of Great Britain David Cameron is visiting Edinburgh tomorrow. We’re going down to form an, ahem, ‘welcoming party’. Join us!

Meet 12.30pm outside the Scottish Parliament – bring flags, banners, yer mates et cetera.
For those travelling from Glasgow, meet 11am sharp at Queen St station.

After 13 years out of Government -- the bastards are back. And in the ironies or ironies, it was with the help of Guardian readers; the Tories are in power thanks to a leg up from the Lib Dems, millions of people who voted for the abolition of Trident and other progressive policies will now know that their votes have in fact counted towards keeping an Eton schoolboy in office.

David Cameron has risen from riches to riches, in a fairytale story of triumphing by paying to bypass any kind of small adversity. With only a ragband crew of the Murdoch press, billionaire tax exiles and 200 years of ingrained privilege, the Tories have been able to scrape back into power in coalition with people called Tarquin who wear sandals and like Tibet.

Liberal Democrat Federal Council meets to discuss coalition plans

SSY is already negotiating it’s own constitutional solution to the crisis, by proposing a land swap -- England shall receive Dumfries, Clydesdale and Tweedale (the only Scottish constituency to vote in a Tory) and in exchange Scotland will offer political asylum to the North of England.

On a more serious note, this development will put the national question back to the top of the agenda in Scotland. After only voting in one Tory MP, Scotland is again run by a Tory prime minister -- the Liberal support does not increase the legitimacy of the Government by much, and very few Liberal voters in Scotland will back what the Lib Dems have done. The devolved Scottish Parliament will not be able to stop the cuts -- Westminster decide the budget, and the Tories planned budget cuts will disproportionately hammer Scotland due to the higher % of public sector workers -- itself a product of de-industrialisation under Thatcher.

Only Independence and Socialism will give Scotland the democracy it’s citizens deserve and the protection against poverty, cuts, low pay, and unemployment the next Tory/Liberal Government will bring. The SSY is the only group of young Socialists in Scotland which has fought consistently since our founding 10 years ago for independence as a necessary part of the struggle for Socialism in Scotland.

The You Tube clip below of William Wallace being tortured by an evil unionist bastard wearing a Santa hat accurately depicts SSY’s strongly held feelings on the issue of Tory rule of Scotland.

Check out this video of protesters live on air declaring Sky News to be the utter shite we know it is:

Eventually Sky had to cut away and just broadcast their logo for a bit. The protests were sparked after Sky presenter Kay Burley went mental at a spokesman for the protesters who were out in London and Glasgow (amongst other places) at the weekend, demanding electoral reform, which you can see below:

Kay Burley is also the journalist who brought us such clangers as claiming on September 11th 2001 “The entire eastern seaboard of the United States has been devastated by a terrorist attack,” as well as, most shamefully, asking the partner of serial killer Steve Wright, who murdered at least five women in Suffolk, “Do you think if you’d had a better sex life this wouldn’t have happened?”

What the current uproar on Sky News shows is that the Murdoch empire has bet everything on a Tory win, and sunk millions of its own money into promoting it. If they don’t get what they want, they’re likely to go absolutely crazy. How crazy? Check out Sky News political editor Adam Boulton pushing things with New Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell to the brink of a fight. He jabs his finger, and sways like a pissed rageaholic, throwing his not inconsiderable weight around. Alastair Campbell is an odious piece of human garbage, who before he was engineering election wins for neoliberals had a career writing fake letters to porno mags. Who would have thought someone could go so nuts that Alastair comes off looking like the reasonable one?

Well he’s finally done it, like a bullied teenager forced into taking weed by his peers, Gordon Brown has bottled it and given into pressure. He has resigned after spending only 3 years in the job he has lusted after for practically his entire political career. After taking Labour to it’s worst result since 1983, Brown has taken the hint and left No 10.

Fuck it, I don't care anymore. You're all FUCKING BIGOTS.

A year ago, the Tories would have been ecstatic if Brown had stepped down -- now they’re running about like headless chickens, terrified that the one major stumbling block between a Lib-Lab coalition has been removed. Despite the Lib Dems being closer to the Labour party in the political views of their electorate and MP’s, it was clear that there was no way Nick Clegg was going to prop up a Labour PM as popular as the bastard offspring of Myra Hindley and Saddam Hussein.  Brown was despised in Middle England due to his being Scottish public relations difficulties.

Now with Brown out the way, a deal between the Lib Dems and Labour -- while not ideal -- is a lot more credible. There’s the obvious attack that’s going to come from the Tories and their allies about one unelected PM being replaced with another, but ultimately it’s the politicians who make the decisions, like it or lump it. And a youthful Blairite PM like David Miliband might not be too unpopular in the Home Counties marginals Labour need to retake in the future.

The biggest stumbling block left after Brown’s departure now though is the arithmetic. Despite taking 52% of the popular vote across the UK, Labour and the Lib Dems together do not have over half the seats. In order to form a stable Government, they would need to put together support from an eclectic mix of Democratic Unionists, Irish, Welsh and Scottish Nationalists.

The SDLP have already said their preference is for a Lib Lab pact, and the SNP have been calling for the Lib Dems to explore alternatives to an alliance with the Tories correctly saying that their vote would be badly damaged if they enforced a Tory Government on Scotland. Despite the SNP’s obvious rivalry with Labour it’s leadership know the Scottish people will judge them very harshly if they did anything to stop Labour from keeping the Tories out.

While the Tories Unionist allies are non-existent, the Democratic Unionists do have 8 MP’s in Northern Ireland who could be potential kingmakers in a coalition. Whilst they have officially said they are not opposed in principle to a Lib Lab pact, they are clearly on the right of the political spectrum and would fit more comfortably with the Conservatives.The arithmetic still does not add up though. A Lab-Lib-SDLP pact would not have a majority and neither would a Tory-DUP pact. The SNP, Plaid Cymru, Alliance and Green MP’s would hold real power over decisions.

There’s another issue which makes an elaborate coalition unstable -- English Nationalist resentment. While the Tories may have taken only 36% across the UK, in England they have a clear lead of 40% to Labour’s 28%. If a Government dependent on Scottish Labour, Scottish Liberal and other Nationalist MP’s from within the UK enact cuts on English public services you can bet the Tories, UKIP and BNP will attack them for enforcing a dictatorship on the English electorate.

Lets hope the SNP negotiate to ensure these scenes are never repeated again.

There’s already been discontent brewing south of the border on the issue of Labour’s legitimacy to govern England -- in 2005 Labour got less votes than the Tories in England for example, but more seats. This is alongside the West Lothian question where Scottish MP’s can vote on decisions that only affect England, and the Barnett formula where Scots receive more funding per head in public services than their English counterparts.

A lot of these concerns are pish -- 52% of English voters did support the Liberals and Labour, and the Barnett formula does not take into account Scotland’s massive subsidies to Westminster in Oil money. But the principle would remain -- Labour and the Lib Dem’s would rely on Scottish , Irish and Welsh MP’s to govern. Any negotiations to spare cuts from their respective parts of the UK would be attacked in the Tory press as robbing from England.

This would be a difficult situation for a Government in normal circumstances, but this is a Government that needs to enact brutal public service cuts the likes of which have not been seen in generations. When the schools, hospitals, and jobs start to go you can bet MP’s in marginal seats will feel the pressure to defy the whip to save their own skins. A lost by-election or two could scupper the entire Government’s spending plans. This is not a stable environment to make the UK a profitable place for capitalism again.

That’s why the Tories (and probably the markets too) are desperate to keep the Lib Dems in a pact with them. They are the most stable offer on the table, with both parties having a clear majority when put together -- and enough breathing space in case any MP’s rebel. But right now it appears the Lib Dems know they won’t get this chance again to hold so much power, and are demanding a voting system that takes their support into account. That could mean the end forever for single party Tory rule, and it’s whether or not that’s an acceptable price to pay for one stable Government that the Tories are mulling over just now.

Armando Iannucci already described in detail what a hung parliament might be like in 1997,

We swear we’ll post something more substantial when everybody’s calmed the fuck down.

Earlier this evening over a hundred young people gathered in central Glasgow to show their opposition to the imminent arrival of the first Tory regime in thirteen years -- despite the best efforts of the state and FACEBOOK to sabotage the demonstration.

Last night, an event was created on Facebook calling for mass opposition to the new Tory government, announcing plans to take to the streets of Glasgow this evening. By this afternoon, over 1700 people had confirmed their attendance. Similar numbers planned to attend to-be-announced demonstrations in Liverpool and Manchester, while 40,000 had joined the original group for a ‘riot’ in London.

However, this afternoon Facebook, without explanation, removed all the anti-Tory protest groups from the internets, in an atrocious attack on democracy and the right to protest. With Glasgow the only event with a location and time confirmed, however, the organisers went ahead with the event this evening, albeit with much reduced numbers. That said, with less than 24 hours notice, and no activity to build it apart from a Facebook event, a turnout of over 100 was pretty decent. Especially when you consider that most of those people were not activists or aligned with a political group, but just young people angry about the return of the hated Tories.

From 6pm, demonstrators started gathering in the city’s George Square, and over the evening a number of different young people spoke over the megaphone, giving their own views on the Tories-in-power and why they’d felt the need to take to the streets tonight.

Young people from Motherwell spoke of the last time the Tories were in power and the devastating effect it had on their local community, with the annihilation of major industry, including the Ravenscraig steel mill near their own town. Others spoke of the lack of democratic mandate the new Tory government has from the Scottish people, with us now subjected to five years of rule from a government a tiny minority of Scottish people voted for. A volunteer at the Unity Centre, which offers help to asylum seekers in Glasgow, spoke of the Tories’ racist anti-immigration policies. SSY speakers made the connection with the current struggles against austerity measures in Greece, as well as underlining the case for Scottish independence.

Other highlights of the demo included the many people passing by who stopped to chat to us and why we’d taken to the streets tonight to oppose the Tories, not to mention the symbolic burning of a David Cameron effigy!

The demo was not everything we hoped for -- in no small part due to the actions of Facebook who, acting in collusion with police, ensured that all those planning to attend through the event received a message announcing it was cancelled. Nevertheless, around 100 mostly young people from Glasgow and the surrounding area did take to the streets tonight to show their opposition to the new Tory administration, and their anti-working class agenda of cuts, war and state-sponsored racism. And we burned a fucking effigy of David Cameron in George Square!

Stormtroopers for Socialism

Burnt Face Cam

Proportional votes map

Geographical votes map

Here, you can see two maps of the election. To the left is a map of all the seats and who has taken them. Above, those same constituencies are all shrunk to the same size, so that you can see where how much of a proportion of the total UK vote the population of Scotland represents – not very much.

With the prospect of the Tories retaking power (with the support of the fake radical and con man Clegg), Scotland is experiencing a nasty 80s flashback.

Last night’s election results powerfully reinforce the case for Scottish independence.

In the 80s, Scotland consistently voted overwhelmingly for Labour, but it made no difference. The vast majority of the UK’s population are concentrated in the South East, London and its surroundings. This is where British governments are elected. After 18 years out of power, Labour were elected in 1997 because they transformed themselves into a right wing, neoliberal party in order to win the votes of these seats.

Under the last Tory regime, the most notorious example of how they ruled Scotland with contempt came when they imposed the Poll Tax in Scotland a year early. That helped kick off a mass campaign of resistance that ultimately led to the formation of the SSP.

Poster for the SSP's protest in 2004, demanding a Scottish Republic

There’s nothing inherent about being Scottish that means we’re more left wing than people in the South East. Until the 50s, the Tories usually got the biggest share of the vote here. But for the last 50 years or so, the political consensus in Scotland has been that people basically want left wing, old Labourish policies. Since the 80s, although we’ve voted for that, we haven’t got it. Since Tony Blair became leader of the Labour Party we couldn’t even try to vote for a government that would implement what most people want.

In the 80s, hating the Tories became virtually synonymous with being Scottish. There was an important reason for that – Scots pretty much didn’t live in a democracy, they didn’t get the government they vote for.

Last night, Scotland overwhelmingly voted Labour again. Things are slightly different now. Although the Labour Party in the 80s was a long, long way from being perfect, people aren’t voting for something that even approaches what they want any more, they’re voting against what they don’t want – the Tories.

Perhaps the most important consequence of the undemocratic governments of the 80s in Scotland was that it became impossible for the British ruling class to not concede a Scottish Parliament. Holyrood was a concession to try and buy off Scotland, staving off the anger of Scottish people that they don’t get the government policies they want.

But the fact remains that the vast majority of people can’t vote out to get rid of Trident nuclear weapons from Scottish soil, we can’t vote against neoliberal economic policies, and we can’t vote for a full welfare state and an end to the scapegoating of people on benefits. These things are all still controlled by the London government.

In the aftermath of the election, who will form the next government isn’t clear. In this situation, the need for a republic couldn’t be clearer. The UK government operates in the name of the Queen. The UK is still a monarchy, governed by crown powers. That means that the actions of the UK government, and who ultimately will form that government, isn’t decided by the people, but is controlled by the unelected elite, in the name of the Queen. That’s why the SSP has stood consistently not only for independence, but also for a republic. The SNP say they want independence, but they won’t make a clear commitment to getting rid of the monarchy and establishing a Scottish republic – which would mean Scotland ultimately was still controlled by the traditional British elite.

Scotland became part of the British state 303 years ago. But the Scottish state never ceased fully to exist. Throughout that whole time, there was still a separate Scottish legal system, official church and education system. Since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, the scope of what the submerged Scottish state controls has got much greater. But in the face of a possible return to the power of the anti-Scottish Tories, its time that everything done by the state in Scotland/the Scottish state is brought under full democratic control. The only way to do that is to establish a completely independent, democratic republic.

Protesting for a Scottish Republic, on Calton Hill in 2004

This would mean that the national question would no longer dominate Scottish politics. Nobody would blame England for our social and class problems. People would be able to completely focus on the role of Scottish bosses (and their international partners in England and around the world) and Scottish governments in oppressing the Scottish working class. The SNP would probably split as well, with the many socialists who are members of it but want to see independence first focusing completely on the social struggle.

We’re socialists, and anti-capitalists. We want to see Scotland go further than the reformist politics of old Labour. We want Scotland to move towards the full abolition of capitalism, transforming relations in Scotland so that nobody is exploited, working to make a minority get rich while we get poorer. But there’s a basic issue of democracy here. The vast majority of people in Scotland don’t want the right wing, neoliberal policies of the British governments of the last 30 odd years. If the Scottish state is to become a democracy, then we need an independent, democratic republic.

Bonuses: Check out this article about the need for a republic. And check out this wiki article for full details about the Declaration of Calton Hill and the SSP’s protests for a Scottish republic.

THE PARTY GROUPS AT GEORGE SQUARE ON FACEBOOK HAVE BEEN CANCELLED.

THEY ARE NOT CANCELLED. 6PM GEORGE SQUARE GLASGOW TONIGHT, BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!

Help us fuck over the tories and the fucking man!

Nick Clegg points and laughs at YOU, foolish voters

Nick Clegg has confirmed that a vote for his party simply equals a vote for the Conservatives, by admitting that he is looking to speak to Cameron first about forming a coalition government. His party already floundered in the polls and failed to live up to their promised challenge to Labour in this election and appear to have done even shitter than last time around (Current results stand at: Tories 299, Labour 254, Lib Dems 54).

SSY always knew that Nick Clegg would sell out all of the young, enthused voters that he had duped into thinking he was some sort of radical alternative. That’s why we pulled him up when he followed the cynical campaign trail to Glasgow North a few days ago – and 34 leaflets through my letterbox later they still lost to Labour, who increased their vote on 2005!

The Lib Dems are not an alternative, the ONLY alternative is to tell capitalism to get shoved and start working for the people, not for the rich and the powerful.

A Lib/Lab coalition would still be a minority government. A Lib/Tory government would be a majority. Lib Dem supporters can kiss goodbye to their commitment to electoral reform, and any credibility their party might have had over the last month. Tell the Tories (and the Lib Dems who prop them up) to fuck off by coming out in Glasgow tonight for a protest! Some bad people (probably the police/council) have got to the facebook group advertising it and have cancelled the facebook event but rest assured it’s still on, meet 6pm tonight in George Square! Bring banners noisy things colourful things etc etc