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As Scotland's Green MSP, Robin Harper has been the
conscience of the Scottish parliament, and Greens have been at the centre
of the whistle-blowing of the financial scandals in the European parliament.
We try not to indulge in mud-slinging and name-calling which we feel debases
politics, and prefer to promote our own politics positively, concentrating
on the politics and not the personalities.
To view a policy, click on a link below:
TRANSPORT
We must encourage public transport use, especially in towns and by freight.
The Galashiels-Edinburgh rail link and reinstatement of the Dumfries-Stranraer
lines are a first priority.
The recent announcement that investment in Scottish rail is to be cut
to pay for new road schemes in England, and that road congestion and rail
fares are both set to rise over the next ten years sums up what is wrong
with current policies.
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JOBS AND THE ECONOMY
Scottish Green Party champions local business as the mainstay of a local
economy. Small, highly-skilled creative enterprises add to an area's sense
of pride and unique identity. Large multinational operations (like call
centres) do not. They offer jobs which are low-paid and unrewarding in
usually lousy conditions, and they disappear as quickly as they arrive.
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FOOD
The right to clean water and good quality food is the basic human right.
Organic food without chemical additives is the healthiest for both people
and the environment. SGP members have been in the forefront of the protests
against the GM crop trials authorised by Ross Finnie, and have been taken
to court for their actions. We are also at the forefront of the campaign
to stop compulsory mass medication by adding fluoride to general water
supplies.
We must act on the scientific advice on fish stocks. Listen to the advice
of Newfoundland fisherman who warn that their stocks seemed alright immediately
before they completely collapsed for good. But we must support those fishermen
who will otherwise go bankrupt and lose everything. Whole communities
will die unless adequate support mechanisms for those who want to leave
fishing are put in place.
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The Scottish Green Party's Organic Targets
Bill is being debated in parliament at the moment. It requires the
Executive to set targets for the conversion of farmland to organic
status, and to set up the infrastructure to enable sales and distribution.
Increased organic food production will:
- ensure that the growing organic market can, as much as possible,
be supplied by Scottish growers
- improve the quality of food being consumed
- be highly beneficial to wildlife. |
Despite being opposed by both Labour and Liberal Executive members,
there is a good chance that there will be enough rank and file support
for it that it will pass. Write to your MSP to urge their support! Full
details are available here.
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HEALTHCARE
Free healthcare should be available to all equally. There should be a
greater emphasis on health education and preventative medicine, including
ensuring decent housing for all.
Homeopathy, acupuncture and other proven holistic treatments, undertaken
by properly accredited practitioners should be available on the national
health. If they're good enough for the royal family, we all should have
access to them!
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WHAT A WASTE!
You can tell the environmental health of an organism by the waste it produces.
The UK is the sick man of Europe. Landfill dumping is no longer an option.
Incineration, with its associated pollution is not much better.
Over 90% of household waste can be recycled. Currently we recycle about
10%. We must stop throwing out what we can reuse, and government fiscal
policy (taxes and incentives) can make all the difference.
Dumfries and Galloway has a particularly non-environmental waste plan
- proposing to enter into a 25 year contract to burn most waste, with
minimal recycling. SGP members have campaigned for the plan to be called
in.
The best solution is to reduce waste. Over-packaging by shops should be
penalised. The Irish tax on poly bags has proved popular with shops and
consumers and has had an instant effect on the amount or torn plastic
bags littering trees, bushes, rivers and countryside.
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MINING
Open-cast mining in Ayrshire has been a disaster - for local residents
and the environment. Stringent conditions must accompany any new licences
and companies forced to retain money to return sites to the previous condition
or better when extraction ceases.
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EDUCATION
Education should be free, and continue through life. It should be driven
by the needs and wishes of the learner, not by commercial motives. Education
should focus on personal development and community inclusion. We should
concentrate on teaching our young people how to be good citizens, actively
involved in shaping the community they belong to.
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PEACE
The Scottish parliament must have a say in defence matters.
British support for the US attack on Iraq is not open to question
by the Scottish parliament, but members of SGP have such deep moral
and practical objections to being dragged into an unnecessary war
at the behest of George Bush (himself not elected by a majority vote,
but by a decision by judges appointed by his father), that we campaign
against it at all possible occasions. Tony Blair's insistance that
we blindly follow the orders from the Pentagon has nothing to do with
the best interests of Britain. |
Scottish Greens are in the forefront of CND and the
campaign to stop the attacks on Iraq. |
- More innnocent civilians were killed in the US attacks on Afghanistan
than died in the September 11th atrocity.
- The declared aim of that campaign - the capture of Bin Laden entirely
failed.
- There is still civil war fighting in Afghanistan.
- There is no evidence of any involvement by Saddam Hussain in international
terrorism.
- No Afghani or Iraqi nationals were in any way involved in the Sept.
11th attacks.
- Support for the US attacks on Iraq only makes us a focus for terrorist
retaliation.
- Violent aggression does not stop terrorism, it only creates more martyrs
for the cause.
Do you feel less afraid thanks to Bush and Blair's War on Terrorism?
No, nor do I.
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