Scotland
Scottish government prepares to reopen schools as new COVID-19 spikes emerge
By Steve James, 3 August 2020
The government intends to re-open all primary and secondary schools by August 18, despite COVID-19 outbreaks in call centres, distribution centres, pubs and care homes.
After police killing of Badreddin Abadlla Adam
More evidence of ill-treatment of asylum seekers in Glasgow hotels
By Steve James, 9 July 2020
Two weeks after the police killing of 28-year-old Sudanese man Badreddin Abadlla Adam, asylum seekers in Glasgow continue to face appalling conditions.
Scottish government moves to end lockdown as COVID-19 deaths hit 4,000
By Stephen Alexander, 13 June 2020
Scotland has the third worst coronavirus death rate in the world.
Scotland: Journalist Craig Murray charged with contempt of court over Alex Salmond trial
By Steve James, 4 May 2020
Journalist Craig Murray could face up to two years in jail following his reporting of the trial of former SNP leader Alex Salmond.
Scottish National Party spearheads UK-wide return to work campaign
By Robert Stevens, 25 April 2020
First Minister Sturgeon’s supposed “progressive” credentials, backed in Scotland, England and Wales by Labour and the trade unions, offer an avenue for big business and banks to engineer a political shift towards a return to work.
COVID-19 deaths in Scotland 79 percent higher than official figures
By Stephen Alexander, 24 April 2020
The impact of this deadly policy has fallen overwhelmingly on the poor, densely populated areas in deindustrialised centres of the working class.
Scottish care workers speak out against conditions and treatment during COVID-19 crisis
By Darren Paxton, 7 April 2020
Front line health and social care workers from the Scottish Highlands spoke to the WSWS about the conditions they are facing.
Scottish National Party gripped by factional warfare after Alex Salmond acquitted of concocted sex charges
By Steve James, 7 April 2020
Alex Salmond’s acquittal on sex charges threatens to break the Scottish National Party wide open, exposing its right-wing, anti-democratic and militarist character.
Pan Am 103 Lockerbie bombing: Fresh appeal launched to clear Megrahi
By Steve James, 18 March 2020
From the outset, it was apparent there was some level of foreknowledge or complicity on behalf of the US and British intelligence services in the 1988 bombing that killed 259 crew and passengers along with 11 residents of Lockerbie, Scotland.
Scottish National Party clashes with Johnson government over second independence referendum
By Chris Marsden and Steve James, 22 January 2020
The invocations of democracy by both sides seek to conceal a row between rival bourgeois factions whose interests, aims and nationalist agendas are hostile to the working class on both sides of the border.
UK refusal to accept Scotland’s supply of haemophilia drugs resulted in thousands of deaths
By Robert Stevens, 4 January 2020
Blood supplied from contaminated sources led to thousands of people being infected with diseases such as hepatitis and HIV, and the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in the UK.
Scottish court authorises eviction of Glasgow asylum seekers by Serco
By Steve James, 23 November 2019
Dorrian’s ruling is an example of class justice, upholding Serco’s interests against vulnerable, stressed and insecure people.
Glasgow helicopter crash inquiry scapegoats pilot
By Steve James, 16 November 2019
After six years waiting, the verdict of a Fatal Accident Inquiry has pinned responsibility for the Clutha helicopter crash solely on the aircraft’s pilot, David Traill, who was one of those killed.
Scotland records highest drug fatality rate in the UK
By Stephen Alexander, 15 August 2019
The deaths from drug overdoses have fallen disproportionately on poor, urban areas of the former industrial working class.
Scottish National Party supports the witch-hunting of Julian Assange
By Steve James, 20 July 2019
The statements of Scottish National Party representatives on the hounding and torture of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange make clear the party supports his jailing and extradition.
Scottish government threatens to seize Irish fishing vessels
By Steve James, 12 June 2019
Last week, the Irish government received a formal letter of notice of the Scottish government’s intention to seize Irish fishing vessels operating within 12 miles of Rockall.
London meeting to free Assange and Manning
Attendees from Scotland speak out: “Workers have to make their voices heard”
By our reporters, 18 May 2019
Audience members at livestream viewings in Scotland of the SEP’s May 12 London meeting in defence of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning spoke to the WSWS.
Local authority funding cuts worsen poverty and social inequality in Scotland
By Stephen Alexander, 9 May 2019
Scottish local authorities are imposing further cuts and increasing charges on vital services.
Scotland: Union suppresses teachers strike as lecturers fight on
By Darren Paxton, 24 April 2019
The teachers dispute has been closed down, but lecturers and education staff fight on.
Former leader Alex Salmond’s arrest threatens to tear Scottish National Party apart
By Steve James, 26 January 2019
Whatever the outcome of the legal case against Salmond, the SNP is being torn apart by factional infighting.
Scottish teachers balloted for strike action in pay dispute
By Darren Paxton, 23 January 2019
Teachers in Scotland are demanding a 10 percent pay increase, having rejected on several occasions the Scottish government’s offer of a paltry 3 percent.
Scottish lecturers expand strike for pay claim
By our correspondents, 18 January 2019
Lecturers are demanding a 2.5 percent increase, which merely covers for inflation, against an offer from the employers group Colleges Scotland of 0.9 percent.
Scottish teachers overwhelmingly reject pay offer
By our reporter, 23 November 2018
The Scottish government, local authorities, teaching and local government unions are desperate to avoid strikes, and above all to prevent a united offensive by teachers and council workers.
Scotland: Michelin plans closure of Dundee plant with loss of 845 jobs
Rank-and file organisations needed to organise fight-back
By Steve James, 17 November 2018
French-based transnational Michelin’s decision to close its Dundee tyre manufacturing plant poses workers with the challenge of creating new organisations of struggle.
Tens of thousands of teachers demonstrate in Glasgow for better pay
By Robert Stevens, 29 October 2018
The demonstration was far larger than the EIS anticipated and shows the desire of teachers to fight back against pay cuts.
Thousands strike in Glasgow for equal pay
“The council seem to think they can do what they want and get away with it”
By our reporters, 25 October 2018
Workers maintained picket lines at many of the city’s schools, museums, cleansing depots and libraries.
Thousands of workers in Glasgow plan strike for equal pay
By Steve James, 23 October 2018
Eight thousand poorly-paid, mostly women workers are due to strike October 23 and 24 in a long-running dispute with Glasgow City Council and its care services agency.
Scottish National Party proposes pact with Labour for second Brexit referendum
By Steve James, 15 October 2018
The SNP is proposing support for a Labour government in the UK based on demands for a rerun of the 2016 Brexit vote.
Alex Salmond resigns from Scottish National Party
By Julie Hyland, 31 August 2018
Salmond led the SNP for more than 20 years and is identified as the key figure in the push for Scotland’s independence from the UK.
Scotland: Protests force Serco to halt asylum seeker evictions
By Steve James, 14 August 2018
Serco wrote to Glasgow City Council of its intention to evict “former Asylum Seekers who do not wish to engage in voluntary return, and who the Home Office have determined have no legal right to remain in the UK.”
Hundreds of asylum seekers face imminent eviction in Glasgow
By Stephen Alexander, 4 August 2018
Serco has already issued six “lock change notices,” giving asylum seekers just seven days to vacate its property.
Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh building destroyed by fire fuelled by profit
By Steve James, 19 June 2018
Within hours, the British and Scottish governments refused to call a public inquiry into a fire which has reduced to ashes—for the second time in four years—a much loved and culturally significant public building.
Engineering workers occupy three BiFab yards in Scotland
By Darren Paxton and Sandy Campbell, 23 December 2017
Although workers effectively took control of the yards, the GMB and Unite trade unions were at pains to insist the action was a “work-in.”
Scottish National Party backs European Union over Catalonia
By Steve James, 14 November 2017
The SNP has avoided any criticism of EU support for the brutal crackdown by the Spanish government against the Catalan national movement.
SEP national secretary proposes “Capitalism Has Failed” at St Andrews University Union Debating Society
By our reporter, 7 November 2017
Chris Marsden, the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in Britain, won substantial support for the proposition that capitalism is an “abject failure.”
Director of British rights group Cage convicted for refusing to reveal mobile phone and laptop pass codes
By Steve James, 4 October 2017
The conviction of Muhammed Rabbani underscores the significance of recent investigations into massive mobile phone surveillance in Britain by local police forces.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale quits
By Steve James, 25 September 2017
Dugdale’s career points to the hollowed-out character of Labour and leader Jeremy Corbyn’s refusal to wage a struggle against the party’s right-wing.
Grenfell Tower: How the warnings of cladding dangers were ignored
By Steve James, 10 August 2017
Decades prior to the Grenfell fire, the dangers of flammable and incorrectly installed cladding were known to governments of all stripes and ignored.
Scottish National Party seeks pro-European Union pact with Labour
By Steve James, 7 June 2017
The Scottish National Party (SNP) is likely to emerge as the largest party in Scotland following the June 8 general election in the UK.
Royal Bank of Scotland seeks to avoid High Court action by shareholders
By Jean Shaoul, 27 May 2017
Former senior RBS executives have never had to make a public account of the events leading up to the bank’s collapse in 2008, when it was rescued by then Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The strange rebirth of the Conservative Party in Scotland
By Steve James, 18 May 2017
Following the local elections, the Labour Party in Scotland has fallen into third place, trailing the ruling SNP and the Tories.
Striking college lecturers protest outside of Scottish parliament
By Stephen Alexander, 29 April 2017
Despite almost a decade of swingeing education cuts, the EIS resisted any national action up until last year, when a few one-day stoppages took place.
Scottish college lecturers walk out over pay and conditions
By Stephen Alexander, 27 April 2017
The lecturers' strike must be seen in the context of growing unrest among workers in every sector of the economy after a decade of austerity.
Britain’s pseudo-left promotes Kurdish YPG militia volunteer Brace Belden as University of Glasgow Rector
By Stephen Alexander, 5 April 2017
The Kurdish YPG militias function as a proxy force of the imperialist powers in the brutal US-instigated war for regime change in Syria.
Pseudo-left groups champion Scottish National Party’s independence referendum demand
By Chris Marsden, 20 March 2017
Access to the European Single Market is the sole genuine concern of the Scottish National Party’s business backers, and it is one shared by broad sections of big business throughout the UK.
Scotland: Thousands protest in Edinburgh against Trump’s attacks on migrants
By Steve James, 13 February 2017
Scotland Against Trump put forward no perspective to mobilise the working class against the most right-wing, anti-democratic government ever elected in US history.
UK: Janitors and IT workers at Glasgow City Council face common struggle
By Minnie Watson, 7 January 2017
Unison aims to keep the Glasgow disputes separate from the identical threats facing the numerous council workers and Unison members in every single local authority in Britain.
Brexit seized on by Scottish government to mount new power grab
By Steve James, 28 December 2016
The Scottish National Party government are hoping to directly benefit from the Brexit debacle by laying claim to additional powers for the Scottish parliament.
Royal Bank of Scotland accused of corrupt practices with small business investors
By Jean Shaoul, 26 October 2016
In 2008, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alastair Darling took an 83 percent stake in RBS, pumping in £45 billion of taxpayers’ money to keep the bank afloat.
Scottish National Party pushes for second independence referendum
By Steve James, 25 October 2016
For Sturgeon and the SNP leadership, the threat of a new independence poll is a tool to extract concessions from London—primarily over the terms of Brexit.
Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon ignored in Europe
By Steve James, 12 July 2016
While the Brexit crisis centres on British relations with the EU, the unanticipated debacle is also threatening to destabilise relations between and within all the EU’s component countries.
Scotland’s RISE electoral coalition descends into crisis
By Steve James, 4 June 2016
RISE is led by an aspiring middle class layer of academics and commentators seeking to build their careers through the creation of a new Scottish capitalist state
Unsafe Edinburgh schools expose scandal of privatisation
By Steve James, 30 April 2016
Sixteen Edinburgh schools remain closed after the private consortium that built and managed the properties was unable to guarantee the safety of the buildings.
Glasgow City Council workers strike against cuts and poverty wages
By Steve James and Minnie Watson, 17 March 2016
Another round of spending cuts imposed by the Scottish National Party government on behalf of the Conservative central government is likely to cost as many as 15,000 job losses.
Brexit vote sparks crisis for Scottish National Party
By Steve James, 7 March 2016
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has come forward as the most craven booster of the political bona-fides of the European Union.
Scottish government imposes more cuts
By Minnie Watson, 21 January 2016
The Scottish National Party is faithfully imposing the attacks dictated by the Conservatives, including significant cuts in education and the arts.
RISE: “Scottish Syriza” seeks alliance with Scottish National Party
By Steve James, 20 January 2016
Under conditions where the SNP government is enforcing austerity policies, RISE seeks to ensure that disaffection with the SNP is channelled along nationalist and separatist lines.
Scotland: Victims demand removal of former police spy from St. Andrew’s University
By Steve James, 23 December 2015
Every political or campaign organisation whose outlook implies the slightest criticism of the authorities has been spied upon by the police.
Mass job losses loom in Scotland
By Stephen Alexander, 4 December 2015
Job losses are mounting, even before the huge cuts announced in the Autumn Statement are factored into the Scottish budget.
Scottish police flout law to uncover journalist sources
By Minnie Watson, 24 November 2015
An independent investigation has revealed that 34 police forces, over the course of three years, accessed the data of 105 journalists and 242 sources.
Jeremy Corbyn supports autonomy for Scottish Labour Party
By Steve James, 20 November 2015
Corbyn used the Scottish Labour conference last month as a platform to promote a variant of left-sounding Scottish nationalism.
Contradiction between pro-business policies and leftist rhetoric defines Scottish National Party conference
By Paul Mitchell, 20 October 2015
Aware of the precarious nature of the support for the SNP, the conference was directed towards attempts at maintaining its already damaged anti-austerity image.
Refugee crisis exposes Scottish National Party’s human rights hypocrisy
By Stephen Alexander, 5 October 2015
Underlying the SNP’s cheap anti-Tory populism and fawning before the European Union are definite material interests.
RISE: The “Scottish Syriza” that dare not speak its name
By Steve James and Julie Hyland, 3 September 2015
RISE’s purpose is to save the project of Scottish independence—and the lucrative opportunities they hope will be offered to its pseudo-left founders.
Scotland: Sheku Bayoh likely died of asphyxiation by police, lawyer says
By Minnie Watson, 26 August 2015
Within 45 seconds, Bayoh was incapacitated, restrained in handcuffs, leg and ankle restraints, and was in a “prone position face down.”
Scottish Socialist Party defends Syriza
By Steve James and Chris Marsden, 13 August 2015
Scottish Socialist Party leader Colin Fox has made clear that what Syriza has done in Greece, the SSP would be more than ready to do in Scotland.
Glasgow homeless caseworkers’ strike ended
By Katie Rhodes, 1 August 2015
Caseworkers will be returning to an even more chaotic and failing service compared with 17 weeks ago.
Scottish National Party’s anti-austerity hypocrisy exposed
By Stephen Alexander, 18 July 2015
The progressive pretensions of the SNP are a cover for core neo-liberal policies.
Scottish National Party’s Nicola Sturgeon goes warmongering in Washington
By Steve James, 23 June 2015
Sturgeon’s comments make clear that the SNP leadership fully supports British participation in the US-led military escalation that has brought the world closer to global war.
Pseudo-left seek formation of Scottish Syriza
By Jordan Shilton, 13 June 2015
The new formation is seeking advice from Syriza on how to access the corridors of power and consolidate positions within the capitalist state.
Meetings on UK general elections: “We were alone in telling workers and young people the truth”
By David O’Sullivan and Katie Rhodes, 30 May 2015
The Socialist Equality Party in the UK held two successful meetings, in London and Glasgow, on the lessons of the May 7 British General Election.
Murdoch’s Scottish Sun backs the Scottish National Party
By Jordan Shilton, 4 May 2015
Whatever other motivations are involved, Murdoch’s endorsement of the SNP punctures the carefully constructed myth that the SNP is an anti-austerity party.
Scottish National Party’s overtures to Labour prompt Conservative backlash
By Julie Hyland, 25 April 2015
Faced with a mounting social and economic crisis, the British bourgeoisie’s traditional mechanisms of rule are collapsing.
Scottish Socialist Party manifesto: Nationalism and class collaboration
By Julie Hyland, 23 April 2015
The SSP approaches every issue facing working people solely from the standpoint of the ability of the Scottish bourgeoisie to grab more powers from Westminster.
The political fraud of Britain’s Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
By Chris Marsden, 17 April 2015
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition offers no answer for anyone seeking a left alternative to the Labour Party.
Scottish nationalist advocates “devo-max” in Aberdeen leaders’ debate
By Julie Hyland, 11 April 2015
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she would push for complete control of taxation and spending in Scotland “as quickly as the other parties agree to give it.”
Pseudo-left rally behind Scottish National Party at anti-nuclear submarine rally
By Julie Hyland, 7 April 2015
The organisers of Saturday’s protest are seeking to channel opposition to war behind capitalist parties fully committed to militarism.
Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon denies claim she wants a Conservative government
By Julie Hyland, 6 April 2015
Labour is polling poorly across the UK and is forecast to be wiped out in Scotland, with the Scottish National Party the beneficiary.
UK general election: Conflicts intensify over possible hung parliament
By Julie Hyland, 12 March 2015
Amidst a possible Labour Party rout in Scotland, what emerges from the discussions on the makeup of a future UK government is the right-wing agenda of all the parties.
Oil slump triggers North Sea crisis
By Steve James, 5 February 2015
The slump upends the Scottish National Party’s mendacious perspective of an independent capitalist Scotland awash in oil revenue.
Scottish National Party prepares for a coalition role at Westminster
By Steve James, 19 January 2015
The SNP has decided that the views of its newer members are not going to prejudice its chances of cutting a deal with one or other of the leading British parties
Scottish first minister reassures the financial oligarchy
By Steve James, 31 December 2014
This pledge of fealty between the Scottish National Party and the top echelons of the British state exposes the role of the Scottish Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers Party.
European Arrest Warrants at center of Scottish National Party’s repressive agenda
By Steve James, 10 December 2014
Earlier this year, Scottish police attracted worldwide attention for having a far higher stop and search rate than both London and New York.
Radical Independence Campaign does dirty work for Scottish National Party
By Chris Marsden, 4 December 2014
The primary function of the RIC is to channel hostility to the Labour Party behind a section of the Scottish bourgeoisie and its party, the Scottish National Party.
Smith report on Scottish devolution sets off further devolution throughout UK
By Julie Hyland, 2 December 2014
The cross-party commission was established immediately following the September 18 referendum on Scottish independence.
Scottish student debt skyrockets
By Joe Mount, 2 December 2014
Although tuition is free in Scotland, miserly levels of student support mean that students must turn to loans to cover their living costs.
Scottish National Party’s Salmond and Sturgeon pitch to Labour and the ex-left
By Steve James, 25 November 2014
With UK opinion polls showing the likelihood of a hung parliament at the 2015 election, the SNP’s clutch of Westminster parliamentary seats could hold the balance of power.
Scottish National Party benefits from Labour’s collapse
By Steve James, 10 November 2014
The Scottish Labour Party is sharply divided over the extent to which it should advocate greater devolution in Scotland.
Former Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan declares for Scottish National Party
By Julie Hyland, 23 September 2014
“In concrete terms,” Sheridan writes, “that means advocating a vote” for the pro-NATO, pro-European Union, pro-corporate SNP.
Britain’s fake-left groups seek permanent nationalist alliance in Scotland
By Chris Marsden and Julie Hyland, 22 September 2014
Having embraced nationalism in Scotland, Britain’s fake-left groups are emerging ever more openly as right-wing tendencies.
Scotland’s No vote and the crisis of the British nation state
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (UK)
20 September 2014
The No vote on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom has in no way lessened the dangers facing working people.
Vote No in the Scottish referendum: Fight for a Socialist Britain!
the Socialist Equality Party (UK), 18 September 2014
The Socialist Equality Party’s call for a No vote in the Scottish independence referendum is based on the fundamental principle of the unity of the international working class.
Public meetings in Scotland: After the independence referendum, lessons for the working class
18 September 2014
The Socialist Equality Party (UK) invites all our supporters and readers of the World Socialist Web Site to a discussion on the implications of Scotland’s independence referendum and the way forward for the working class.
UK trade union bureaucracy split on Scottish independence
By Jordan Shilton, 17 September 2014
The trade unions have facilitated the promotion of regionalism for years.
The Scottish referendum: Lessons from Quebec
By Keith Jones, 17 September 2014
As in Scotland today, in the run-up to the 1995 Quebec referendum, the unions and pseudo-left played a critical role in giving a “progressive” coloring to the reactionary project for an independent capitalist Quebec.
The impact on Europe of the Scottish independence referendum
By Chris Marsden and Robert Stevens, 16 September 2014
The immense tensions generated by the Scottish referendum point to an unprecedented crisis of rule, whatever the outcome of Thursday’s ballot.
Workers and youth support Socialist Equality Party campaign in opposition to Scottish nationalism
By our reporters, 16 September 2014
Workers and young people in Scotland have responded positively to the SEP’s call for a “No” vote in Thursday’s referendum on the basis of a rejection of nationalism and the fight for the unity of workers in Britain and internationally.
Counterfire attacks socialist opposition to Scottish nationalism
By Jordan Shilton, 15 September 2014
The Counterfire group, a split-off from Britain’s Socialist Workers Party, has published a political apologia for the Scottish National Party and Scottish nationalism.
Spain: Catalan separatist leader declares Scottish vote “an example for us”
By Alejandro López, 12 September 2014
The separatists in Catalonia and Scotland invoke a false historical narrative that depicts each region as an oppressed nation.
Possible “yes” vote in Scotland referendum provokes split in UK Conservative Party
By Julie Hyland, 9 September 2014
There is a gathering political crisis in the Conservative Party over the September 18 referendum on Scotland's independence from the UK.
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