In fact, within a very short time in the pre-election campaign the nationalists quietly dropped their commitment to renationalise the buses. Multi-millionaire Brian Souter, founder of Stagecoach who owes his vast wealth to bus deregulation, had donated half a million pounds to the SNP campaign. Souter isa born-again reactionary bigot who led the campaign to keep Section 28 against ‘promoting homosexuality. In other words he's a homophobe. He has a disgraceful record in his treatment of his employees, who seem to be in perpetual dispute with him, and is rabidly anti-trade union. The Monopolies and Mergers Commission has described Souter as a ‘predator' whose business methods are, ‘deplorable and against the public interest' (Scotsman, April 23^rd 2007). The SNP conference decision of 2006 to take the buses back from the profiteers like Souter was popular and welcome. When Souter reached for his wallet, all reference to re-regulating the bus industry was removed from their website. Then we learned that business rates were to be slashed.

In Monkland's and Ayr districts, SNP candidates stood in the election on a platform of ‘SNP - Save the NHS'. Now we discover that ‘an independent panel is to investigate the reasons given by the Health Trusts for closure' (Observer, June 22^nd 2007). The £2,000 grant to first time house buyers ‘cannot now be met' while ‘the pledge to abolish student debts would not be honoured' (The Telegraph, November 16^th 2007). The Telegraph correspondent went further, writing,  ‘What Swinney (SNP Finance Minister) has got away with so far is mind-boggling.' In relation to PFI - despite giving the impression they would (as an administration) borrow money for schools, hospitals and social housing at a lower cost with fewer risks than the private sector - the SNP have decided to make local authorities responsible for all matters relating to raising finance for public projects. In the same report in The Telegraph the SNP are accused of ‘conning' COSLA (the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities). ‘COSLA weren't so much cut down by Swinney as conned'.

The SNP plans for local authorities are potentially disastrous for Scotland and are straight out of the Michael Hestletine/Norman Tebbit handbook on destroying councils and the vital services they are legally required to provide. BBC news, November 15^th, reported, ‘Their (SNP) commitment to build thousands of social, publicly owned, affordable new homes has been dumped onto local authorities who will decide on the method of financing the projects.' In other words, the SNP will force PFI on councils and blame them for the failures.

By putting the onus on councils to raise finances for social projects when they are starved of funding, councillors will be concerned about surcharges and catastrophic consequences leading to bankruptcy and removal from office. All socialists should be aware of the events in the 1980s when socialist councillors, elected democratically, were hauled through courts and removed from office by Thatcher for facilitating house building to replace slums and trying to safeguard jobs. While claiming to be against the use of PFI, the SNP are ensuring that there can be no alternative to this madness and greed. This is not what the Scottish public voted for and confirms the SNP as Tartan Tories!  

Young people and students, many of whom have been politicised by events in this generation, are rightly disgusted by New Labour. Many turned towards the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) as a socialist alternative. There are many good socialists among these young people who were misinformed, miseducated and ultimately misled in the most cynical way by the SSP. It is entirely understandable in the circumstances why the youth were drawn to the sects and even the idea that the SNP might provide an answer to the problems faced by the Scottish working class. The SSP leaders, who rejected Marxism and capitulated to Scottish nationalism, used these young activists in a disgraceful way to protect their own important positions and damaged the cause of class unity within the official organisations of the working class. Members, especially youth, were fed a steady diet of sectarianism and as a result lost confidence in the class struggle. They will now see how the SNP will attack universities and further education colleges in Scotland. After headlining their election campaign with a promise to write off student debt, Swinney admitted in a verbal reply to a question in the Scottish parliament on November 14^th, ‘This is no longer in our plans. It is a measure the SNP cannot afford, quite honestly.'

The private sector and big finance are already heavily involved in every area of our public services. For years the SNP claimed they opposed this scandal - until now. All our universities and colleges have been lost as publicly accountable institutions and internal markets are established. Universities and further education colleges need a minimum £168 million extra for the coming financial year, according to the Scotsman, November 16^th. The SNP budget has allocated £30 million extra, a cut in real terms. ‘There are fears of substantial job losses, or at least non-replacement of staff,' says the article, ‘(It) will also hit important research projects...' The alarm bell ringing among the working class is the signal for big banks and money men to salivate like Pavlov's dog. Dr Brian Lang, principal of St Andrews University has demanded a return to tuition fees - abolished by the previous Scottish Executive - and institutions be permitted ‘to raise their own funds by other means.' (Ibid). The abolition of tuition fees in Scotland was a welcome reform and directly linked to the class issue. It came on the back of a steady drop in the numbers of the poorest students, being unable to continue their education because they could not afford to. Attempts to return to excluding working class students from further education must be resisted. The SNP manifesto promise to ‘abolish student debts' was a lie. One tabloid columnist has raised the spectre of working class students being ‘excluded from further education' and ‘postcode influenced entry'. Places of learning will be unable to attract suitably qualified staff and academics - many of whom could earn more money in the corporate world but choose to make a financial sacrifice for the greater good. There has been a steady increase in the use in some colleges of ‘lecturers' whose qualifications are minimal. Invariably they are on short term contracts, are not trade union members and work for less pay.

Since its birth in the 1920s, the overriding goal of the SNP has been independence for Scotland. For 4 decades it played no significant role in Scottish politics. It was a misty-eyed romantic notion and predominantly appealed to the middle-class, notably farmers and sections of the professional class, especially those who had no interest in the unity of wage-earners - like policemen, small shopkeepers and lawyers. This class had no need of organisations like the trade unions or labour movement. In fact, their politics were opposed to organised labour. It is no coincidence that nationalism in Scotland rose as a political force in the early 1970s, exactly at a time when capitalism was in a slump. Even then, and in the sensational 1967 by election win by Winifred Ewing (a lawyer) in Hamilton, the SNP positioned itself on the political left. The bourgeois press in Scotland has always championed nationalism when there was any possibility of international socialist ideas becoming popular among the masses. Ewing's victory in Hamilton (a safe Labour seat) followed Harold Wilson's Labour government's attempt to reduce trade union influence and introduce wage restraints. When Margo McDonald won Govan (in the heart of the Clyde's shipbuilding district and another safe Labour seat) in the early 1970s it too, was a protest vote. At no time in modern political history have polls indicated that Scots want full independence. One recent opinion poll by The Social Research Institute revealed only 23% of Scots want independence - this at a time when the SNP have won their first ever national election. What is true is that Scots want more powers for the Scottish Parliament. The people of Scotland overwhelmingly oppose Trident. They resent the £25 billion cost to renew and maintain these bombs on the Clyde and consider the money could be spent more wisely. They are being told there is no money for the NHS, education, housing, then see on the news that billions are being spent on nuclear bombs. The SNP stood for scrapping the nuclear weapons at Faslane, reflecting many voters' opinions in the process. Now as the ‘Government of Scotland' they have launched an online petition protesting against the weapons!

This was all very well while in opposition playing to SNP activists. They are now the Scottish Government. Before the election, Salmond first said there would be a referendum on independence in the first year of an SNP win. Then, seeing the opinion polls, it changed to a referendum in the first four year term. Now there is to be what is called ‘a national conversation' involving the greens (two Members of the Scottish Parliament) and any other interested parties!

Like everywhere else in Britain, Scotland's communities are dogged by social problems, unemployment, mass drug addiction and poverty; the seeds of this destruction can be found in the Thatcher years. Politicians are struggling to find a solution because under capitalism there can be no solution. The catchphrase of the last 20 years has been ‘law and order' with daft schemes and initiatives led by half-witted do-gooders, millionaires, churchy people and philanthropists - none of whom would get out of bed for the minimum wage. Their answer to the drug problem is to tell addicts, ‘Don't do it!' and a call for ‘more bobbies on the beat'. The SNP promised 1,000 more officers on the beat if they were elected. What did we get? Well, first of all, we were told that was not what they meant at all. What they meant was they would free some of the police currently stuck in offices and put them on the beat! In any event, you get the point - it is a hard task to get 1,000 more police but the SNP will try their best! And it doesn't seem to have been noticed that probably 100% of all the bobbies who work in offices are there by choice and desperate to remain there!

During the bitter nursery nurse's strike in Scotland a few years ago, the SNP leaders visited the picket lines (mostly with a press photographer) and pledged unwavering support. Their election manifesto seemed to indicate they were serious: ‘We will increase by 50% the amount of free nursery education for 3 and 4 year-olds,' announced leader Alex Salmond (SNP website - since removed). This has had to be shelved because after their ‘Budget' COSLA issued a press release stating that the SNP were telling local authorities how they should spend their money, causing friction. This has still to be resolved. COSLA leader, Pat Watters also claimed local government had no money to cut class sizes, nor could they freeze council tax at its current levels (Herald, November 19^th).

Every manifesto promise made by the SNP has been broken. The extent of their trickery now exposed for all to see just seven months after the people of Scotland put their trust in them to provide answers for the problems they faced. They have attracted deep controversy in the parliament and among voters. In the future their plans to run public services into the ground will come into collision with the organised labour movement.

The labour movement in Scotland must resist all the attacks on services that the SNP plan. They have only a majority of one in the Scottish Parliament, ensuring a rough ride. But it will not be the decisions made in the parliament that will be decisive in the coming period, it will be the decisions and struggles of the workers, organised in the trade unions and linked to the Labour Party that will force the agenda from the grass roots. The next four years will see mass struggles and campaigns for the working class and youth. The idea that socialists can create an alternative outside the official labour movement has been proven to be a dead-end, yet some are now seeking to build an SSP mark II. With the adventure of the SSP and other alliances still fresh in worker's memories, this nonsense must be knocked on the head now. It has been tried and it did not work. There is no shame in that - what would be shameful is if the lessons of the last period were not to be learned.

See Ted Grant,  Scotland - Socialism or Nationalism.