TTIP & TRIDENT: GREENS URGE LABOUR TO WORK ACROSS PARTY LINES
John Finnie, independent MSP for the Highlands and Islands and Scottish Green candidate for Holyrood 2016, has today called on Scottish Labour to collaborate across party lines to make Scotland's opposition to TTIP and Trident renewal heard.
Scottish Labour voted to oppose TTIP and the renewal of the nuclear weapons system at its conference in Perth.
The Scottish Green Party have been the sole party in Holyrood fully opposing the controversial EU-US Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership, which threatens to lock-in privatisation and allow big companies to sue governments for policies perceived to affect profits.
The Scottish Greens are also committed to campaigning for Trident to be scrapped, Nato membership rejected and defence funding diverted to the real priorities of humanitarian work, disaster relief and peacekeeping.
John Finnie, MSP and Scottish Greens lead candidate for Highlands and Islands for Holyrood 2016, said:
On vote against Trident renewal
“It’s about time that the Scottish Labour Party caught up with the strong public opposition to Trident in our country. This is one of the great moral questions of our time, and Scotland must unite in opposing this obscene weapons system capable of destroying humanity as we know it.
“Scotland does not want these weapons of indiscriminate civilian slaughter on our, or anyone else's soil. We want public money spent to support, not to kill people.
“Scotland’s political parties must do everything they can to stop the renewal of the atrocious weapons system, and the Scottish Greens look forward to working with our colleagues to make this happen.”
On vote against TTIP
“There is a growing movement in Scotland that’s determined to put a stop to the TTIP corporate takeover, with UNITE and others getting behind campaigners to oppose the dirty trade deal, and I welcome Scottish Labour’s decision to give its support to this movement.
“Protecting our NHS from a corporate takeover is vital, but we must be honest about the other implications of the trade deal too. TTIP will water down our labour and environmental protections, and drive small business into a corner by allowing big international companies to run the show.
“Scottish Greens have been consistently calling on the SNP Government to fully oppose TTIP, and we look forward to working with Scottish Labour and others to continue making this case in the Parliament and on the streets.”