Solidarity Scotland's Socialist Movement | |
|---|---|
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| Founded | 2006 |
| Dissolved | 2021[1] |
| Split from | Scottish Socialist Party |
| Merged into | Alba Party |
| Headquarters | 36 Chestnut Crescent East Kilbride G75 9EL[2] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Left-wing tofar-left |
| National affiliation | |
| Colours | Red,Green,White |
Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement was apolitical party inScotland. The party launched on 3 September 2006, founded by two formerScottish Socialist Party MSPs,Tommy Sheridan andRosemary Byrne, in the aftermath of Sheridan'slibel action.
On 23 December 2010, Sheridan was convicted of perjury during the 2006 defamation action, and sentenced to three years imprisonment on 26 January 2011. Solidarity performed poorly in the2011 Scottish Parliament election, achieving only 2,837 votes or 0.14% of the overall regional list vote.
Solidarity formally ended its existence as a political party in December 2021, giving its support to theAlba Party instead.[1]
The Scottish Socialist Party returned six MSPs in the2003 Scottish Parliament election. At the end of August 2006, the SSP's leader Tommy Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne, a SSP MSP for South of Scotland led a breakaway.[4] Solidarity launched on 3 September with 600 people attending the first meeting inGlasgow.[5][6] Most SSP members and branches in theHighlands and Islands defected to the new party, while theShetland membership voted unanimously to stay in the SSP.[7] 250 people attended the founding conference on Saturday 5 November 2006.[8]
The new party was backed by theSocialist Workers Party andSocialist Party Scotland (part of theCommittee for a Workers' International).[9] The two groups clashed at the first Solidarity conference on the political orientation of the party. After a close vote the interim title of "Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement" was adopted as the name of the party, and Rosemary Byrne and Tommy Sheridan were unanimously endorsed as co-convenors.[10][11]
The party failed to win any seats in the2007 Scottish Parliament election. The party won one council seat inGlasgow inlocal elections, with Ruth Black taking the Craigton seat,[12] then subsequently defected to Labour in December 2007 after Sheridan was charged with perjury.[13] They fielded a candidate in the2008 Glasgow East by-election who came sixth.[14]
In March 2009 Solidarity joinedNo to EU – Yes to Democracy, a left-wingeurosceptic coalition for the2009 European Parliament elections,[15][16][17] which received 9,693 votes (0.9%) in Scotland. Sheridan stood for election to Westminster in 2010 under theTrade Unionist and Socialist Coalition banner, winning 931 votes (2.9%) inGlasgow South West and losing his deposit.
Ahead of the2011 Scottish Parliament election Solidarity explored the possibility of coalition withGeorge Galloway. In January Galloway had announced his intention to stand for Holyrood after failing to gain a seat at Westminster as a Respect party candidate in the May 2010 election. Solidarity did not field a candidate in the Glasgow region, lending support to Galloway, who stood as the Respect Party candidate.[18] Solidarity performed poorly with a result of only 2,837 votes, or 0.14% of the regional vote, and won no seats in the Scottish Parliament. The party's issues were compounded when Solidarity leader Tommy Sheridan was convicted of perjury following a12-week-long court case at the High Court in Glasgow, and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on 26 January 2011. He was released in early 2012.[19]
At the start of 2015 Solidarity faced its own split as Socialist Party Scotland withdrew its support for the party and said that Sheridan had moved to the right.[20]
The party registered the nameHope Over Fear for the2016 Scottish Parliament election.[21] Solidarity fielded 40 candidates across Scotland's eight regional lists for the 2016 election.[22] At the 2016 elections the party received 14,333 votes (0.6% of the electorate) across all the regions and returned none of their candidates. However they gained the largest number of votes among the left wing parties in Scotland making them the third most supported pro-independence party in Scotland behind the SNP and the Scottish Green Party.
In June 2016 Sheridan resigned from his position as co-convener of the Solidarity, and Councillor Pat Lee elected to replace him alongside Byrne.[23][24]
The party campaigned in favour of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union during the2016 referendum.[25]
Solidarity had one elected official in Scotland: Councillor Pat Lee inSouth Lanarkshire. Lee was elected as an SNP councillor and defected to Solidarity in May 2015.[26] Solidarity has been accused of using entryist tactics inNorth Lanarkshire, with it being claimed that activists close to the party have infiltrated SNP branches in the area.[27]
Solidarity's split from the SSP was beset by a number of controversies. In the immediate aftermath of Solidarity's launch members of the SSP claimed that a transfer of funds from the account of the regional SSP to Solidarity was fraudulent.[7][28][29][30] In Autumn 2006, theIndustrial Workers of the World[31][32] alleged that Sheridan and Byrne betrayed workers by ignoring their right of consultation about the impending redundancy of parliamentary staff, and unilaterally removing funding from the collective body which employed parliamentary staff.
In March 2016 several leading activists left the party, citing its failure to adequately respond to members' reports of bullying and harassment.[33][34] Solidarity announced that Park would be bringing adefamation case againstThe National in relation to these allegations.[35]
On 19 November 2021, it was announced that Solidarity members would be asked to deregister the party and help build the newly formed Alba Party.[36] Members endorsed this at their 2021 conference.[1]
| 2007 | 31,066 | 1.5 (#8) | 0 / 129 |  2 |
| 2011 | 2,837 | 0.1 (#16) | 0 / 129 |  0 |
| 2016 | 14,333 | 0.6 (#7) | 0 / 129 | 0 |
| 2007 | 17,670 | 0.8 | 1 / 1,222 | |
| 2012 | 787 | 0.05 (#19) | 0 / 1,223 | 1 |
| 2017 | 883 | 0.05 (#15) | 0 / 1,227 | |
OUR VISION IS OF AN INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND.
A SOCIALIST SCOTLAND.
A MODERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC WHERE A PERSON'S WORTH IS MEASURED BY THEIR CHARACTER, COMPASSION AND COMMITMENT TO THEIR FELLOW MAN NOT THEIR BANK BALANCE, BIRTH OR STATUS
INDEPENDENCE IS NOT THE END OF OUR JOURNEY IT IS THE START OF OUR JOURNEY
THE JOURNEY TOWARDS A FAIRER COUNTRY THAT PUTS PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITS AND BABIES BEFORE BOMBS
BURNS WOULD APPROVE OF OUR RADICAL VISION
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| National | |
