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Sheridan’s name is ‘key to success’ for Solidarity

Quote:


Solidarity could win up to six seats at the Holyrood elections in May according to a poll commissioned by the party, provided the link to Tommy Sheridan is explicit.

The party had decided that Tommy the brand was key to success in May. Its best known figure will feature on every ballot paper for the regional vote across the country.

Now the poll by TNS System Three, which asked around 1000 people how likely they were to vote for a party founded by Mr Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne, suggests the party has the potential for success.
continued...

The response showed 6% saying it was quite likely and 1% saying it was very likely that they would vote for Solidarity, putting the new party close to the performance four years ago of the Scottish Socialist Party, from which it recently broke away.

The 7% overall figures broke down to 14% in West of Scotland, 10% in Glasgow and 8% in the Lothians.

"We had been hoping that an opinion poll might say that if correctly identified we might have a chance of 4-5% of the vote, but this showing of 7% gives us a fighting chance of up to six seats, based on independent, credible polling evidence," said Mr Sheridan.

The likelihood must remain that Solidarity and the Scottish Socialist Party will split their potential vote.

Solidarity believes it is crucial to use Mr Sheridan's name on the ballot papers. The SSP used its six-word allowance on ballot forms to add: "Convener Tommy Sheridan". Now Solidarity will use the same tactic in seven regions while in the south they will also seek to add the name of Rosemary Byrne MSP.

Mr Sheridan said: "The SSP have the inherited advantage of eight years' existence. We have only been in existence for four months, so it's hard for us.

"But some pollsters have said there is a degree of confusion out there because some people think I am still in the SSP. Putting my name beside Solidarity on the ballot paper will clear that up."

Brushing off claims of an ego-trip, he said: "There may be a downside in terms of people saying Solidarity is a one-man-band but the same people said that in 2003 and it didn't do us any harm - it is also coming now from the same people who were prepared to stand under that same banner then.

"It's exactly the criticism that was levelled at the tactic in 2003, but it was highly successful as we went from a 3% share of the vote to 7% and from one seat to six.

"Solidarity is bigger than Tommy Sheridan, Tommy Sheridan is the best-known figure in Solidarity. We are confident this factor will give us an edge that is not being picked up in the current polls."

He said 300,000 copies of a four-page newspaper going out door-to-door in the coming weeks will employ the strategy, which will then be used in Solidarity's formal election communication leaflet and then on ballot papers.

Colin Fox, the SSP leader, said: "The tactic smacks of desperation but I can see the logic of it, otherwise they are completely anonymous as a party. I would also question the value of Tommy's name appearing on ballot papers outside Glasgow."


http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.1130095.0.0.php
Rinty

h

This is good news. It shows clearly to Solidarity that the disparity between this poll and recent polls can now be overcome by hard work allowing voters to identify who solidarity are. We suspected that, if voters knew which one was what, after the split, it would convert to mainly Solidarity votes.

I think it shows phenomenal growth for a party less than 5 months old and means it is all still out there to be won.

This would or could throw the speculation on potential rainbow coalitions up in the air.

Also, the reporter and Tommy are underestimating the projections. The other extreme would be to say that this could lead to 8 seats at this level as 14% could potentially deliver 2 seats in the West and every other region could potentially get one Solidarity seat on those figures, apart from North East.

I am quite confident that our strategy, our activist base and the campaigns and trade unions that we are working with will deliver a good result for Solidarity and that these figures will be improved as we close in on the election.
Avatar

Do you think Solidarity would go into coalition with any of the other parties?
I also wonder if this will have any effect on the SNP vote, people turned off by the SSP split may have decided to vote tactically for the SNP, and if Solidarity regain the momentum once held by the SSP we could see the SNP slip back to being on the same level or behind Labour.
Rinty

b

There wouldnt be a coalition.

The Greens, Solidarity and SSP all have the same policy on that, cooperation but no coalition as such.

We would insist on one concesson from our manifesto and would agree to back the other partners in the agreement's single concession.

We would then formally endorse a budget to allow the executive to go ahead. After that, we would treat each issue (apart from each party's concession) as a separate issue and support (or not) on it's merits.

I dont think Solidarity will affect the SNP vote to the extent that the SSP did in 2003 as we will not be standing in FPTP seats and the SNP seem to gaining potential voters from different sources.

I would imagine that quite a sizeable percentage of SSP and Solidarity voters wouldnt vote SNP whatever happened. A good vote for Solidarity will affect SSP, Labour more than the SNP and the Greens just as much as the SNP, in my opinion. Our support is strong and growing in trades unions where we are attracting traditional Labour voters.
azzuri

Thats what I'm hoping Rinty.

Hopefully Solidarity AND the SSP can steal seats from Labour...
Rinty

t

The SSP have no chance of getting a seat.
RedScotland

Solidarity certainly is desperate and obviously the only way they can win any support is by basing themselves entirely round Sheridan and his cult of personality. Obviously some people are still taken in by his charisma but I think it's clear to most Scottish people that he's a liar and cannot be trusted. The SSP is in a much stronger position on the ground than Solidarity and with their involvement in the struggles of workers and communities for a better society they are showing that they can make a real difference for the disadvantaged in Scotland and around the world.
Rinty

t

Quote:
The SSP is in a much stronger position on the ground than Solidarity and with their involvement in the struggles of workers and communities for a better society they are showing that they can make a real difference for the disadvantaged in Scotland and around the world.


You must be kidding Red, the SSP are non-existant in lots of the country and are most definitely the ones who are obssessed with Sheridan.

Using Tommy's name at elections was a tactic of the SSP in the past and has worked. Ths opinion poll shows that general public do not hold you view that you have.

How are the SSP showing that they can make a real difference?

Rosemary Byrne forced a law change through parliament on allowances for grandparents who adopt. Solidarity have trade union members joing in droves while they are leaving the SSP.

I'd love to think that your optimism is anything other than that but how can you campaign in communities where you have no members? The SSp have nothing outside of the Central Belt and this poll shows that they will be seriously chalenged by Solidarity in the Central Belt.

Before Christmas Solidarity held a public meeting that attracted 240 people in Dundee, Colin Fox got 50. In the Highlands a month later Solidarity meeting got 70 odd while Colin Fox got 1 (yes just one and he was a xenophobe who was there to complain about polish immigrants). In Fife we had two solidarity meetings in Dunfermline (70 people) and in Kirkcaldy (50), Fox and the SSP held a meeting there and pulled just 12. This is happening across the country.

The SSP still have just enough members and banners to make themselves look quite big at national demos, elsewhere they are nowhere to be seen.

What workers struggles are you getting involved in? What difference are you making?

The biggest strike in the UK will take place in January when the PCS go on strike. Four Solidarity members are on the National Executive of the PCS making a real difference. We are at the forefront of trade union activity in Scotland and SSP are thin on the ground.
azzuri

Re: t

Rinty wrote:
The SSP have no chance of getting a seat.


Maybe not, but if they steal enough votes then that's good enough for me.
Andy McH

With respect to all (No pun intended) . The SSP were never a poitical party, they were always a one man band. Those who kid themselves otherwise are unfortunatley deluded. Tommy's new party will fare slightlty worse than the ssp last time.
notbritish

Rinty - I hope all three leftist partes - Solidarity, Greens and SSP - get enough MSP seats to bolster up the SNP numbers needed to put a Referendum Bill through.

Your optimism - like the optimism of the SSP members - is natural enough but both parties are gonnae get totally routed in May.

Maybe Rosie and Tommy will survive in Glasgow but thats about it. No one else from either party has a realistic chance.

In the List vote I still cant decide who to viote for. Sadly it wont be for the Brit Left SWP hack that Solidarity has put at the top of their list. Nor for Colin Fox who has doen nothign to further the cause of Indepedence nor socialism. Hope Margo stands here or many of us will really be snookered.
Rinty

n

I dont think that both will get trounced notbritish. The poll figures were an indication that there is a chance of a Solidarity MSP in every region, with the possible exception of the North east.

It is an absolute certainty that Tommy will be elected in Glasgow. In the West of Scotland there are 14% of that poll saying that they are likely to vote Solidarity. That gives quite a wide margin for error and I dont ever remember such poll results for a left party outside of the cities.

Personally I think that the difference between the SSP and Solidarity will make little difference overall to the pro-independence vote as the votes that the SSP took from the SNP in 2003 are the most likely to desert either of the two left parties. I know that new solidarity members in recent weeks have been predominately old labour and trades unionists.

The lists system means that the pro-independence parties can damage each others numbers of MSPs if they are succesful.

My opinion is that both the SSP and Solidarity will take a number of votes from the Greens. My reason for thinking this is anecdotal evidence based on the SSP's mistaken tactic of standing in FPTP seats in 2003.

We have found significant numbers of people who voted SSP first and Green second, meaning this to indicate their marginal support in favour of the SSP rather than the Greens, who benefitted most from it.

SSP and Solidarity moving to list only could see some of those votes move from the Greens. Another factor to consider for all of the MSPs of smaller parties is that they were unknowns in 2003. They have now had 4 years to build a reputation in their region.

In 2003 no-one outside of Irvine and Trade Union circles would have known of Rosemary Byrne. The votes for the SSP list here in the South would have been won by a combination of the work of local branches, the work of the party nationally, and the profile of Tommy Sheridan. Four years later she has specific support in some campaigns and communities across the region from Stranraer to Melrose.

She has an outside chance as we have no SSP opposition, as virtually the whole of the region joined Solidarity and we have signed up more new members than anywhere else. Over half of the South membership were never SSP members and we have more than double the activist base and membership in the region than we ever had in the SSP.

Personally I think that the four pro-independence parties should have had a united assault on the council elections but it's too late for that now. Local branches of all four should cooperate as much as possible on the council elections. If we break the Labour monopoly of Cosla and the SNP match labour in parliament backed by at least some smaller parties then we have a great platform to take Scotland in a new direction and aim for independence in 2011.

I think this years elections have come too soon for the pro-independence movement as a whole (certainly too soon for solidarity) but I am still optimistic that Solidarity will return 2 or 3 seats at least and the SNP will match or beat labour.

We need a stronger IF and IC and, in my opinion, a right of centre pro-independence party to emerge before we can take the parliament.
Avatar

Just checked the SEP website, they dont seem to have any new updates.
R.Ascal

The left in Scotland is in a bad way. Trotskyist sects on all sides are an embarrasment. Soildarity's lack of solidarity and blatent wish for their former comrades demise is unedifying and will do nothing for working class people.
Reluctant Hero

R.Ascal wrote:
The left in Scotland is in a bad way.


On the contrary. I was at a Solidarity meeting last night and I share Sheridan's optimism about the forthcoming election.

The SSP may be nowhere come the election, but Solidarity will certainly return more than one MSP.

As for wishing to see their former comrades demise. If a group of people who you thought you could trust stabbed you in the back, would you not be a bit put out?

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