In Scotland, the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is a left-wing political party. The party was formed in 1998 from an alliance of left-wing organisations in Scotland. In 1999, it saw its first MSP returned to Holyrood, with five more MSPs elected in 2003. It lost all MSPs in the 2007 elections and has lacked representation in the Scottish Parliament ever since.
Early years (1996–1998) The forerunner of the SSP was the Scottish Socialist Alliance (SSA), a coalition of left-wing bodies in Scotland formed in 1996. Around 400 people attended the SSA's launch rally in Glasgow in February 1996, which attracted socialists and communists from various party backgrounds. The largest group involved was Scottish Militant Labour.
The first election fought by the SSA was the Toryglen by-election for Glasgow City Council in August 1996, with Rosie Kane as the candidate, where it won a respectable 18% of the vote. The SSA went on to contest 16 seats in Scotland at the 1997 general election, including all ten Glasgow seats, Edinburgh North and Leith, and both Dundee seats. Tommy Sheridan saved his deposit in Glasgow Pollok, and Jim McVicar and Alan McCombes picked up a significant vote in Glasgow Baillieston and Glasgow Govan respectively.
The SSA's electoral stance was that there needed to be a left-wing alternative to New Labour and the SNP, and the SSA felt that the experience had been enough of a success to go on to form the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in 1998, with Tommy Sheridan as its convenor, in advance of the 1999 Scottish Parliament election.
Formation and growth of the SSP
The SSP contested the by-election for the European Parliament constituent of North East Scotland that took place in November 1998.
1999 Scottish Parliament election
In April 1999 the SSP announced their manifesto for the first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament. Despite only having a party membership of around 1,200 the SSP contested all the regions, with the party's National Convenor Tommy Sheridan the top-placed on their Glasgow regional list. Sheridan was elected, becoming their first MSP.
The period following the election of Scotland's only socialist MSP saw sustained growth for the SSP. During this period of sustained and rapid growth, it recruited extensively from former members of the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party, in addition to trade unionists, environmentalists, and community campaigners. It also achieved what was, for a minor party, a respectable vote at the 2001 general election and a series of by-elections for the UK and Scottish parliaments (Hamilton South, Ayr, Glasgow Anniesland, and Falkirk West).
2003 Scottish Parliament election
The 2003 elections to the Scottish Parliament took place shortly after the decision of the UK parliament to invade Iraq and the 2002-2003 UK firefighter dispute. The SSP had been active in the anti-war movement and the firefighters' dispute, and fielded candidates in all seats. They gained five additional regional list MSPs across Scotland: Frances Curran; Rosie Kane; Carolyn Leckie; Colin Fox; and Rosemary Byrne.
The party had a boost when the Scottish section of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) affiliated with them, breaking their historical association with Labour.
Campbell Martin, a former SNP MSP who had become an independent, came fairly close to joining the SSP. The party did, however, recruit John McAllion, a former Labour MSP who lost his seat at the 2003 election. He stood for the SSP in the 2006 Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, but gained only 537 votes (1.6%).
Crisis and split
On 11 November 2004, Tommy Sheridan resigned as convener of the Scottish Socialist Party, citing personal reasons. It later emerged that he had been pressured into resignation by the party's National Executive because he intended to sue a national tabloid newspaper over stories he knew to be true. Colin Fox was elected to replace him at the party's 2005 leadership election.
By early August 2006, Sheridan was looking to become leader of the Scottish Socialist Party again but on 29 August 2006, before the election had taken place, Sheridan announced his intention to leave and found a new political party which he called Solidarity. His move was supported by Rosemary Byrne MSP. Sheridan hoped his splinter group would attract as many as 700 SSP members.