Voters in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse will head to the polls on Thursday for the first by-election of this Scottish Parliament. Heckle reached out by email to three progressive and pro-independence candidates to ask them about their campaign priorities, the rise of the far-right and the impasse faced by the independence movement.
In this article, you can read answers from Collette Bradley, standing for the Scottish Socialist Party. You can click here to read the answers from SNP candidate Katy Loudon and click here to read the answers from Scottish Green candidate Ann McGuinness.
What are the key issues for you in this by-election campaign?
Years of austerity cuts to services, jobs, pay and welfare by mainstream parties of all colours have left some in utter despair and others susceptible to the false promises of the millionaire-backed, divisive/racist force of Reform UK, who are circling the working class like foxes in a henhouse.
The betrayal by the Labour Party of its traditional voter base and its every founding principle has left us with a mountain to climb in terms of re-engaging ordinary people in politics, but thankfully we are highly motivated by any prospect of working-class people having a glimpse of the view from the top, and our activists (old and new) have been turning out in increasing numbers over the course of this campaign.
On a shoestring budget, we are bringing some socialist hope to the streets of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse with our principled worker’s wage policy. If elected, I will reject the big £75k MSP salary all other candidates will happily pocket. Why? Because to be truly representative, you must remain in touch with the living conditions of the folk you’ll represent, rather than being all too comfortably and conveniently insulated from those struggles and realities.
How do you propose to tackle the rise of the far-right in Scotland?
Key are urgent wealth redistributive measures to take from the millionaires and billionaires to give back to the millions in need.
To those ends, we stand for a 5% wealth taxation of millionaires, and replacement of the unfair Council Tax with a more equitable, progressive, income-based Scottish Service Tax, based on the ability to pay – doubling funding to local councils along the way.
We campaign for a £15-an-hour minimum wage for all; massive investment in a publicly-owned, democratically-controlled NHS; and cancellation of all PFI contracts, taking back the money siphoned off by the loan sharks for investment in staff, hospital equipment, upgraded schools, and maximum classes of 20.
These policies would start to transform working-class lives in meaningful terms of jobs, wages, welfare and quality public services and are the same policies that will help to ward off the predatory forces of the far right.
Reform UK are wolves in sheep’s clothing who peddle false promises and sow division amongst sections of the discontented/disaffected working class, in order to perpetuate the class interests of their big-business, establishment backers, who want to dismantle the very services that working-class people depend upon.
What way forward do you see for the independence movement in light of Starmer’s refusal to hold a second referendum?
The future of the independence movement lies in lifting the most impoverished from the depths of despair and disengagement by popularising these kinds of hopeful, equalising measures and continuing to inspire people about what else is possible within an independent, socialist Scotland – not a continuation of the same broken capitalist system under the saltire.
Starmer, having changed his position on a second referendum to now presume to deny us one, is an outrageous affront to democracy.
It’s a denial of the right to decide, which Labour has in common with the Tories and Reform UK. It will also, almost certainly, fan the flames of the desire for independence. But ultimately, the people of this country must force change through organised, unified struggle.
The organised working class is what will deliver even stronger, life-changing and inspiring outcomes for themselves, including democratic public ownership of key industries and services where all of us become collective masters of our own destiny.
We will continue to make the popular case for this kind of independent socialist Scotland, where people and their needs are paramount, and the profiteers are the only minority feeling forgotten, sidelined and abandoned for a change.
- The Scottish Parliament by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse takes place on Thursday 5 June 2025. There are 10 candidates running in total.
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