Motions voted on at SSP Special National Council Sunday 28 May 2006, Glasgow.
Emergency Motion from Inverness Branch
(Inverness branch reported that they had convened a meeting on the Sunday morning of the NC, met and agreed this Emergency Motion. The NC voted to hear this motion and it was passed on a show of hands)
This meeting notes the revelations in today's Sunday Herald that a senior SSP official handed over a sworn affidavit to that newspaper in November 2004 giving full details of the EC meeting at which Tommy Sheridan was forced to resign as convener.
This meeting expresses anger and astonishment that at a time when Alan McCombes is in prison for refusing to make confidential SSP minutes available to the state or the News of the World, one or more leading members of the party were aware that the contents of the minutes were already in the possession of the bourgeois press as a result of their actions. This shows a level of cynicism and contempt for party members which is beyond belief.
This meeting therefore calls for the immediate resignation of the senior party member involved and of any other leading members who were involved in and/or aware of this information. In addition, the NC calls for disciplinary action to be considered against al those who were involved in and/or aware of this situation but kept it from party members.
Motion 1 Executive Committee
(This was lost on a card vote - 67 for and 82 against
This National Council
- Notes and confirms the decision of the NC in November 2004 that the minutes of the 9th November 2004 EC meeting should be kept confidential.
- Believes that we should have the right to keep our records confidential if we chose to.
We resolve
- To maintain the confidentiality of the 9th November 2004 EC minutes by keeping the sole copy of these minutes with Alan McCombes.
- To support the stance of Alan McCombes in keeping these minutes confidential.
Motion 6 Aberdeen South, Aberdeen North/Central, Stirling and Buchan branches
(This motion was formally moved and then, at the wish of the majority at the meeting, put to the vote without any discussion - it was passed on a card vote 81 votes for and 60 votes against)
1. This meeting recognises that the excellent vote achieved by the Scottish Socialist Party in the 2003 Scottish Parliamentary elections was due in no small part to the role played by comrade Tommy Sheridan both as sole MSP and as a campaigner for the working class in Scotland and internationally over the previous decade and a half.
2. This meeting recognises that the perceived failure by sections of the SSP leadership to support Tommy when he was attacked by the News of the World in 2004 and the subsequent perception of the Party as divided has been a major factor in the decline in support for the Party since then.
3. This meeting recognises and applauds the very positive role played by Colin Fox in trying to heal the Party's wounds and restore members' confidence since taking over as Convenor in 2005.
4. As a matter of socialist principle, this meeting fully supports Tommy's right to defend himself against the News of the World and the Murdoch press.
Whilst Tommy Sheridan is pursuing his libel case as an individual, we offer him our full political support in his battle against one of the most vicious and anti-working class organs of the ruling class.
5. It also recognises that in re-building our electoral base, Tommy Sheridan must play a leading role in the 2007 election campaign.
