Key Policies

During the election campaign for the Scottish Parliament many controversial issues have been raised that do not come within the devolved responsibilities of the Scottish Parliament but would require action on a UK-wide basis.

It is the custom and practice of the Scottish Parliament to debate issues not within its formal powers and to act as a 'sounding board' for Scottish opinion. The Scottish CPA candidates are committed to debating in the Scottish Parliament issues raised by the electorate. The outcome of these debates will be communicated to the Federal CPA party who will use them in the development of UK-wide policy.

We present below with our manifesto pledges the views of Scottish CPA on issues of recent controversy. Views expressed by individuals or groups within the CPA do not commit the Federal party to any position on UK-wide policy.

1. Oppose Trident

CPA Scotland opposes the replacement of Trident. If it is immoral to use these weapons, it is also immoral to threaten their use. Opinion polls show that the majority of Scots oppose Trident - a stance shared by Churches, trade unions and the local authorities. Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are marching against the wishes of the Scots people, with their determination to keep and replace Trident. CPA Scotland will work for unilateral disarmament by the UK and for the removal of reliance on nuclear weapons owned by other states.

2. Against war in Iraq

CPA was the first political party to publicly oppose going to war in Iraq, stating it to be illegal under international law, unjust and a threat to international peace. We continue to hold this view. CPA Scotland is campaigning for the immediate transfer of responsibility to a UN peace-keeping force, the withdrawal of western forces, an end to US-contracts and restoration to Iraq of financial loss.

3. Local Income Tax To Replace Council Tax

Council Tax is an unfair burden on the poor, pensioners and the low paid and should be replaced by a fairer more progressive income-based alternative. As Help the Aged Scotland has pointed out, Council Tax takes 13% of the income of senior citizens. It also pampers the wealthy. Less than one per cent of Scots earn more than £90,000 a year and the other 99% are not on the Local Government Finance Review Group. Over 75% of Scots earn less than £25,000 a year. 652,000 Scots earn less than £10,000 a year. A local income-based tax would benefit almost 80% of households. The wealthy would pay more while ordinary workers and Senior Citizens would pay less. Such a local income-based tax would represent a major assault against relative poverty.

4. Minimum Wage Increased in Line With Low Pay Unit's Target

CPA Scotland is pressing to see at least £8/hour for the Minimum Wage. We oppose exploitative practises that leave workers dirt poor. The gap between the wealthy and the less well-off, including the working poor, has got much wider under the Labour Government. A guarantee of a shared day off a week will be given to the people through ending unnecessary Sunday working.

5. Giving Backing to Marriage

The Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliament has consistently down-graded and undermined marriage through a series of new laws (see Consultation and Policy documents). CPA in the Scottish Parliament will campaign for the introduction of a transferable married couples allowance so that marriage is once again given a privileged status. This will give real choice to men and women about their place in the workforce and recognises the known wishes of most women to remain with their children in the early years. In addition, the CPA will press for child and marriage allowances that will pay parents £7,000 a year for their caring role until the children are at least 3 years old. Through these measures an important signal will be sent that marriage is important and is valued by the Scottish Executive.

6. Free School Meals

CPA Scotland will back proposals for free and nutricious school meals for all children. Research reveals that a substantial minority of children whose parents are on benefits still do not qualify for free school meals because of the vagaries of the benefit system. A healthy diet is important for learning and future developmental progress of the child. As well as measures improving access to local, fair priced produce, CPA will end junk-food advertising on television targeted at children. We will bar vending machines in schools selling high fat, high sugar, high salt foods and press for laws to prevent fast-food vans parking near places of education.

7. No Nuclear only Renewables

The CPA in Scotland opposes the construction of new nuclear power stations. The priority is to reduce reliance on oil and to cut back on energy usage. On a cost basis, nuclear plants are prohibitively expensive to build. They are not reliably clean, with "accidents" going unreported. At the moment, there are requests for information to be released concerning "clusters" of leukaemia cases on the Solway Firth and in Kirkcudbright. Nuclear power stations are also a prime target for terrorists. We favour renewables, particularly solar and wave power and in some parts of Scotland, wind turbines. (See policy Paper) For these reasons we will set ambitious energy reduction targets, ensure all new public buildings include combined heat and power or renewal energy technologies and end the fuel poverty that sees people living on low incomes struggling to manage homes that are expensive to heat. The CPA favours environmental cost pricing for energy-inefficient journeys, with backing for a new coach system linking rural areas to conurbations.

8. Pensions Increased to £114/week immediately

The Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher cut the link between pensions and average earnings. The Labour government, after ten years in power, has decided to re-introduce this link BUT only in a few years time. CPA Scotland will re-introduce this link immediately. Pension tax credits are not claimed by large numbers of pensioners because they feel humiliated about having to claim them. Many Senior Citizens live in dire poverty. Help the Aged points out that more than a third of pensioners dread the cold winter and cannot afford their heating bills. This is compared to Sweden where only 8% cannot afford their heating bills. With ?4bn going unclaimed in pension tax credits by older people, this could be spent on giving free central heating and Insulation to all pensioners who do not have it.

9. Long - Term funding for community/Neighbourhood Projects to relieve poverty

In the Parliament, CPA will press the Scottish Executive to finance a National Neighbourhood Fund. This money would be distributed to many local community projects in the most deprived areas of our Scottish cities. The people running the local community projects - such as residents living there - would join the members of the trust who would allocate the funds. Existing quangos would disappear and local people would use their own initiative to decide the real priorities and needs for their areas. CPA Scotland will ensure funding for the National Scottish Neighbourhood Fund would be on an on-going basis not just, as at present, for one or two years. This would cut out red tape and empower the people who are experiencing poverty, to put in place the projects and services which their area really needs. This would remove the role of remote bureaucrats or council officials who knows very little about the situation.

10. Parents to be consulted re Sex Education in Schools

CPA Scotland will take a radically different approach to sex education - one that recognises the dignity of every individual. For this reason, CPA favours abstinence - style sex programmes as well as a full factual sex education programme. Just as smoking has been confronted and reduced by a 'say no' message, so can early-age sex. Labour's Sexual Health Strategy put out for consultation by the Scottish Executive in 2003 argued that the only way to reduce teenage abortions, pregnancies and STI'S was by introducing the morning-after pill and wide-spread contraceptive measures. But this targeted the vulnerable group of 13 - 15 years olds who rightly must be considered children. We oppose this approach, not least because it has failed, with teenage conceptions, abortions and STI'S all soaring.

CPA Scotland wants parents to be FULLY consulted as a matter of routine about the proposed sex education of their young teenage children. With evidence of teenagers being bussed at lunch-time to Sexual health clinics - sometimes for abortions without the consent or knowledge of their parents, CPA will ensure parents are kept fully informed of what the Health Department is doing, in the programmes carried out by the local school nurse or Health Development Officer.

11. Oppose Gambling Casinos
In the Parliament, CPA Scotland will oppose Labour's spiralling gambling plans. All research already indicates there is a severe gambling problem in Scotland. The super casino planned for Manchester as well as small casinos -- being built in Stanraer in Dumfries and Galloway and Glasgow -- are utterly shameful acts.

Once again, Labour oppose the wishes of the Scots people, with 70 per cent of the public (according to ICM opinion polls) opposed to super casinos. CPA Scotland will act on fears that more gambling will put further stress on family life, with consequent rises in addiction, increased levels of debt, alcohol abuse, rises in crime and money laundering.

(See policy Paper on Gambling.)

12. Tighten law on Cannabis by re-classification to a Class B drug
CPA Scotland will take a compassionate but hard-headed approach to our nation's drug problems. For this reason we favour more drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres, rather than relying on greater use of substitutes such as methadone.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Greens have simply got it wrong in their soft approach to drugs. Christian Peoples Alliance will campaign for a re-classification of cannabis to a Class B drug. Labour's disastrous experiment in downgrading cannabis from a class B to a Class C drug has led to greater use. According to the Home Office more people have also gone through the gateway of cannabis to harder drugs.

The philosophy of "harm reduction" in the drugs field is failing. Instead of preventing drug use, it merely seeks to reduce some of the damaging effects. Instead, CPA Scotland advocates a huge increase in rehabilitation centres and a vigorous educational programme in schools presented by ex-drug users. Since there is a very high correlation between addictions and poverty, we will combine our drugs policy with a total assault on the scourge of poverty.