I'm SNP because

I’m SNP because….  is basically my life story.  It won’t surprise any of you to hear me say that it pretty much defines who I am as a person.  I have had a political awareness from a very young age.  One of my earliest memories is that of my Dad being part of the teachers strike in 1985 & him telling me he was taking the day off work because of Thatcher.  Even earlier than that I remember being scared of Thatcher because I genuinely thought she was a witch.  Whether this was just down to how she appeared on the TV & my pre-school imagination or whether I was picking up on things I’d heard the adults around me say I’ll never know.  I don’t want to create the impression that my family were hardcore political activists.  They weren’t & to this day aren’t.   But they do have a belief that what is right is to be fundamentally kind to others.  That in itself is clearly, to me anyway, the very basis of Left Wing politics.   It’s an understanding  that the greater good is served by looking after folk.  The teacher’s strike was a good 10 years before I joined the SNP.  Maw & Dad were never members of a political party.  My grandparents on the other hand were, maybe not to the extent that I have become.  Understanding the influence of my both sets of grandparents is probably the key here.  I’ve mentioned in my last piece that my Granddad was the son of a man who fled the Pogroms in Ukraine.  Granddad was a lifelong Socialist, indeed he boasted to me that at one point in his life he had even been a member of the Communist Party.  However he spent most of his life a member of the Labour Party, only leaving when Tony Blair became leader.  It’s worth noting that he did this before Blair became Prime Minister because he saw what Blair would do to his party.  The important thing in this essay is that he instilled in me many of my core beliefs in regards to politics being a tool to reduce inequalities, of a progressive taxation system, of worker’s rights and the evils of Right Wing politics. 

If it had been solely down to Granddad I probably would have joined the Labour Party & fought vainly to change it from within.  However, on my Maw’s side the family are SNP way back.  My Gran was a member of the Young Scots, an early incarnation of what is now the Young Scots for Independence.  I was told regularly that her mother, my Great Gran was a long time SNP member who had been friends with Dr Robert McIntyre.  I still feel very lucky that I was able to call Doc Mac a friend in my first couple of years in the party.  This family connection to the SNP, as proud as I am of it, is secondary in importance to what I actually learned from Gran.  It was from her that I first gained an understanding of Scotland as a separate nation.  A nation with our own distinctive history & culture.   The influence of both sets of grandparents gives my political being a balance for which I am eternally grateful.  The socialist firebrand on one side & the calmer, more subtle self-aware patriotism on the other both make the SNP my natural home. 

Before I talk a little about this election specifically I feel, if I am to be completely honest, I need to mention one other aspect of my pre-adult years.  I was bullied at school. Sometimes it was physical, but mostly verbal & intimidation.  So to this day I have an inherent hatred of bullies & bullying.  When I talk about wanting reduce inequalities I see whole communities that have been bullied for years by people who should have been helping them, ie the State.  I also see other parties running campaigns purely based upon attacking my friends & my party.  These attacks come from parties that are offering nothing positive, indeed one who comes to mind seems to feel that their biggest asset is to have a loud voice.  It is the SNP’s contrast to that which makes me SNP. 

So now let me talk a little more specifically about why I am voting SNP on May the 5^th.  In Edinburgh North & Leith we are lucky to have the candidate that we do.  So firstly & foremostly I am voting for Ben Macpherson because I believe he will make an excellent constituency parliamentarian.  This is a constituency that desperately needs someone who will represent everyone in the area no matter who they voted for, no matter their background.  I believe his politics are a good balance of a desire to do good for all in our society & an understanding of the distinctness of our constituency and indeed our country.  You only have to look on social media to see the strength of the team that has come together to fight to get him elected.

But you don’t vote purely on the basis that you like one man.  I proudly vote SNP because we have policies that look after folk, that make a day to day difference to people’s lives.  Free prescriptions, free tuition, free bus passes for OAPs.  We will increase the Carer’s Allowance, we will build more affordable homes, we will abolish the bedroom tax, we will establish a Social Security Agency with fairness and dignity at its heart.  Yes I did rip some of that directly from the SNP manifesto & I make no apologies for doing so.  I’m SNP because I want a stronger & a fairer Leith.  I’m SNP because I want a stronger & fairer society.  I’m SNP because it’s just who I am.

#SNPBecause