Have the SNP never heard of credit unions?

By Jim Lee

Download the SNP manifesto, type in the words “credit unions” and your search will get a “no matches found” response. This is from a party which describes itself as a “left of centre, social democratic party”. The Scottish Nationalists have worked very hard to give the impression that they are just like the Labour Party but the truth is they are nothing like the Labour Party.

Knocking on doors in Scotland during the current Scottish Parliament elections, many of the voters who are being coy about revealing their voting intentions give the reply, “let’s just say I won’t be voting Tory”. The dividing lines between Labour and the Tory-led coalition are clear. If you ask the same voters about the SNP, many will tell you that they see very little difference between Labour and the Nationalists. It would seem the SNP have succeeded superficially in presenting themselves, to some people at least, as indistinguishable from Labour. The appearance, of course, is completely wrong.

Labour has connections to the real world which the SNP simply doesn’t and the launch of Scottish Labour’s Mutuals Manifesto is an example of how Labour understands the hard work that is done in communities by ordinary people for ordinary people.

The Nationalists have nothing to say about co-operatives or mutuals which have a global track record of delivering for people and communities and which left-of-centre parties across the world acknowledge.

Scottish Labour’s Mutuals Manifesto highlights Labour’s support for co-operatives; demonstrates how Labour stands ready to support the work done by Scotland’s credit unions in particular; and outlines how Labour in government will harness the co-operative sector’s expertise on a whole range of issues from housing to energy.

The Mutuals Manifesto also demonstrates the value of the direct political links between the Co-operative Party and the Labour Party.

This is why the Scottish Co-operative Party – with its eleven Scottish Labour and Co-operative candidates – stands proudly with Scottish Labour.