People's Charter gives evidence to the Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Committee of the People's Charter gave  evidence to the Petitions Committee of the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 11th December. 

Introducing the Scottish Charter's demands to the Petitions Committee, People's Charter Committee members  Vince Mills and John Foster told the Petition's Committee that The  People's Charter should be seen as a response to and a refutation of the politics of austerity.  They outlined the  six key areas where the Scottish Parliament could act  to build a better life for the vast majority of the Scottish people and they argued that the austerity mongers by contrast give us recession, fewer jobs, poor services for the poor and decent services only for the rich, greater inequality and continuous conflict.

Elaine Smith MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston supporting the Petition  said: "these are exactly the kind of demands that those who began the campaign for a Scottish Parliament in the 1970s would have wanted the parliament to be discussing. These demands are about advancing the interests of ordinary working people. This is all the more important because the gains that working people have made through the labour movement are now under severe attack. The People's Charter is a blueprint for an alternative to the politics of austerity an inequality."

The Official Report of the above meeting is now available on the Parliament’s website and can be accessed by following this link: Public Petitions Committee – 11 December 2012.