Scottish Labour Students
Encyclopedia
Scottish Labour Students (SLS), is a student society, affiliated to the Scottish Labour Party
and forms an important part of the UK-wide organisation Labour Students
.
Scottish Labour Students aim to bring Labour values to campuses and represent students within the Labour Party throughout Scotland. SLS hold regular Scottish events including SLS Conference in November and SLS Council in February. In addition, its members are often invited to hear major speakers at Labour Party events throughout the year. Glasgow University Labour Club and Edinburgh University Labour Club are the two biggest clubs within SLS.
SLS remained famous for its hostility to Trotskyism and SOLS members were key to recovering control of the National Organisation of Labour Students
, NOLS, from the Militant Tendency
in 1975 and the following year SOLS members took the famous "icepick express" (a bus with an icepick - the weapon used to kill Trotsky - attached to the front) to that year's NOLS conference at Lancaster University
. This incident is recalled in some detail in Michael Crick
's books on the Militant Tendency
/Revolutionary Socialist League
. (See Clause Four Group
.)
Scottish Labour Students elections are notorious for being fixed, usually with many positions - if not all - going uncontested.
SLS has an eleven-member committee
The committee also includes Officers from liberation groups(LGBT,Womens,Disabilty and BME) and two ordinary members
All positions are elected at the annual SLS Conference in November.
, Disabled Students and Black Minority Ethnic. Each campaign is completely autonomous and hold events and discussions designed at highlighting issues relevant to them to the wider Labour Students movement.
In addition to this, for the first time in 2007/08 SLS ran its own issue based prority campaign. 'Changing Perceptions - Homelessness' intended to challenge the perception young people have of the homeless in Scotland.
In 2008 SLS ran a Pro Choice Lobbying Campaign against attempts during the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill by Conservative Party
MP Nadine Dorries
to reduce the upper limit for abortions to 20 weeks from the current 24 weeks of pregnancy. Her amendment was defeated by 332 votes to 190, with a separate 22 week limit opposed by 304 votes to 233 - with MPs continuing to support the 24 week limit.
SLS are also actively involved in opposing the Scottish National Party
plans to introduce a Local Income Tax
which SLS claim would hit students who have to work to support themselves while studying.
1978: Dave Smith
1979: Margaret Curran
1980: John Boothman
1982: Paul Robertson
1984: Sarah Boyack
1985: Susan Deacon
1986: Pat McFadden
1987: Paul Greatrix
1988: Billy Halliday
1992: Jason Wassell
1994: Joanne Milligan
1997: Gregg McClymont
1998: Alex Foulkes
2001: Blair McDougall
2002: Blair McDougall*
2002: Gemma Doyle
& John Woodcock
2003: Adam Hug
2004: Neil Bibby
2005: Kenny Young
2006: Kenny Young
2007: Victoria Jamieson
2008: Jillian Merchant
2009: Dean Carlin
2010: Ross MacRae
2011: Ross MacRae
Note: Blair McDougal served two terms because the Youth and Student Conference was cancelled following the death of Scotland's First Minister, Donald Dewar
.
Scottish Labour Party
The Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....
and forms an important part of the UK-wide organisation Labour Students
Labour Students
Labour Students is a student organisation affiliated to the British Labour Party.Membership comprises affiliated college and university clubs . Membership of Labour Students is through membership of a university or college Labour Club. Affiliation is open to any Labour Club generally supportive of...
.
Scottish Labour Students aim to bring Labour values to campuses and represent students within the Labour Party throughout Scotland. SLS hold regular Scottish events including SLS Conference in November and SLS Council in February. In addition, its members are often invited to hear major speakers at Labour Party events throughout the year. Glasgow University Labour Club and Edinburgh University Labour Club are the two biggest clubs within SLS.
History
The organisation was founded as the Scottish Organisation of Labour Students (SOLS) in 1970/71, however it is a direct descendant of the Scottish Association of Labour Student Organisations (SALSO) which had existed since 1946. In the 1960s SALSO's UK equivalent, the National Association of Labour Student Organisations (NALSO), was taken over by Trotskyists and disaffiliated from the Labour Party. SALSO, however, successfully resisted any take-over attempts.SLS remained famous for its hostility to Trotskyism and SOLS members were key to recovering control of the National Organisation of Labour Students
National Organisation of Labour Students
National Organisation of Labour Students may refer to:* Labour Students, a student organisation affiliated to the British Labour Party* National Organisation of Labor Students, a former factional grouping operating within the National Union of Students of Australia...
, NOLS, from the Militant Tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
in 1975 and the following year SOLS members took the famous "icepick express" (a bus with an icepick - the weapon used to kill Trotsky - attached to the front) to that year's NOLS conference at Lancaster University
Lancaster University
Lancaster University, officially The University of Lancaster, is a leading research-intensive British university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established by Royal Charter in 1964 and initially based in St Leonard's Gate until moving to a purpose-built 300 acre campus at...
. This incident is recalled in some detail in Michael Crick
Michael Crick
Michael Crick is a British journalist, author and broadcaster. Crick was a founding member of the Channel 4 News Team in 1982. He worked on the BBC's Newsnight between 1992 and 2011, acting as the programme's political editor from 2007 to his departure...
's books on the Militant Tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
/Revolutionary Socialist League
Revolutionary Socialist League (UK, 1957)
The Revolutionary Socialist League was a Trotskyist group in Britain which existed from 1956 to 1964.-Formation:After the dissolution of the Revolutionary Communist Party, Ted Grant and his supporters were expelled from the RCP's successor The Club in 1950 and formed the International Socialist...
. (See Clause Four Group
Clause Four Group
The Clause Four Group was a grouping in British Labour student politics in the 1970s and 1980s set up on the 18th floor of Owens Park Hall of Residence at Manchester University, the same floor where John Mann and Phil Woolas first met at Manchester University...
.)
Scottish Labour Students elections are notorious for being fixed, usually with many positions - if not all - going uncontested.
Internal organisation
SLS is made up of affiliated Labour Clubs at universities across Scotland.SLS has an eleven-member committee
- Chair - currently: Lewis Gordon Miller
- Vice Chair - currently: Taylor James Scott
- Secretary - currently: Stephen Donnelly
- Treasurer - currently: Mark McGeoghegan
- Press & Publicity Officer - currently: Oliver Milne
- Student Union Liaison - currently: Emma Meehan
The committee also includes Officers from liberation groups(LGBT,Womens,Disabilty and BME) and two ordinary members
All positions are elected at the annual SLS Conference in November.
Campaign groups
The SLS Committee includes representatives from each of the 4 liberation campaigns: Women's, LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
, Disabled Students and Black Minority Ethnic. Each campaign is completely autonomous and hold events and discussions designed at highlighting issues relevant to them to the wider Labour Students movement.
Campaigning
SLS are heavily involved in every election in Scotland, mobilising its members to take part in campaigns in marginal seats across the country.In addition to this, for the first time in 2007/08 SLS ran its own issue based prority campaign. 'Changing Perceptions - Homelessness' intended to challenge the perception young people have of the homeless in Scotland.
In 2008 SLS ran a Pro Choice Lobbying Campaign against attempts during the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill by Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP Nadine Dorries
Nadine Dorries
Nadine Vanessa Dorries is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire since 2005. She has been involved in parliamentary attempts to change the laws on abortion....
to reduce the upper limit for abortions to 20 weeks from the current 24 weeks of pregnancy. Her amendment was defeated by 332 votes to 190, with a separate 22 week limit opposed by 304 votes to 233 - with MPs continuing to support the 24 week limit.
SLS are also actively involved in opposing the Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
plans to introduce a Local Income Tax
Local income tax
The Scottish Government planned to bring forward legislation to replace the council tax with a local income tax , as part of the funding for Scottish local authorities....
which SLS claim would hit students who have to work to support themselves while studying.
Former chairs
1967: Robin CookRobin Cook
Robert Finlayson Cook was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Livingston from 1983 until his death, and notably served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 to 2001....
1978: Dave Smith
1979: Margaret Curran
1980: John Boothman
1982: Paul Robertson
1984: Sarah Boyack
Sarah Boyack
Sarah Boyack MSP is a Scottish Labour MSP for the Lothian region and formerly constituency MSP for Edinburgh Central in the Scottish Parliament....
1985: Susan Deacon
Susan Deacon
Susan Deacon is a Scottish politician, academic, commentator and a former Scottish Cabinet Minister.She was Labour MSP for Edinburgh East & Musselburgh from 1999–2007 and served as Scotland’s first Cabinet Minister for Health and Community Care following the creation of the Scottish Parliament in...
1986: Pat McFadden
Pat McFadden (British politician)
Patrick Bosco McFadden is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South East since 2005...
1987: Paul Greatrix
1988: Billy Halliday
1992: Jason Wassell
1994: Joanne Milligan
1997: Gregg McClymont
Gregg McClymont
Gregg McClymont is a Scottish Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East since 2010.-Background and personal life:...
1998: Alex Foulkes
2001: Blair McDougall
2002: Blair McDougall*
2002: Gemma Doyle
Gemma Doyle (politician)
Gemma Doyle is a British Labour Co-operative politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for West Dunbartonshire since 2010...
& John Woodcock
John Woodcock (UK politician)
John Zak Woodcock is a British Labour Co-operative politician. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness in 2010.-Early and personal life:...
2003: Adam Hug
2004: Neil Bibby
2005: Kenny Young
2006: Kenny Young
2007: Victoria Jamieson
2008: Jillian Merchant
2009: Dean Carlin
2010: Ross MacRae
2011: Ross MacRae
Note: Blair McDougal served two terms because the Youth and Student Conference was cancelled following the death of Scotland's First Minister, Donald Dewar
Donald Dewar
Donald Campbell Dewar was a British politician who served as a Labour Party Member of Parliament in Scotland from 1966-1970, and then again from 1978 until his death in 2000. He served in Tony Blair's cabinet as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1997-1999 and was instrumental in the creation...
.