A range of organisations and individuals have come together to advocate for Left alliances in time for the 2026 Scottish elections. Their statement and names are published to stimulate debate.

We the undersigned are socialists, trade unionists, campaigners, artists and members of diverse political parties or none. In common with very many tens of thousands of people in Scotland, we are deeply concerned about the increasingly perilous future that confronts us, from the global to the local.

The election of Donald Trump and the ascendancy of neo-conservatives and tech billionaires, notably Elon Musk, have accelerated human society’s drive to extinction amid climate breakdown; great power competition, war and imperial subjugation; and the rise of far-right and fascist formations eighty years on from the liberation of Auschwitz. The new world political disorder they pursue threatens, if not the wholesale extinction of the Palestinians, at least their complete expulsion from Gaza and the West Bank.

Such cataclysmic developments, happening at breakneck speed, have sent shock waves throughout the world, Europe, the UK as a whole and in Scotland. Millions of people voted Labour to see an end to 14 years of Tory rule based on austerity, cuts to public service, wage freezes, racism and warmongering, but now they see a continuation of the same politics. Starmer has maintained the two-child benefit cap, has scrapped the winter fuel allowance, has denied WASPI women’s legitimate claims, has abandoned the Grangemouth workers and is leading the charge for European rearmament, which he and Rachel Reeves plan to achieve through £6 billion further benefit cuts that will drive millions into deeper poverty and destitution. The disability cuts are beyond comprehension for their inhumanity, inflicting further punishment on literally the most vulnerable people in our society.

In Scotland, the SNP’s ‘bairns not bombs’ promise is a distant memory, as the Scottish Government embarks on its own austerity plus militarism trajectory. Meanwhile, life expectancy continues to decline in the most deprived areas of the country, the public health emergency of homelessness and drugs-related deaths continues and one in four children in Scotland live in poverty.

Reform UK, a racist party that points the finger away from the rich and pro-business politicians, and scapegoats refugees, migrants and ethnic minorities, is so far the main beneficiary of this crisis of the mainstream parties. We cannot allow anger at the attacks on working class people to become dominated by a party led by a posh millionaire and stockbroker who opposes workers’ rights, supports further privatisation of public services and embraces Islamophobia and bigotry.

The voices of political opposition from the mainstream are, with very few notable exceptions, silent. What is certain is that we cannot wait for deliverance. It is incumbent on all of us who reject this state of affairs to seize the mantle of the most urgent challenge of building grassroots, trade union, community based and activist opposition to the crisis that confronts us in all spheres of our lives: unaffordable housing, the precarious future of the NHS, appalling transport provision, vicious job cuts (including now 50,000 civil servants), education at all levels in crisis, insufficient food and power to live on, environmental catastrophe, the vile and divisive racism and Islamophobia, the poison of Reform, the normalisation of misogyny, the demonisation of trans people, the attacks on disabled people and the scapegoating of refugees. Taxing the super-rich and the multi-millionaires who offshore their wealth is a basic critical demand. Effective mobilisation, organising and campaigning from below is most important to win change, but we agree with those who would also like to see a genuine radical alternative at the ballot box.

A group of us — trade unionists, campaigners, activists, socialists from left parties and individuals – have begun meeting this year, with openness, transparency and in the spirit of mutual trust, in the attempt to forge a new unity. We have committed to establish common cause, to collaborate and to reach out to those who seek hope and to strive for an alternative future of peace, justice, plenty and wealth redistribution. While these may be modest beginnings, we believe that even in the short term our influence can be greater than the sum of our constituent parts. We recognise past projects to develop such a united Scottish left alternative, and we want to draw on these efforts and experiences, while recognising something new is needed, given the enormity of the crisis we all face. The Scottish Parliamentary elections of 2026 pose this question sharply.

Building a left alternative is urgent. We have been warned. If opinion poll and by-election evidence are correct, Reform might gain a dozen seats, perhaps more, in these elections, as disillusionment with mainstream political parties intensifies. We need a credible alternative that can stand up to Reform, but also to the failings of the other establishment parties, and be the focus for an inclusive fight for workers’ rights, to improve living standards and for unity against division, war, poverty and exploitation.

If you too support the call for a radical left alternative in Scotland, please contact Phil Taylor philip.taylor@strath.ac.uk to add your name as an individual or as an organisation or campaign group. Trade unionists signing in a personal capacity are to be greatly welcomed.

Initial Signatories

Ross McKenzie, Independent Councillor for Sighthill/Gorgie

Aamer Anwar, Human Rights Lawyer

Paul Laverty, Screen Writer

Gordon Martin, Regional Organiser RMT Scotland (in a personal capacity)

Matt Kerr, CWU & NUJ (in a personal capacity)

Lyn-Marie O’Hara, Unison (in a personal capacity)

Ian Mullen, Unison, City of Edinburgh Branch Officer (in a personal capacity) and TUIC

Talat Ahmed, UCU and Joint Vice Chair of STUC Black Workers’ Committee (in a personal capacity)

Rab Paterson, Secretary Midlothian Trades Council (in a personal capacity)

Mhairi McKean, Unison (in a personal capacity) and Trade Unions in Communities

Grant Buttars, rs21 and UCU (in a personal capacity)

Zamard Zahid, anti-racist campaigner

Jim Monaghan, poet and activist

Emeritus Professor Phil Taylor

Hector Puente Sierra, Scottish Organiser of the SWP

Angela McCormick, EIS-FELA Branch Convenor, South Lanarkshire College (in a personal capacity) and SWP Trade Unions in Communities (TUIC)