47-637: The Scottish Libertarian Party , also known as the Scottish Libertarians , is a political party in Scotland that advocates libertarianism . Its current leader is Tam Laird. The party was first founded on 3 January 2012 under the leadership of author Daniel Logan-Scott. It was refused registration by the Electoral Commission due to naming similarities with the Libertarian Party UK . This
94-565: A boy. He said that he enjoyed it, but criticising the president, the army and UNIP (the party the President Kenneth Kaunda was leader of) were crimes. He complained that, in time, the situation would be the same in Scotland, comparing it to the boiling frog theory. The party supports Scottish independence , because they say that their policies are impossible to enact under the current political situation. However, unlike most other pro-independence Scottish parties, they are against
141-581: A comprehensive analysis of corporate welfare in 1993. Huff reasoned that a very conservative estimate of corporate welfare expenditures in the United States would have been at least US$ 170 billion in 1990. Huff compared this number with social welfare : In 1990 the federal government spent 4.7 billion dollars on all forms of international aid. Pollution control programs received 4.8 billion dollars of federal assistance while both secondary and elementary education were allotted only 8.4 billion dollars. More to
188-538: A considerably larger percentage of production. Alan Peters and Peter Fisher, Associate Professors at the University of Iowa , have estimated that state and local governments provide $ 40–50 billion annually in economic development incentives, which critics characterize as corporate welfare. Multiple economists have considered the 2008 bank bailouts in the United States to be a form of corporate welfare. U.S. politicians have also contended that zero-interest loans from
235-408: A disproportionate amount of funds on large corporations, and often in uncompetitive, or anti-competitive ways. For instance, in the United States, agricultural subsidies are usually portrayed as helping independent farmers stay afloat. In actuality, the majority of income gained from commodity support programs has gone to large agribusiness corporations such as Archer Daniels Midland , as they own
282-553: A few key constituencies. They did, however, advise people to vote for whatever party was the most likely to deliver a no-deal Brexit . On 10 November 2020, the Scottish Libertarian Party announced that Aberdeenshire councillor for Stonehaven and Lower Deeside , Sandy Wallace had joined the party. Cllr Wallace was originally elected as a Conservative at the 2017 Aberdeenshire Council election , but became an independent on 12 December 2018, citing he had no faith in either
329-455: A means of achieving the international goals. Should diplomacy fail and the life, liberty, or property of the nation was at stake, then war becomes the only option remaining and will be officially declared through the passage of legislation. The party believes that education is best facilitated by the free market and that schools should be managed locally, arguing it would help achieve greater accountability and parental involvement. They consider
376-400: A very liberal stance, and support easy immigration to Scotland. However, they support "reasonable controls... to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who pose a credible threat to security, health, or property." When it comes to international conflicts and warfare, the party argues for diplomacy as the primary option for resolution and rejects the use of force, either militant or economic, as
423-605: Is against all tariffs and supports unilateral free trade with all other countries. On inflation, the party says, "...the Scottish Libertarians advocate a monetary system based on gold, silver, or both and denounce the fiat money system and the central banking system that creates inflation." The Scottish Libertarians believe that "there are no groups" when it comes to issues such as gender equality and sexual orientation , instead stating "There are only people and people come individually." On crime and justice, they say that
470-573: Is for the legalisation of all drugs and would end what they call the costly and ineffective War on drugs . They also support the decriminalisation of prostitution in line with the New Zealand Model , as advocated by Amnesty International . The party is pro- free speech , and oppose restrictions of what the SNP describes as " hate speech ." The party's leader, Tam Laird, wrote once that he lived in Zambia as
517-476: Is sometimes restricted to direct government subsidies of major corporations, excluding tax loopholes and all manner of regulatory and trade decisions. The term "corporate welfare" was reportedly coined in 1956 by Ralph Nader . Believed to have been first popularised by Michael Harrington 's 1962 book The Other America in which Harrington cited Charles Abrams , a noted authority on housing . Variations on this adage have been used in criticisms of
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#1732859076755564-629: Is the main political party in Scotland which primarily supports Scotland becoming an independent nation. They have also supported further devolution as a progression towards independence. They are overall centre-left , and sometimes considered big-tent , advocating social democracy , nuclear disarmament and closer ties to the European Union . They were founded in 1934 and formed a permanent grouping in House of Commons in 1967. Their best election result in
611-767: The 2016 Scottish Parliament election the party stood in the West Scotland , Mid Scotland and Fife , North East Scotland regions and the Edinburgh Central constituency. The party received its highest percentage of votes in Edinburgh Central with 0.3%, or 119 votes, and received 650 votes in Mid Scotland and Fife, 552 in North East Scotland and 480 in West Scotland, for a total of 1,805 votes in Scotland. In
658-458: The 2019 general election the party fielded one candidate in the constituency Kilmarnock and Loudoun , Stef Johnstone, then deputy leader, getting 405 votes (0.9% of the votes cast). However, they said that the reason they were only standing one candidate was because this election was solely about Brexit , and that it would be better to save their money for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election , when they hope to stand candidates in all regions and
705-633: The 2021 Scottish Parliament election , two SNP MPs defected to the new party, making the Alba Party the fourth largest Scottish party at the Westminster Parliament after the SNP, Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish Conservatives. In the run up to the 2021 Scottish Parliament election there was a succession of SNP representatives defecting to the party. The party failed to win any seats in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election , after attracting only 1.7% of
752-461: The Convention on International Civil Aviation (a UN agency ) which specifies that aeroplanes should be exempt from fuel duties. In 2015, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would "strip out" the £93bn of "corporate tax relief and subsidies" Farnsworth referred to and use the proceeds for public investment. Corbyn did not say which specific policies he would change. The Guardian wrote
799-581: The Federal Reserve System to financial institutions during and after the financial crisis of 2007–2008 were a hidden, backdoor form of corporate welfare. The term gained increased prominence in 2018 when Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill, singling out Amazon and Walmart in particular, to require a company with 500 or more employees to pay the full cost of welfare benefits received by its workers. Daniel D. Huff, professor emeritus of social work at Boise State University , published
846-689: The Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party merged. Their leader is Alex Cole-Hamilton . Since the formation of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition at Westminster, support for the Liberal Democrats has fallen sharply, and the party won five seats at the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election . They also lost their Scottish MEP at the 2014 European elections . They also lost 10 of their 11 House of Commons seats at
893-527: The United States ' economic policy by Joe Biden , Martin Luther King Jr. , Gore Vidal , Joseph P. Kennedy II , Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. , Dean Baker , Noam Chomsky , Robert Reich , John Pilger , Bernie Sanders , and Yanis Varoufakis . "Privatizing profits and socializing losses" refers to the idea that corporations want to reserve financial gains for themselves and pass along losses to
940-1108: The current healthcare system to be poorly performing and would heavily reform it, believing that a free market solution would better suit this task. They also would legislate to allow for assisted suicide or 'dignified death'. List of political parties in Scotland Charles III William , Duke of Rothesay Swinney government The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP Kate Forbes MSP Sixth session Alison Johnstone MSP Angela Constance MSP Dorothy Bain KC The Rt Hon Lord Carloway KC PC United Kingdom Parliament elections European Parliament elections Local elections Referendums Starmer ministry The Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP The Rt Hon Ian Murray MP This article lists political parties in Scotland . The Scottish National Party (SNP)
987-467: The welfare state and would see all sectors of the economy run privately, including education and healthcare. They are against the idea of state ownership , saying, "Every person has a right to their justly earned or created property to use, sell, rent, lend, or dispose of as they choose... What is commonly seen as property ownership in the United Kingdom is in fact property use. The actual owner remains
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#17328590767551034-570: The 2015 general election, with Deputy Leader Alistair Carmichael the only MP managing to keep his seat. They currently have four MSPs and six MPs. The Scottish Greens sit between the centre-left and the left-wing. The party promotes green politics , Scottish independence, equality and radical democracy . It retains close ties with the Green Party of England and Wales and the Green Party Northern Ireland , having all originated in
1081-404: The 20th century was at the general election of October 1974 in which they won 11 of Scotland's 72 Westminster seats as well as around 30% of the popular vote, however they lost all but two of these seats in 1979 . Support for the party was bolstered under the leadership of Alex Salmond , who in 2011 led the SNP to their best electoral performance to date, in which they became the first party in
1128-449: The EU , as they claim that re-joining it after independence would "simply be trading one foreign master for another." They are willing to work with the EU for reduction of barriers to trade and movement of people between Scotland and the EU. They are against all tariffs and wish for the country to adopt unilateral free trade. They have voiced support for Liberland . On immigration, the party takes
1175-584: The Prime Minister or the Conservative controlled Coalition in Aberdeenshire. He became the party's first elected representative at any level of governance in Scotland. In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election for the first time the party fielded candidates in all eight regions and nine constituencies, getting 4,987 votes in the regions (0.2% of the total votes) and 1,913 votes in the constituencies (0.1% of
1222-668: The Scottish Parliament until recently by Douglas Ross , and 5 MPs. Scottish Labour is the Scottish wing of the Great Britain-wide Labour Party . It was the most successful party in Scottish elections from 1964 to 2007. Like the wider UK Labour Party , they are centre-left and they promote British unionism . They first overtook the Conservatives as Scotland's largest party at the 1959 general election . In 1997,
1269-624: The UK Labour Party under Tony Blair offered Scotland a referendum on devolution which was passed with around 74% of the electorate in favour. From 1999 to 2007, they were in power in the Scottish Parliament through a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. From 2008 to 2011, the party was led by Iain Gray in the Scottish Parliament, who announced his resignation after the party's defeat at the 2011 Scottish election . Johann Lamont became leader in 2011 and resigned in 2014 after an internal dispute within
1316-417: The best value option available). However, The Register wrote that Farnsworth's figure for tax relief for investment was incorrect and that he had made mistakes in his calculations, noting that he was not an accountant. It also stated that not charging businesses taxes under certain circumstances (when the reliefs applied) was not the same as giving them a subsidy. Fuel duty is not charged on airlines due to
1363-643: The breakup of the UK Green Party . However, all three parties are now fully independent. The Scottish Greens won their first seat in the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and currently have 7 MSPs, but have never returned any MPs. Reform UK Scotland is the Scottish wing of the UK-wide Reform UK . It is a Eurosceptic and right-wing populist party. The party gained its first elected representative in January 2021, when sitting independent MSP Michelle Ballantyne joined
1410-523: The devolved Scottish Parliament to win a majority of seats. They form the Scottish government, and are now led by Scotland's First Minister , John Swinney . They have 64 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and 9 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (MPs). The Scottish Conservatives are the Scottish wing of the UK-wide Conservative Party . They were founded in 1965 out of
1457-516: The disabled, receives 13 billion dollars while American businesses are given 17 billion in direct federal aid. Huff argued that deliberate obfuscation was a complicating factor. In 2015, Kevin Farnsworth, a senior lecturer in Social Policy at the University of York published a paper in which he claimed that the government was providing corporate subsidies of £93 billion. This amount includes
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1504-428: The gap in effective tax rates widening over the years. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi criticised this practice, saying: "Why is it that subsidies going to the well-off are portrayed in a positive manner? Let me give you an example. The total revenue loss from incentives to corporate tax payers was over Rs 62,000 crore ... I must confess I am surprised by the way words are used by experts on this matter. When
1551-407: The government." They also advocate for the abolition of all taxes with the exception of income tax . They say that they recognise that income tax is the primary means of funding the government, and that until a better alternative is found, it would be reduced to a smaller, flat tax. They also want to abolish corporate welfare , including subsidies and special privileges for big businesses. The party
1598-893: The local government level. There are a number of notable registered parties in Scotland with no elected representation. Some operate exclusively within Scotland, while others may also be active in other parts of the United Kingdom. Corporate welfare Corporate welfare refers to government financial assistance, subsidies , tax breaks , or other favorable policies provided to private businesses or specific industries, ostensibly to promote economic growth , job creation , or other public benefits . This support can take various forms, including tax credits , tax deductions , tax exemptions , government contracts , preferential regulatory treatment, debt write-offs, public-private partnerships , bailout programs, discount schemes, deferrals , low-interest loans or loan guarantees , direct subsidies or public grants. The definition of corporate welfare
1645-597: The merger of the Scottish Unionist Party , which had been a dominant political force in Scotland for much of the early 20th century, winning the majority of votes and seats in the 1931 general election and 1955 general election . However the party went into decline, being reduced from 21 Scottish seats in 1983, to 10 in 1987. The 1997 general election was a catastrophe for the Scottish Conservatives, who were left with no Scottish seats whatsoever. However
1692-654: The party and became leader of the party in Scotland. Ballantyne was previously a Conservative MSP. She resigned from the party in November 2020, citing differences with the new leader Douglas Ross before joining. Ballantyne lost this seat in the 2021 Scottish Scottish Parliament election, leaving the party with no elected representatives in Scotland. The Alba Party is a Scottish independence supporting party formed in February 2021 and led by former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond . Shortly after it announced its plans to run in
1739-540: The party won 18 seats in the Scottish Parliament in the 1999 election due to proportional representation . From 2001 to 2017, the Conservatives held one Scottish seat in the UK parliament, but had its best result in the 21st century in the 2017 general election when it returned 13 seats and just short of a third of the vote. Like the wider UK Conservative Party , the party is a centre-right party, which promotes conservatism and British unionism . They currently have 31 MSPs, led in
1786-509: The party. Subsequently, they were led by Jim Murphy , Kezia Dugdale and Richard Leonard . They currently have 37 MPs and 22 MSPs. As of 2021 they are led by Anas Sarwar MSP. The Scottish Liberal Democrats are the Scottish wing of the Great Britain-wide Liberal Democrats party. It is a centrist, social liberal and British unionist party. The British Liberal Democrats they are part of were formed in 1988 when
1833-415: The point, while more than 170 billion dollars is expended on assorted varieties of corporate welfare the federal government spends 11 billion dollars on Aid for Dependent Children. The most expensive means tested welfare program, Medicaid, costs the federal government 30 billion dollars a year or about half of the amount corporations receive each year through assorted tax breaks. S.S.I., the federal program for
1880-522: The policy "sounds wonderful, but careful scrutiny of 'corporate welfare' shows that it includes capital allowances designed to persuade companies to invest, regional aid to boost growth in rundown parts of the UK, and subsidies to keep bus and rail routes open – none of which Corbyn would presumably like to see stopped." The New Democratic Party in Canada picked up the term as a major theme in its 1972 federal election campaign. Its leader, David Lewis , used
1927-461: The rest of society, potentially through lobbying the government for assistance. This practice was criticized in the Wall Street bailout of 2008. Subsidies considered excessive, unwarranted, wasteful, unfair, inefficient, or bought by lobbying are often called corporate welfare. The label of corporate welfare is often used to decry projects advertised as benefiting the general welfare that spend
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1974-441: The rights of the person accused must never be undermined, such as the rights of due process, a speedy trial, legal counsel, trial by jury, and the legal presumption of innocence until proven guilty. In their 2016 Scottish Parliament manifesto, they stated that individuals have the right to live how they want to live, as long as they don't harm others. They also said that they would prefer a more restorative justice system. The party
2021-448: The role of the government in increasing trade, tax relief for businesses that invest in new plants and machinery (estimated by Farnsworth at £20 billion), not charging fuel duty on fuel used by railways or airlines, green energy subsidies , a lower corporation tax rate for small companies, regional development grants and government procurement for businesses (which Farnsworth suggests often favours British businesses even when these are not
2068-671: The term in the title of his 1972 book, Louder Voices: The Corporate Welfare Bums . The Reform Party and its successor the Canadian Alliance were known for opposing most business subsidies, but after their merger with the Progressive Conservative party, they dropped their opposition. It was observed by The Wire that the effective tax rate was low for the larger corporations which meant companies making smaller profits are competing in an unequal environment against bigger companies with substantial taxation benefits, with
2115-467: The total votes). In 2022 Stef Johnstone resigned as deputy leader of the party, citing the removal of a member from the party as one of the contributing factors. The new deputy leader is Calum "Caz" Paul . The party was statutorily deregistered by the Electoral Commission in November 2022, but re-registered in January 2023. The Scottish Libertarian Party advocates for a free market , opposing
2162-507: The vote. There are six parties in Scotland that have elected representation in either the Scottish Parliament or the House of Commons. All except the Scottish Greens and the Alba Party have representation in both. In addition, all parties except the Alba Party have elected representation at the local government level. There are four parties in Scotland that have elected representation only at
2209-586: Was resolved when the Libertarian Party UK altered its registration to no longer stand candidates or run in elections in Scotland . Despite organising various events, the party became inactive and stopped updating their blog. After 3 years of inactivity, the Scottish Libertarian Party launched again in December 2015 under new leader Alan Findlay, officially registering with the Electoral Commission in March 2016. In
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