Scottish Socialist Alliance

In Scotland, the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is a left-wing political party. The party was formed in 1998 from an alliance of left-wing organisations in Scotland. In 1999, it saw its first MSP returned to Holyrood, with five more MSPs elected in 2003. It lost all MSPs in the 2007 elections and has lacked representation in the Scottish Parliament since.

The forerunner of the SSP was the Scottish Socialist Alliance (SSA), a coalition of left-wing bodies in Scotland formed in 1996. Around 400 people attended the SSA's launch rally in Glasgow in February 1996, which attracted socialists and communists from various party backgrounds. The largest group involved was Scottish Militant Labour.

The first election fought by the SSA was the Toryglen by-election for Glasgow City Council in August 1996, with Rosie Kane as the candidate, where it won a respectable 18% of the vote. The SSA went on to contest 16 seats in Scotland at the United Kingdom general election, 1997, including all ten Glasgow seats, Edinburgh North and Leith, and both Dundee seats. Tommy Sheridan saved his deposit in Glasgow Pollok, and Jim McVicar and Alan McCombes picked up a significant vote in Glasgow Baillieston and Glasgow Govan respectively.

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