Farreaching Demands

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

SOCIALIST LABOUR PARTY
President: Frank Cave     Vice-President:  Linda Muir
General Secretary: Arthur Scargill
9 Victoria Road, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2BB
Answerphone/Fax: 01226-770957
www.socialist-labour-party.org.uk         e-mail:
info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Press Release



A CRISIS THAT WILL CONTINUE

The current fuel crisis will not vanish with the lifting of blockades. This
crisis, particularly in respect of oil and petroleum was predicted by
Socialists like myself years ago.  It is an inevitable consequence of the
free market and capitalist system. The long-term, and only, solution is
public ownership and control and the introduction of an integrated energy
policy which should be implemented immediately, involving the following:

all North Sea oil and gas operations to be taken into public ownership;

all oil refineries and gas distributors to be taken into public ownership;

all road transport - passengers and freight - including lorries, buses,
trains and waterway transport to be taken into public ownership;

all the revenues generated from creating integrated energy and transport
systems must be utilised for the benefit of the British people:

restoring the income 'link' for pensioners;
an immediate investment of £13 billion into the NHS, at the same time
abolishing private health care;
an immediate investment of £5 billion to be made annually in education;
a housing programme which would build or refurbish one million homes per
year over the next five years.

These are policies which should have emerged as a call from the TUC at its
Congress this week, with the General Council and trade unions recognising
that the actions of the oil producers, refineries and hauliers have been and
are directed towards maintaining or increasing the profits of producers,
refineries and distributors - not protecting the wages, conditions and jobs
of energy and transport workers, or of consumers.

Arthur Scargill
General Secretary, Socialist Labour Party

Thursday, 14 September, 2000