Teaching us to stand up for what is right

ITRY, generally, to keep my political and private lives separate. But politics is personal, there is no getting away from that. And there has been no bigger influence on my personal politics than my mum, who died earlier this month.

I’m hugely grateful to my mum for encouraging and supporting me in my political life.

Both my parents were politically engaged. My dad was perhaps more overtly so.

It was his flat, in my early memories, that had CND posters pinned to the wall and “Coal not Dole” stickers stuck around the fireplace.

My mum’s influence was more subtle.

She encouraged a keenness to read and learn, to debate, and most importantly of all, to have courage to stand up for what you believe is right.

The formative context of that, for me, was growing up in West Cumbria in the shadow ( not quite physically but definitely culturally) of the Sellafield nuclear power station.

As a child in the 1980s and 90s, I followed stories of local parents pursuing answers for incidences of childhood leukaemia, which studies at the time suggested were seven times higher than the population average.

It was through discussing this with my mum that I started to understand the risks of political and economic power being too narrowly concentrated, and how important it is to ensure that vested interests do not limit scrutiny and suppress dissent.

That’s where I trace the seeds of what I now recognise as my political values, which are reflected in those of the Scottish Greens – that economic, environmental and social justice are intertwined and cannot be achieved where power and resources are hoarded by a privileged few.

I will miss my mum deeply, but her influence and her questioning will never be far from my thoughts when it comes to making big decisions.

In the immediate future, that includes setting the council budget for next year.

I’ve written already this month about the cuts the council will be forced into unless more money is forthcoming from the Scottish Government.

As has been reported, leaked budget options include potential cuts to teacher numbers and changes to the school week.

I don’t want to cut teachers. Both my parents were teachers. I know that the best teachers can be life- changing.

But I also know that to be the best they can, teachers need to be properly supported, given time to teach, and to feel valued in the job they do.

The Scottish Government has this week said that it will bring forward measures to stop Councils cutting teacher numbers or changing the school week.

That must involve putting money on the table. An extra £ 45 million is what it would take to guarantee no teacher cuts in Glasgow.

I hope that is what’s announced next week. Because, to be clear, just ringfencing education within the existing budget will result in disproportionate cuts to other vital services, like cleansing, roads maintenance, parks and libraries, to the point where many would simply cease to exist.

That would be austerity politics, imposed from the top, and we should reject it.