Scottish Labour Students (SLS) is a student society affiliated to

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party (UK), Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and Unionism in the United Kingdom, unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Sco ...

, and part of the UK wide organisation

Labour Students Labour Students is a student organisation within the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party of the United Kingdom. It is a network of affiliated college and university clubs, known as Labour Clubs, who campaign in their campuses and communities for L ...

. It aims to bring Labour values to campuses and represent students within the Labour Party throughout Scotland. SLS hold regular Scottish events including SLS Conference in November and SLS Council in February. In addition, its members are often invited to hear major speakers at Labour Party events throughout the year. Glasgow University Labour Club and Edinburgh Labour Students are the two biggest clubs within SLS, and the newest club is the University of the West of Scotland Labour Students.

History

The organisation was founded as the Organisation of Labour Students (SOLS) in 1970/1971, however it is a direct descendant of the Scottish Association of Labour Student Organisations (SALSO) which had existed since 1946. In the 1960s SALSO's UK equivalent, the National Association of Labour Student Organisations (NALSO), was taken over by

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

s and disaffiliated from the Labour Party. SALSO, however, successfully resisted any take-over attempts. SOLS remained famous for its hostility to Trotskyism and its members were key to recovering control of the

National Organisation of Labour Students National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, NOLS, from the

Militant tendency The Militant tendency, or Militant, was a Trotskyist group in the British Labour Party, organised around the ''Militant'' newspaper, which launched in 1964. In 1975, there was widespread press coverage of a Labour Party report on the infiltrat ...

in 1975 and the following year SOLS members took the famous "icepick express" (a bus with an icepick - the weapon used to kill

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

- attached to the front) to that year's NOLS conference at

Lancaster University Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...

. This incident is recalled in some detail in

Michael Crick Michael Lawrence Crick (born 21 May 1958) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He was a founding member of the ''Channel 4 News'' team in 1982 and remained there until joining the BBC in 1990.Ian Burrell"Michael Crick: 'Cuts are hur ...

's book on the Militant tendency. (see Clause Four Group.) In 2023, Scottish Conference voted unanimously to re-affiliated SLS after a campaign by incumbent Chair Solomon Cuthbertson.

Internal organisation

SLS is made up of affiliated Labour Clubs at universities across Scotland: *

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

Labour Club *

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

Labour Students
*

Strathclyde University The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

Labour Club *

Stirling University The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airthr ...

Labour Society *

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

Labour Society *

Dundee University The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

Labour Students *

Aberdeen Uni The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Alexan ...

Labour Students *

University of the West of Scotland The University of the West of Scotland (), formerly the University of Paisley, is a public university with four campuses in south-western Scotland, in the towns of Paisley, Blantyre, Dumfries and Ayr, as well as a campus in London, England. T ...

Labour Students *

University of the Highlands and Islands The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) () is an integrated, tertiary institution encompassing both further and higher education. It is composed of 10 colleges and research institutions spread around Inverness, the Highlands and Isl ...

Labour Students SLS has an executive committee, elected on a yearly basis, currently including: * Chair: Emma Russell * Vice Chair: Marcus Flucker * Secretary: Ceara Sidney * Treasurer: James Farrow * Women's Officer: Olivia Clarke * Disabled Students' Officer: Ruaridh Bennett * BAME Officer: Ben Amir Stewart * LGBT+ Officer: VACANT * Trans Officer: VACANT * Ordinary Rep (Postgraduate): Nina Miller * Ordinary Rep (International): Julia Pancer * Ordinary Rep: Finn McGrady Strachan * Ordinary Rep: Maya Pons All positions are elected at the annual SLS Conference held at the conclusion of each academic year.

Liberation groups

The SLS committee includes representatives from each of the 4 liberation campaigns recognised by Labour Students:

Women's A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

LGBT+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

, Disabled Students and Black Minority Ethnic. Each campaign is autonomous and hold events and discussions designed at highlighting issues relevant to them to the wider Labour Students movement.

Campaigning

SLS members are involved in election campaigning in Scotland and across the UK, and the organisation mobilises its members to take part in campaigns in marginal seats across the country. In addition to this, for the first time in 2007/08 SLS ran its own issue-based priority campaign. 'Changing Perceptions - Homelessness' intended to challenge the perception young people have of the homeless in Scotland. In 2008 SLS ran a

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

campaign against attempts during the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill by Conservative Party MP

Nadine Dorries Nadine Vanessa Dorries (' Bargery; born 21 May 1957) is a British author and a former politician who served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2021 to 2022. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Bedfordshire ...

to reduce the upper limit for

abortions Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnanci ...

to 20 weeks from the current 24 weeks of pregnancy. Her amendment was defeated by 332 votes to 190, with a separate 22-week limit opposed by 304 votes to 233 - with MPs continuing to support the 24-week limit. SLS are also actively involved in opposing the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

plans to introduce a

Local Income Tax Several political parties have advocated a local income tax in Scotland as an alternative to the Council Tax, as part of funding for local authorities. Various proposals were promoted during the 2007 general election campaign. Proposals In 200 ...

which SLS claim would hit students who have to work to support themselves while studying. As of 2014 SLS officially supports the return of the post-study work visa and free education. As of 2019, the SLS officially supports further unionisation of workers in

students' unions A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organization ...

across Scotland. In the

2021 Scottish Labour leadership election The 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election was triggered on 14 January 2021 by the resignation of Richard Leonard as leader of the Scottish Labour, Scottish Labour Party, who had led the party 2017 Scottish Labour leadership election, since ...

, SLS officially endorsed the

Campaign for Socialism Campaign for Socialism (CfS) is an autonomous political organisation of Scottish Labour Party members and supporters who campaign for left-wing policies and candidates within the party. In 2016, CfS agreed to a joint membership scheme with Moment ...

-backed candidate,

Monica Lennon Monica Lennon (' Ward; born 7 January 1981) is a Scottish politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Central Scotland region since 2016. A member of the Scottish Labour Party, she has served in various roles ...

, who subsequently lost to

Anas Sarwar Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is a Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party, Co-operative politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election, 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottis ...

by a margin of 58 to 42 per cent.

List of Chairs

Note: Blair McDougall served two terms because the Youth and Student Conference was cancelled following the death of Scotland's First Minister,

Donald Dewar Donald Campbell Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000) was a Scottish statesman and politician who served as the inaugural First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland from 1999 until his death in 2000 and leader of the Labour Par ...

References

{{UK Labour Party Scottish Labour 1946 establishments in Scotland 1970 establishments in Scotland 1970 in British politics Student organizations established in 1946 Labour Student wings of social democratic parties Labour Students