Policies agreed by the Rise membership include the abolition of Police Scotland and building 100,000 homes
Rise has held its dedicated policy and structures conference in Glasgow and voted on a large body of policy addressing key political issues.
300 Rise members spent more than seven hours voting on more than 40 motions.
Taken as a whole, the Rise policy programme adopted today (5 December) represents the most radical policy prospectus of any outfit running in the 2016 Scottish elections.
Commonspace takes a look at six of these policies
1. Build 100,000 council houses: Rise advocates the construction of half a million new affordable houses over the next 25 years to end Scotland’s housing and homelessness crisis. As a step towards this goal Rise policy calls for the immediate construction of 100,000 publicly owned houses.
There are currently 150,000 people on local authority housing waiting lists in Scotland
2. Abolish Police Scotland: The controversial unitary police force was established in 2013. Rise proposes to return to local forces and to end the practices of stop and search and police carrying guns that were introduced under Police Scotland.
Rise also wants to abolish the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, which has been accused of criminalising young football fans.
3. Abolish private schools: New Rise policy states that private schools are “at the root” of declining social mobility. The long-term aim of abolishing private schools outright is augmented with an immediate demand to end private school charitable status, which Rise policy describes as a “perk for the very wealthy”.
4. Public ownership of energy companies: Rise advocates the public ownership of all energy companies. It calls for the gradual phasing out of the oil industry to be replaced with renewable energy, which Rise policy says Scotland has in abundance.
5. A new system of tax and purchase rights to redistribute land: Rise has voted in favour of a new Land Value Tax, a cap on the amount of land any individual can hold and the automatic right of communities and individual tenant farmers to purchase the land they live and work on.
6. Legalise all drugs: Rise advocates the decriminalisation of all drugs, and the introduction of public programme of drug rehabilitation. The policy states that the so called ‘war on drugs’ has resulted in organised crime and addiction.
Picture courtesy of CommonSpace