“We need to fight a campaign

that shows the Scottish Labour

Party moving forward with
fresh ideas, new faces and an
energy that proves we aren’t
in the business of giving up or
going away.”

SELECT

MARTIN MCCLUSKEY
FOR INVERCLYDE
 LOCAL CANDIDATE
I joined the Labour Party in Greenock when I
was 17. I didn’t learn Labour values from a book,
I learned them from my family and people in
Inverclyde where I was born and raised. People like
my granddad who was the Union treasurer at Scotts,
like my uncle who was a priest at St. Laurence’s, like
my Mum who was a midwife at the Rankin and my
Dad who was a painter and decorator. My family
is rooted in this town and my mum still lives on
Dunlop Street – in the same house my dad’s parents moved into in the 1940s.
It was David Cairns who introduced me to the Labour Party and made it home
for me. When I spent time working and volunteering with him in Greenock and
Westminster, it showed me what one person can achieve with complete commitment
to representing the people of their home town.
The values I learned in the Inverclyde Labour Party – support for public services,
solidarity in tough times and the strength communities give individuals to achieve
all they can – have never left me. They are the values I live today as a Unite trade
union rep, an advocate for a major charity, a school governor and a volunteer with
young people.
“I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN INVERCLYDE”
NATIONAL EXPERIENCE
I was born and raised in Inverclyde
and now I know how to deliver
nationally and for the constituency at
Westminster.
In my day job for a large international
charity, I work with Ministers, MPs
and civil servants. I know how to
fight and win against Tory cuts
having led the campaign to retain my
organisation’s £30 million Government grant. As a Labour Student Union President in Oxford, I
represented 21,000 people to the media, Parliament and the local authority.
By the age of 21, I had already led a national anti-fascist campaign with global press coverage
of the attempt to block David Irving and Nick Griffin from speaking in Oxford. I appeared on
Newsnight, Sky News Live, BBC News and Channel 4 news and am proud to have worked with
tenants’ groups, faith communities and trade unions to make the case for hope not hate
“BY 21, I HAD LED A NATIONAL ANTI-FASCIST CAMPAIGN
WITH GLOBAL PRESS COVERAGE”
GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGNER
My background in the party is as a committed
grassroots campaigner. In the 2010 General and Local
Elections, I ran a polling day team of 40, helping to
secure two Labour councillors in a target ward and the
re-election of a Labour MP in a Lib Dem target seat.
I know that one of the great strengths of our movement
is the Labour-Trade Union link. That’s why at work I’m
a Unite trade union rep – campaigning for better pay
and conditions for colleagues.
But I also know that our industrial strategy needs to
be backed up by a political response to this Tory-led
Coalition’s assault on jobs and services. This by-election
is only going to be won with tough doorstep messages
and a ruthless determination to expose Tory lies and SNP broken promises.
“I KNOW ONE OF LABOUR’S GREATEST
STRENGTHS IS THE TRADE UNION LINK”
LET ME KNOW YOUR PRIORITIES
I want to know your priorities for Inverclyde.
Please get in touch:
Tel: 07752 182979
Email: martin.mccluskey@gmail.com
Twitter: @martinmccluskey
Facebook: facebook.com/martin.mccluskey
DON’T FORGET THE SELECTION MEETING TAKES
PLACE ON SATURDAY 4 JUNE AT 10.30AM
IN CRUDEN HALL, 2 ANN STREET, GREENOCK
MARTIN MCCLUSKEY
MY TOP PRIORITIES
CREATING JOBS
The Tory-led Coalition’s assault on jobs will have a disproportionate impact on Inverclyde.
I will make it a priority to defend the jobs we have and increase the number of decent jobs
in the area.

• 60% of people in Inverclyde work in a small number of large businesses. We can’t have
all our eggs in one basket – we need a larger number of employers to make sure that
this area can withstand tough times. I would work to attract more small businesses
to Inverclyde at the same time as working closely with our existing large employers to
make sure that those jobs are safe and secure.
• I would continue David’s work to promote Riverside Inverclyde as a driver for new
jobs and new opportunities in the area. I’d campaign to make sure that the benefits of
regeneration are shared by the whole community.

TACKLING DRUG ABUSE

Drug abuse is a scar on our town. It doesn’t only affect drug users, but it rips apart
families, destroys children’s chances and drives the crime that creates such misery for
hard-working, law-abiding people.

• Within six months of being elected, I would hold a drugs summit with all the people
that mattered around the table – the police, health professionals, our school leaders,
local charities, churches and community leaders.
• I would set targets and take personal responsibility for increasing the number of
people in treatment programmes and decreasing the number of drug related crimes.
• I would work with local and national media to make sure they know that Inverclyde
is getting to grips with the drugs problem – making our area more attractive to new
people.

REBUILDING OUR PARTY

The Labour Party in Inverclyde needs to be an effective fighting force against the SNP at
Holyrood and the Tory-led Coalition at Westminster. And with the Council elections a year
away, we need to start work now to take full control of Inverclyde Council in 2012.

• I would make building the Inverclyde Labour Party a priority and lead our efforts to
recruit new members and activists.
• I would fundraise for a full time organiser to devote all their time to working to get
Labour people in Inverclyde elected – whether in the Council, the Scottish Parliament
or Westminster.
• Our party needs a diversity of talent to thrive. I would work with the local party to
find more people from poorly represented groups to stand for Labour in Inverclyde.
We need to work to make sure that Labour leads the way on bringing diversity to
Inverclyde Council.