by Our News Desk

A NEW left-wing electoral alliance in Scotland promoting itself as the country’s Syriza will be called Rise, it was confirmed yesterday.

The alliance, spearheaded by the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) and the Scottish Left Project (SLP), will be formally launched at an event in Glasgow on Saturday.

The coalition’s name stands for respect, independence, socialism and environmentalism, although the group was quick to stress that the first word has nothing to do with George Galloway’s party and refers to equalities.

Rise sees itself as an anti-austerity left-wing alternative to Labour and the SNP and plans to field candidates in Scottish parliamentary elections on regional lists.

The SSP has agreed not to stand candidates to give Rise a clear run and help maximise the chances of socialist MSPs being elected, the Sunday Herald reported.

Hundreds of people are expected to attend Saturday’s launch event at Glasgow’s Marriott Hotel, including more than 30 speakers, with a view to drafting Rise’s policies ahead of Holyrood elections next May.

But a Holyrood source, who asked not to be named, questioned how long it would take for Rise to become mired in infighting.

Communist Party general secretary Rob Griffiths told the Star: “It’s an odd time to launch yet another left-wing separatist bandwagon in Scotland, when the Jeremy Corbyn campaign indicates the potential for building a united mass movement in the fight for a federal, socialist Britain.

“Syriza’s capitulation to austerity, privatisation and the EU makes it a model to avoid rather than emulate.”