Socialists in head-to-head first

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Two high-ranking left-wing politicians have gone head-to-head in the first debate of its kind since the break-up of the Scottish Socialist Party.

The SSP's Carolyn Leckie said she still blamed ex-leader Tommy Sheridan for the split which followed his "sex-slur" court case against a Sunday tabloid.

But Solidarity candidate Rosemary Byrne said the break-up was "inevitable".

They aired their views on parties and policies during BBC Scotland's news website's election webcast.

The forum, hosted by broadcaster Maggie Shiels, revealed the two women's continued disagreement over why the SSP fragmented.

Last year, Mr Sheridan, the founder of the SSP, won £200,000 in damages from the News of the World over stories which alleged he was a "swinger" and had cheated on his wife Gail.

Big ideas

The trial split the party, with senior members and MSPs giving evidence for both sides.

The acrimony within the organisation, which had taken six MSPs to Holyrood in 2003, culminated in Mr Sheridan and MSP colleague Ms Byrne leaving to set up the breakaway left-wing party Solidarity.

Ms Leckie told Maggie Shiels: "It is a tragedy that after many years, in fact decades, that hundreds of people put an effort into creating a united Socialist party in Scotland that that was sacrificed on the altar of one man's ego.

"I am sad more than angry, but we have still got a massively improved party, lots of organisation, roots on the ground and a fantastic record of defending people and putting more money in people's pockets.

Carolyn Leckie continues to blame Tommy Sheridan for the split

"We have put pressure on the main parties to make concessions, which they have done in this election, and we have set the agenda for the big ideas, such as free public transport."

Ms Byrne responded by saying that the split on the left of Scottish politics was regrettable, but inevitable.

She said: "I was a founder member of the SSP, and I was very sad that we had to decide that we could no longer live with and stay with the party.

"This was not based on one man's ego, the split was inevitable. I was going to leave almost 18 months before when I felt very isolated in the group, it was not a nice and pleasant group to be in, they were not acting professionally."

There is a lot of common ground, we are both Socialist parties and we have no problem supporting Socialist policies Rosemary ByrneSolidarity

Former teacher Ms Byrne said she thought it would be better for Ms Leckie to move on and not be "so obsessed with the court case".

She added: "I want to talk about the policies of Solidarity and let the people decide who they want to vote for in this election because that is democratic.

"We have policies that we want to get out to people, like the ban on airguns which 80-odd per cent of the public support and drug rehabilitation, which I have worked hard for four years and I have got to the stage that it has massive support."

But Ms Leckie said she did not want to dwell on the Sheridan episode, though she accused Ms Byrne of indulging in "Stalinist revisionism of history".

Collective thought

She said: "The facts are the facts and the truth is the truth."

Both women pointed to recent polls, one saying that Mr Sheridan was the most untrustworthy politician in Scotland and another which said that the former SSP leader was the most popular politician in Scotland.

In an often-used reference to Mr Sheridan's skin colour, Ms Leckie said that people were more interested in "substance and not suntans".

Ms Byrne went on to commend Mr Sheridan's role in Holyrood saying he was the force behind members' bills to abolish council tax and to introduce a blanket policy for free school meals.

She said that those issues had been picked up by other politicians and were being featured in the main parties' manifestos.

But Ms Leckie questioned Ms Byrne's memory of events, saying the issues were based on collective thought.

Ms Leckie said there was substantive differences in the two parties manifestos as the SSP had 450 detailed policies compared with Solidarity's 16 pledges.

'I'm being honest'

But Ms Byrne said her party's 16 pledges were part of a wider vision which had been set out on the party's website.

Both women admitted that there were "lots of policies" which they agreed on, including views on public transport, Trident and nuclear energy.

Ms Byrne said: "There is a lot of common ground, we are both Socialist parties and we have no problem supporting Socialist policies.

Based on questions posed by BBC news website users, the women articulated their views on policies, such as independence and education.

Both politicians said that despite the acrimony of the last two years, they were keen to continue in politics and eager to get back into Holyrood.

Ms Byrne said: "I never lost the passion, there was a point when I felt that I couldn't stay with the SSP way before, and I almost went independent, I am being very honest with that."

Ms Leckie said she was now in a "happier" place and could continue the election campaign with her integrity in tact.