ALBA Party Mark the 80th Anniversary of VE Day

"It's right that we record VE Day and the sacrifice made in the war against fascism. My own father fought in it as did so many of his generation. But it was a struggle in which so many participated whether in combat or on the home front, in what was a people's war. 

"Scotland suffered not just the loss of life on the battlefield, in the skies or at sea but in her towns and cities. Bombs and hardship were endured at home by civilians as well as abroad by those in the military.

"Those who fought and endured are rightly to be remembered. But it should also be recalled that they not only fought to defeat fascism which was stalking the world but to create a better society at home. Both them and what they fought for need revered and preserved."