Northern Isles, Dumfriesshire, Glasgow and Edinburgh select new SNP candidates
THE SNP HAS FINALISED its candidate selections for next month’s snap General Election. With 54 of its MPs all restanding, the party faced selection choices in the five remaining target seats.
Two seats – Edinburgh West and Glasgow East – had a sitting ex-SNP MP following the resignations from the party whip of Natalie McGarry and Michelle Thomson. The party’s National Executive Committee decided that neither would be eligible candidates in 2017.
The Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrats won a single seat each in 2015. David Mundell (Tory), Ian Murray (Labour) and Alistair Carmichael (LibDem) all confirmed they would stand again in their respective seats.
Màiri McAllan, Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
McAllan, a trainee solicitor, has been selected to challenge Tory Scottish secretary Mundell in the south west.
Growing up in Biggar before attending the University of Glasgow, McAllan was an active campaigner for independence in the area and previously stood as a SNP list candidate in the South of Scotland last year.
Delighted & honoured to have been selected to stand for @theSNP in my home constituency of Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale #GE17
— Màiri McAllan (@MairiMcAllan) May 2, 2017
Jim Eadie, Edinburgh South
A constituency MSP for the area from 2011-2016, Eadie is aiming for a come back to parliamentary politics in the General Election.
In a varied career before entering politics, he represented medicines trade body APBI Scotland for five years, worked for the Royal College of Nursing, and Scottish Television.
Eadie was previously convener of the infrastructure and capital investment committee in the Scottish Parliament.
Toni Giugliano, Edinburgh West
The seat won by Michelle Thomson two years ago is expected to be a close contest between the SNP and the Liberal Democrats.
Toni Giugliano, who stood in the equivalent MSP constituency last year, is an Italian born pro-EU campaigner who also worked for Yes Scotland during the independence referendum.
Giugliano, who will face LibDem Christine Jardine, told CommonSpace that he will focus on the constitutional issues of opposing a hard Brexit and being a “yes candidate” if selected.
Read more – Toni Giugliano seeks to join SNP selection contests for General Election
David Linden, Glasgow East
Local activist David Linden was selected by the SNP, aiming to follow Natalie McGarry’s victory in the seat two years ago.
The seat, previously held by Labour’s Margaret Curran, returned almost 60 per cent support for the SNP in 2015.
Linden, announcing his candidacy, said he had “the local knowledge, the experience and the passion” to be the local MP. He has worked with current Glasgow Central MP Alison Thewliss.
Read more – Local campaigner David Linden eyes SNP candidacy for Glasgow East seat
Miriam Brett, Orkney and Shetland
The Northern Isles has been a Liberal seat consistently since the 1950s. Alistair Carmichael, MP since 2001, was run close by the SNP in 2015.
This time Carmichael will face a challenge from Miriam Brett, current economics adviser to the SNP at Westminster who hails from Shetland.
Thrilled to have been selected as the SNP candidate for Orkney and Shetland. I can think of no greater privilege than representing my home.
— Miriam Brett (@MiriamBrett) April 29, 2017
Brett, who previously worked with the Common Weal think tank, told Shetland News: “People across these isles have needlessly been subjected to harmful, counterproductive cuts under both the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition and the current UK Government.”
Carmichael faced a legal challenge from his own constituents following the last election, which raised the possibility of his expulsion from parliament. He survived the case – but the court found that he had lied over a ‘leak scandal’ from the Scotland Office.
Picture: CommonSpace
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