Interview with Lynne Devine, SNP candidate for Forfar, Angus

 Interview with Lynne Devine, SNP candidate for Forfar, Angus

• Why an SNP candidate in Angus?

We had had quite a lot of support for the SNP, not just in Forfar but in Angus. The last time we lost the administration because the Tories had such an upsurge and there was a huge anti-SNP campaign about opposing IndyRef2. That seemed to capture a lot of people’s feelings in this part of the world, it didn’t do so well in other parts of the country. We’ve got two candidates standing in Forfar: two women; there’s 8 people standing so with that kind of voting we’ve got that can go anywhere.  

• What are the main issues you are prioritising in this campaign?

There are so many things to deal with! Clearly the cost of living crisis is very important for us, for everybody, the costs are going to be enormous but in our more vulnerable parts of the town we normally see people having lots of difficulties to buy food and heat their homes, buy clothes for their kids, all of these things; so it’s going to be so worrying for people, their anxiety levels will go through the roof. We have very good links and partnerships which came out of the pandemic actually, in terms of providing people with food and support, and we need to build on this to overcome this very difficult period. Let’s hope that the government in Westminster tries to do something decent for a change and help people with their fuel bills, taxing the big fuel companies. We’ve got to try and do something, there’s been quite a deliberate austerity program that the Conservatives have carried out for the last 10 years.

We also have to address the climate crisis and that’s high up on my agenda

 because we just have to get moving. It is such a crisis and I don’t feel the administration that has been in power over the last five years has prioritised the climate emergency. We were the ones who brought forward the measure about it. That is absolutely vital for the SNP. If you work on the climate emergency and the poverty issues together, they just much, because fuel poverty and conserving energy go together hand in hand.  

The population is ageing, so I want to make sure that Forfar is a dementia-friendly town, we have a town near us that has done that (Kirriemuir) and I would like to emulate that. We’re opening a meeting centre in Forfar based on a Dutch methodology of working with people with early dementia, it has been very successful in keeping people at their homes, so that’s very exciting.

The council has been doing a lot on housing, implementing energy efficiency measures and that is very successful, but it’s expensive. The government has given money for that, but I think it could be done more quickly. There is also the big problem of private housing, because in some cases, particularly in our rural areas, is not in a very good state. 

• Why is the SNP the best alternative to the other parties in the area?

I think we can bring a much cohesive administration, for the last five years we’ve had an administration of Conservatives and independents (who constantly voted with the Conservatives). They have lost some people, they have had several leaders and they have not trusted the people (they haven’t done very good consultations, they haven’t believed in participatory budgetting); and we would change that, we would try to bring about community empowerment and to listen to the people.