Interview with Blake Sharp, ALBA Party candidate in Monifieth, Angus

 Interview with Blake Sharp, ALBA Party candidate in Monifieth, Angus

• Why an Alba Party candidate in Monifieth?

This is a very SNP area and at the moment I think the SNP are failing to deliver on a lot of fronts, and I think that having an alternative option with a similar viewpoint is good. There’s a lot of people who are not happy with a specific party for various reasons and they have an alternative which is similar to a certain extent, but maybe slightly more family-oriented, for women’s rights, etc. I think having options is always good, having a monopoly is never a great thing.

That area is where I grew up, my family still stays there so I’m still very much involved in the community.

• What are the main issues you want to prioritise?

Because it’s a local council, all the issues are local issues, not national ones. There’s been a big push to expand the population, there’s been a new housing estate put up. It’s one of these areas where people like to live in, so it’s sort of a middle class area, where housing estates have been thrown out to try and offer new houses for people who want to stay there. The only problem with that is they’re not expanding the infrastructure. They’ve expanded the area so much without considering the actual population that lives there, so the schools are beyond capacity, there’s no banks, we’ve got one doctor surgery that was designed for the area prior to the expansion. After the COVID situation there’s been lots of mental health issues, so we have a population that does require health services. For me, it’s about getting infrastructure for the people.

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

Well, you obvously have the basic parties: Labour, Conservatives, SNP, Greens and Alba, those are the five big parties. Labour haven’t done very well in Scotland for quite a long time (after Ed Milliband’s leadership), the SNP stepped and filled that void; the Conservatives have done quite well, but they’re not very well received in Scotland to be honest; the Greens generally don’t get a lot of votes, possibly because Scotland is quite a big oil and gas place, so it doesn’t always do very well; the SNP have done very well being the alternative to Labour and the Conservatives, that’s how they came into power and whether you’re a nationalist or not a nationalist that was essentially the alternative.

I think the SNP have a lot of failings now, there’s been a lot of scandals associated with them, they don’t seem to care about women’s rights and education very well. There’s a lot of reasons why I don’t think they’re the best party for the job, so I think the Alba Party being an alternative to that with a maybe more traditional SNP values is required and always a good option. 

Interview with Charlie Abel, ALBA Party candidate in Kincorth/Nigg/Cove, Aberdeen

 Interview with Charlie Abel, ALBA Party candidate in Kincorth/Nigg/Cove, Aberdeen

• Why an Alba Party candidate in Kincorth?

Well, this is where I live and this is where my family are, and I feel strongly about independence and I was helping the other candidate that was standing with his campaign, so then I agreed to stand in the area. I’ve never been a politician before, this is my first attempt in politics but I feel strongly about Scottish independence, and I think if I don’t do it no one else is going to do it.

• What are the main issues you want to prioritise in this campaign?

Independence is bigger than a local issue, but I think it’s an issue that faces us as a major issue. Scotland not being independent is creating a massive injustice on our people, and we are the energy capital of Europe here in Aberdeen, from where I live I can look at the window and I see the biggest offshore windfarm in the world, so with an energy rich country we produce gas six times more than our needs. The renewable production in Scotland is five times more than our needs, yet the standing charges in our electric power have just doubled and they are going to double again in October; the prices went up, we pay more on transmission charges in Scotland, which is a great shame and a massive injustice. The only way Scotland will get that sorted out is through independence, because Westminster has no intention in helping us. 

• Why have you chosen to run as an Alba Party candidate and not as an SNP one?

I was an SNP member and I used to deliver leaflets for the SNP, but I became disillusioned with the direction of the party leadership a couple of years ago. The SNP leadership are prevaricating on independence, they’re more a party of devolution and they use independence to keep themselves in power, some of them are quite comfortable there on their high salaries. The First Minister said she had time on her side, but the rest of us don’t have time on our side, we need our independence and we need it as soon as possible. I don’t think the approach the SNP are taking on trying to get a referendum from Boris Johnson is a good position for the Scottish people, we don’t need permission to have a referendum, we are sovereign people and if we want to have a referendum on independence or any subject, we shouldn’t be neeeding permission from Westminster.

Interview with Kevan Shaw, Alba Party candidate in Edinburgh Central (ENG/CAST):

 Interview with Kevan Shaw, Alba Party candidate in Edinburgh Central (ENG):

• Why an Alba candidate in Edinburgh Central?

Our party is the second Scottish independence party that has been formed by people who left the SNP because we believe the SNP were not moving fast enough or even at all on independence. My political activism has been sort of lowkey. Certainly being a candidate and representing Central Edinburgh, where I was born, raised and lived most of my life (it is a place where I feel I can talk to people and understand from experience what they’re talking about), I believe I can represent their interests well. 

• What are the main issues you want to prioritise in this campaign?

That is a question I’m still answering. So far in this campaign we have had some limited access to people on the streets but the main part of the campaign hasn’t really started yet. I am very keen to do canvassing, speaking to actual people. Because of the COVID situation it has been basically difficult, the situation is that rules are changing on the 21st of March. Thereafter, I’ll be doing my best to get to many of my constituents, I’ll knock on their doors and listen to them. In the street stalls we had a bit of questions, we did a survey to try to get the feeling of what’s important and safe places for women comes very high, education in Edinburgh (schools and universities are a key issue); other issues that are definitely talking points are waste and recycling, also issues relating to active travel (trying to balance cycling and walking with vehicular traffic, there is plan to create a new active travel route to the centre of Edinburgh; but I think that these things tend to be done with less consultation to people that will use them). I will address these issues if I become a member of the council. 

• Why is the Alba Party the best alternative to the SNP and the Tories?

Well, there’s a large number of conservative voters in my constituency, there’s no question about it. The SNP, I don’t know how much you’ve been aware of this,  but there’s been a lot of problems in the SNP, as the policies of the party, which should be decided in conference across the entire membership and discussed between leaders and members at a branch level has gone away over the past few years. At the same time, the hunger for independence, the desire to get that done seems also to have taken back to other issues that the leadership of the party seem to be more interested in. So, essentially the party has moved away from a lot of his members. Alba has been set up as an alternative, we’re still putting in place structures and people to actually make the party function. The main aim is to pursue independence as the main thing, we’ve got to do that by being a recognised party taking full part in a constitutional democratic process, which of course includes local government, so I believe Alba are most close to my political thoughts, they are a left-of-centre party and they will appeal to the general Scottish population which is a centre-left population by the way, so the main competitors are the Greens, they’re not quite closely with the SNP, Alba does have policy discussions on green issues, on climate change and all of these issues, we have to deal with them, we are not a single-issue party. We’re not just campaigning for independence, we can deliver on the broad top promises as well, so we feel we’re in a good place to discuss with the Greens; we have many positions contrary to them but on the whole, I feel this is a party that we need to progress with for Scottish independence.

• What are the future steps that the Alba Party wants to take in Edinburgh Central?

Well, getting us elected is the key thing, across Edinburgh we have 7 candidates, and it’s clear that we’re not putting up enough candidates to become the leading party in the council, but what we are is a group of very capable people who are going to countercount whatever flavour of local government we end up with if we get elected. We’re a recent party, and it takes time to become the leading party, we just have to get enough people to understand and believe our points to get us in more power. Sadly, the idea last year, the proposal we made (the Supermajority) so we didn’t have to go through a referendum process necessarily to start discussing and negotiating independence with Westminster. However, the SNP basically stopped us getting any seats through a couple of ill-considered things and part of that has to do with the fact that Nicola Sturgeon has incredibly fallen out with Alex Salmond and as far as I can see they intend to keep him out of parliament and politics, all of this unsuccessfully because he’s the leader of our party. He’s an economist and his main goal has been to get Scottish independence, and we thought Nicola Sturgeon had that as her principle goal in politics so we now see that hasn’t necessary to be the case, there’s a bit more self-serving going on and she wants to live from the First Minister salary rather than tackling the major issues. 

Entrevista con Kevan Shaw, candidato del Partido Alba en Edimburgo Central (CAST):

- ¿Por qué un candidato de Alba en Edimburgo Central?

Nuestro partido es el segundo partido independentista escocés que ha sido formado por personas que abandonaron el SNP porque creemos que el SNP no se estaba moviendo lo suficientemente rápido o incluso en absoluto en la independencia. Mi activismo político ha sido algo discreto. Ciertamente, siendo un candidato y representando al centro de Edimburgo, donde nací, crecí y viví la mayor parte de mi vida (es un lugar donde siento que puedo hablar con la gente y entender por experiencia de qué están hablando), creo que puedo representar bien sus intereses.

- ¿Cuáles son los principales temas que quieres priorizar en esta campaña?

Esa es una pregunta que todavía estoy respondiendo. Hasta ahora en esta campaña hemos tenido un acceso limitado a la gente en las calles, pero la parte principal de la campaña aún no ha comenzado. Tengo muchas ganas de hacer prospección, hablando con personas reales. Debido a que la situación del COVID ha sido básicamente difícil, las reglas cambiarán el 21 de marzo. A partir de entonces, haré todo lo posible para llegar a muchos de mis electores, llamaré a sus puertas y los escucharé. En los puestos callejeros teníamos un poco de preguntas, hicimos una encuesta para tratar de tener la sensación de lo que es importante y los lugares seguros para las mujeres son un gran reclamo, la educación en Edimburgo (las escuelas y universidades son un tema clave); otros temas que definitivamente son temas de conversación son los residuos y el reciclaje, también los temas relacionados con los viaje activo (tratando de equilibrar el ciclismo y la caminata con el tráfico vehicular, hay un plan para crear una nueva ruta de viaje activo al centro de Edimburgo; pero creo que estas cosas tienden a hacerse con menos consulta a las personas que las usarán). Abordaré estas cuestiones si me convierto en miembro del consejo.

- ¿Por qué el Partido Alba es la mejor alternativa al SNP y a los tories?

Bueno, hay un gran número de votantes conservadores en mi circunscripción, no hay duda al respecto. El SNP, no sé cuánto has sido consciente de esto, pero ha habido muchos problemas en el SNP, ya que las políticas del partido, que deberían decidirse en conferencia entre todos los miembros y discutirse entre líderes y miembros a nivel de grupos locales, han desaparecido en los últimos años. Al mismo tiempo, el hambre de independencia, el deseo de cumplirla también parece haber llevado a otros temas en los que la dirección del partido parece estar más interesada. Entonces, esencialmente el partido se ha alejado de muchos de sus miembros. Alba se ha establecido como una alternativa, todavía estamos poniendo en marcha estructuras y personas para hacer que el partido funcione. El objetivo principal es perseguir la independencia como lo principal, tenemos que hacerlo siendo un partido reconocido que participa plenamente en un proceso democrático constitucional, que por supuesto incluye el gobierno local, por lo que creo que Alba está más cerca de mis pensamientos políticos, son un partido de centro izquierda y atraerán a la población escocesa en general, que es una población de centroizquierda, por cierto, así que los principales competidores son los Verdes, no están muy cerca del SNP, Alba tiene discusiones políticas sobre temas verdes, sobre el cambio climático y todos estos temas, tenemos que lidiar con ellos, no somos un partido de un solo tema. No solo estamos haciendo campaña por la independencia, también podemos cumplir con las principales promesas, por lo que sentimos que estamos en un buen lugar para discutir con los Verdes; tenemos muchas posiciones contrarias a ellos, pero en general, creo que este es un partido con el que tenemos que progresar para la independencia de Escocia.

- ¿Cuáles son los pasos de futuro que el Partido Alba quiere dar en Edimburgo Central?

Bueno, lograr que seamos elegidos es la clave, en todo Edimburgo tenemos 7 candidatos, y está claro que no estamos presentando suficientes candidatos para convertirnos en el partido líder en en el ayuntamiento, pero lo que somos es un grupo de personas muy capaces que van a contrarrestar cualquier color político del gobierno local con el que terminemos si somos elegidos. Somos un partido reciente, y se necesita tiempo para convertirnos en el partido líder, solo tenemos que conseguir que suficientes personas entiendan y crean nuestros puntos para llevarnos a más poder. Lamentablemente, la idea del año pasado, la propuesta que hicimos (la Supermayoría) para que no tuviéramos que pasar por un proceso de referéndum necesariamente para comenzar a discutir y negociar la independencia con Westminster, el SNP básicamente nos impidió obtener escaños a través de un par de cosas mal consideradas y parte de eso tiene que ver con el hecho de que Nicola Sturgeon se ha peleado increíblemente con Alex Salmond y, por lo que puedo ver, tienen la intención de mantenerlo fuera del parlamento y la política, todo esto sin éxito porque es el líder de nuestro partido. Es economista y su principal objetivo ha sido conseguir la independencia de Escocia, y pensamos que Nicola Sturgeon tenía eso como su objetivo principal en la política, así que ahora vemos que no ha sido el caso, hay un poco más de egoísmo y quiere vivir del salario del Primera Ministra en lugar de abordar los principales problemas.