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. 

Interview with Linda Clark, SNP candidate for Forfar, Angus

 Interview with Linda Clark, SNP candidate for Forfar, Angus

• Why an SNP candidate in Forfar?

For me, Forfar is a new area because my husband and I retired here after being councillors in another part of Scotland, so we retired and came here, and we did some voluntary work, which is how we started in the first place. The necessity for an SNP candidate on the Angus council, which is where Forfar is within, is because I firmly believe that the SNP will produce an egalitarian and humanitarian approach for the people of Forfar. I don’t have anything against the people who are running the council right now, but they don’t have the same values that I have. I formly believe my values are correct, to look after the vulnerable people with a socialist attitude that I have. 

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

The main things I want to see are in planning and development: I want to make sure that developers ensure that people live within a 20 minute radius of services, which includes getting to your doctor without having to use cars all the time (because I have an environmental attitude to things), getting to school; and that there’s not too many houses built, which makes the numbers for schools too much; and I want to make sure that when planners / developers ask to have their planning applications granted, they hear to Scottish planning policy, which is a good one and endorses all the things that I’ve said; and because I’ve been a councillor before planning was very important to me.

I also want to make sure that people have local jobs so that they don’t have to travel too far. I want to make sure that people who are poorer have a better start in life, that young families get a better chance; and we can’t do that unless we produce good housing, opportunities for jobs, good food, etc. These are priorities because with COVID and coming out of Europe we have to make sure that our money goes as far as it can. The economy is suffering at the moment. 

I want to see solar panels, we do get some sun in Scotland, believe it or not, so I want to use the sun to get away from fossil fuels, and we also have plenty power in the seas of Scotland that we could be using.

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

I have nothing against them personally, I want to work with everybody, if I get elected I will work perhaps in coalition, but I do believe that if the SNP gets in, it has much more concern with Scotland and all who live in Scotland. The Westminster government’s interests are very different to ours. Scotland is autonomist in its belief of its people, we are very jealous of our NHS as an example. I really feel that as an SNP candidate that my values are the ones which I feel are better for Scotland.

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.