Alex Cole-Hamilton and Lib Dem spokespeople and council candidates went up to the top of Calton Hill, overlooking Edinburgh city centre to launch our local government election campaign today.
Here he is talking to the BBC calling for a cut to VAT, the SNP Government to cut rail fares as it has just taken over the Scotrail franchise and insulation for every home in Scotland.
WATCH: at the Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign launch @agcolehamilton spoke to the BBC.
We want to see a power surge to our councils away from Holyrood.
We also want to see VAT cut to 17.5%, giving families £600, to combat the cots of living crisis. pic.twitter.com/fCYrEW1GJR
— Scottish Lib Dems (@scotlibdems) April 13, 2022
Delighted to launch our @scotlibdems council campaign manifesto in Edinburgh today. #newhope 🔶🔶🔶 pic.twitter.com/As0VEvPfQ7
— Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP🔶🇺🇦 (@agcolehamilton) April 13, 2022
The themes of the campaign are set out in the party’s Party Political Broadcast, starring Alex, Deputy Leader Wendy Chamberlain and her gorgeous cocker spaniel Tamlyn. Wendy asked people to vote Lib Dem to get someone who cares about you and your community.
The party is looking to increase its number of councillors from the 67 elected in 2017 and hope to make gains in places like Edinburgh, Perth and the Highlands.
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2 Comments
Concerned that the manifesto ‘pledges’ are largely not deliverable even if the Scottish Liberal Democrats win control of every Council in the country as the ‘pledges’ are not within the powers of local government. So, “new health staff for every GP practice to boost early diagnosis” is a great policy for a Holyrood manifesto, as is the pledge to deliver “long covid clinics in every region”, but not what we should see in a local government manifesto. I was hoping the lead policies would be on how Liberal Democrat councils would bring new thinking to improve education – councils can actually make a difference on this with education being the largest item of expenditure in council budgets – or perhaps ideals about using the planning laws to make communities safer. Instead, just grandstanding on items that are not within the powers of local authorities to deliver.
Actually it is relevant – the Health Boards have local authority appointees, and the councils work jointly with the NHS to provide social care services. So both the additional staff and the long COVID clinics could come under the remit of this.
But equally, we don’t get the airtime to get our policies across more generally, unlike the other three, so why not take the opportunity to get our message across?