This is the site greeting commuters and pedestrians in one of Edinburgh’s main roads.

In June, sadly, the office which had been rented by Mike Crockart and the local party closed down. This week, it’s re-opened, four months ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections in May where Alex Cole-Hamilton hopes to regain the seat. He also heads the Lothian list.

Since May, newly elected MP Michelle Thomson, who is yet to open a constituency office, has had to resign the SNP whip after a police investigation started into her company’s property deals.

Edinburgh Western’s sitting SNP MSP was deselected in the Summer and replaced with a candidate endorsed by former First Minister Alex Salmond.

Alex Cole-Hamilton told us:

From their high point in May the SNP have squandered the good will that saw them elected to office in Edinburgh West. Thanks to near total inactivity in the seat, poor parliamentary performance and appalling press coverage, people are feeling really let down by our nationalist parliamentarians.

It’s been over 8 months since the election and by not opening a constituency office they have failed in one of their most basic tasks in representing local people. Today, we got tired of waiting  for the SNP to do their job and set up shop ourselves. Our office will be a focal point for a campaign which has seen 21k doors knocked and 12 leaflets delivered across the constituency since May and for local people looking for advice but who feel so poorly served by the SNP.

It’s good to see such a strong and spirited campaign, but we do wonder, as Chandler from Friends would say, “Could that picture of Alex Cole-Hamilton BE any bigger?”