Liberal Youth Scotland President Sophie Bridger has been selected as the Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate to fight the Inverclyde by-election, caused by the sad death of Labour MP David Cairns last month. The by-election takes place on 30th June.
Sophie, who’s 20, is studying Psychology at Glasgow University. Sophie has campaigned with Liberal Youth Scotland on issues such as equal marriage, a fair deal for students and increased powers for the Scottish parliament.
Sophie was a key member of Katy Gordon’s campaign team in Glasgow North last year and stood herself in Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn in the Holyrood elections this year.
I’ve known her since she came to Scotland and have found her to be persuasive, intelligent and articulate, with a cool head, and an extremely likeable manner. She’s the ideal person to fight this by-election.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP said:
I am delighted that Sophie has been chosen as our candidate for this important by-election and I congratulate her on this achievement.
Sophie is the right choice for Inverclyde. She is a rising star within the Party and I know that she will be a fresh new voice for Inverclyde at Westminster.
Sophie has a brilliant track record, having given her time over to volunteering and working in a care home. It is time for a real change in Inverclyde and Sophie and the Scottish Liberal Democrats will make that change.
Liberal Democrats have real solutions and voters here can put their faith in the younger generation to fight for Inverclyde.
Deputy Leader and East Dunbartonshire MP Jo Swinson also welcomed Sophie’s selection:
Sophie is a bright and able candidate and will be a breath of fresh air in the forthcoming by-election campaign. She has the skills and energy to be an excellent representative for the people of Inverclyde. I’ll be joining her on the campaign trail on Saturday and hope to see fellow Liberal Democrats getting out there to support Sophie too.
If you want to help Sophie’s campaign, please call Jean Hunter on 01475 704735 or Simon Hutton on 07886 626380. Donations, made payable to Inverclyde Liberal Democrats, are welcome. Please send to Sophie at 54 Kelly Street, Greenock, PA16 8TR.
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12 Comments
Great news that a youth candidate will be standing! I wish her the best of success.
Ooh, LDV, I like the nice Twitter thingy that comes up now. Hadn’t noticed that before.
“A fair deal for students…” Now that is worth campaigning for.
Outstanding choice – good luck Sophie!
I think this is brilliant. Graham Watson stood as a Scottish Young Liberal in the 1980 Glasgow Central by-election in a dark period for the party, went on to do great things and the party didn’t do badly thereafter either…
Sandy, what a good point! I hope Sophie’s seen this.
I’ll rephrase my original (deleted) comment. What effect on their share of the vote (13% last time) do Liberal Democrats expect when running a very young candidate with an interest in “equal marriage, a fair deal for students and increased powers for the Scottish parliament” in a constituency with high unemployment, terrible poverty and some of the worst health problems in western Europe?
@Caron – just don’t show her the result Graham got though 🙂
g – “What effect on their share of the vote (13% last time) do Liberal Democrats expect when running a very young candidate with an interest in “equal marriage, a fair deal for students and increased powers for the Scottish parliament” in a constituency with high unemployment, terrible poverty and some of the worst health problems in western Europe?” Well, I live in the constituency. A fair deal for students, especially FE students is pretty important locally, especially among students of James Watt College. Increased powers for the Scottish parliament, especially in regards economic matters, could be one step towards combatting the poverty and high unemployment you rightly recognise but which successive Labour MPs have never managed to get to grips with. And equal mariage – it might not be the biggest issue on the radar, but there is a sizeable LGBT community locally for whom this is an important issue.
The quotation you use doesn’t suggest that Sophie has no interest in tackling poverty and health inequalities in Inverclyde and if you took the time to speak to her or send her an e-mail I’m sure you’d see for yourself how concerned she is with these issues and the liberal solutions she advocates.
Yes, she’s a young candidate. That is no bad thing. As to the effect on the share of the vote – who knows? I expect that the media will see this as a battle between Labour and the SNP, which could squeeze the Lib Dem vote – as we saw in the Holyrood elections in which Ross Finnie only managed 6.34%. But I’m optimistic Sophie can make something of an impact and her obvious energy, enthusiasm and maturity should stand her in good stead for the future.
‘G “I’ll rephrase my original (deleted) comment. What effect on their share of the vote (13% last time) do Liberal Democrats expect when running a very young candidate with an interest in “equal marriage, a fair deal for students and increased powers for the Scottish parliament” in a constituency with high unemployment, terrible poverty and some of the worst health problems in western Europe?”
No doubt she will point out that in 13 years of Labour goverment nothing has been done to deal with ‘terrible poverty” and “some of therworst health problems in Western Europe”. Labour quite happy to let their voters in places like Inverclyde rot beleiving that however bad things are they will always vote labour.
@Andrew Page & @Simon McGrath, you’ll find no disagreement from me about Labour’s failure to correct these problems. But they are systemic and a local symptom of a wider economic malaise where parts of the country were effectively abandoned under successive Tory governments, and to which Labour’s response was sadly not enough. What these areas need is an independently minded MP, not a slave to a party machine, prepared to challenge the inequalities of wealth in the UK in a voice that resonates with their electorate. In short, an old fashioned socialist, or at least someone who can speak that language when necessary.
The point I’m getting at is that regardless of the personal merits of Sophie Bridger, she, through no fault of her own, does not have the attributes to represent a serious challenge to Labour or the SNP.
It turns out g was right: According to the Guardian, “the Liberal Democrats’ vote collapsed by more than 10 points to 2.2%, losing the party its deposit. In a result that is likely to depress the Lib Dems further after their rout at the Holyrood election, its candidate, Sophie Bridger, attracted just 627 votes.”