
Congratulations to the brilliant Sanne Dijkstra-Downie who has been selected for the target seat of Edinburgh Northern for the Scottish Parliament elections. I have known her for years and she has the biggest work ethic combined with wisdom, compassion and calmness. I really want to see her in Holyrood come the next elections in 2026.
The new Edinburgh Northern seat has a large chunk of Alex Cole-Hamilton’s current seat and we have beaten the SNP in its boundaries before. Alex will be standing in the redrawn Edinburgh Western which sees him retain many of his strongholds and take on the Murrayfield end currently represented by Christine Jardine at Westminster.
Sanne has lived in Edinburgh for 23 years, living in the constituency for 20 years with her husband and two children. In her professional life, Sanne raises money for charities that provide educational opportunities, and helped establish an ocean protection initiative.
She has a strong record of community action, speaking out to secure better cycling and pedestrian infrastructure and more protection for Wardie Bay. In 2022, Sanne was elected as an Edinburgh Councillor for Forth ward, topping the poll ahead of Scottish Labour’s then Edinburgh leader. She sits on the Transport and Environment and Policy and Sustainability Committees.
Sanne said: