Tag Archives: shetland by-election 2019

NewsHound

SNP spend more in Shetland by-election than across whole of Scotland for EU referendum

By NewsHound | Thu 17th October 2019 - 1:30 pm

So the election spending returns from the Shetland by-election are out.

We spent £64k and won.

The SNP were right up against the limit, spending £99k.

But they only spent £90k in 2016, across the whole of Scotland on the EU Referendum.

As a Remain campaigner in West Lothian, I found it deeply frustrating that SNP activists kept saying that they were too tired from the Holyrood elections to fight the EU referendum.

If something is important, it doesn’t matter how tired you are. You get to sleep in a few weeks.

I don’t, to be honest, think that David Cameron’s insistence on holding the referendum just weeks after the Holyrood election was fair, but it was where we were.

We got out there and fought. And the SNP were tired. Even though they spent three years in the run-up to the independence referendum in 2014 hanging around on every street corner trying to persuade people to their cause.

Alistair Carmichael, MP for the Shetland Scottish Parliament seat, who welcomed so many Lib Dems up there in August, said:

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Caron Lindsay

You’ll want to get to Sheffield this weekend….

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 8th August 2019 - 8:55 am

Absolutely nobody would grudge Jane Dodds, our newly elected MP for Brecon and Radnorshire a weekend off.

After all, she has just been through a gruelling by-election campaign.

When I was down there three weeks ago, she had a very strong sense that people were coming to help her and she needed to return that favour.

Nobody expected her to be doing it quite so soon, though.

Since the Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam said he was stepping down in September, Laura has been stepping up her campaign activity.

https://twitter.com/LibDemLaura/status/1157925080300736512?s=20

Jane is repaying the huge effort Sheffield put in to her win. Laura went to Brecon several times as did local party chair John Dryden to whom I am eternally grateful for the lift back from the Lib Dem Pint in Brecon. I wouldn’t have been able to go otherwise.

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Caron Lindsay

Beatrice Wishart will fight Shetland by-election for the Scottish Lib Dems

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th July 2019 - 2:37 pm


The Scottish Liberal Democrats have today announced Cllr Beatrice Wishart has been selected as the parliamentary candidate for Shetland.

I am absolutely delighted at this news. As Alistair Carmichael’s caseworker and as a local councillor, Beatrice knows exactly what she needs to do to improve people’s lives in Shetland. I’ve known her for the better part of 20 years and think she would be a fantastic MSP.

Beatrice is the Depute Convener of Shetland Islands Council,  a trustee of Women’s Aid in Shetland and an active campaigner for the State Pension rights of women born in the 1950s.

Beatrice said:

I am thrilled to be standing as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Shetland. I’ve lived and worked in Shetland most of my life and I’m keenly aware of the issues that need to be addressed.

Islanders want to see fair funding for our ferries, more NHS services provided at home in Shetland, swift improvements to broadband coverage and all nurseries being given the resources and support they need to increase the amount of childcare available in our communities.

I will be a tireless champion for Shetland. It’s an honour to be given the opportunity to stand to represent my home.

She was endorsed by outgoing MSP Tavish Scott:

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Caron Lindsay

An island by-election as Tavish Scott steps down for job at Scottish Rugby

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 27th June 2019 - 11:42 am

Former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott has announced that he is leaving the Scottish Parliament to take up a job as head of External Affairs with Scottish Rugby.  He’s one of a handful of MSPs remaining who were first elected in 1999. Anyone want to have a go at naming the rest?

Tavish led the Scottish Party from 2008-2011 and had three ministerial posts in the Labour/Liberal Democrat coalitions. In 2001, he resigned as a Minister for Parliament after refusing to support the Executive in a vote on fishing because of the impact on his constituents.

He came back into Government in 2003 and served as Deputy Minister for Finance, entering the Cabinet as Minister for Transport after Jim Wallace’s resignation as Deputy First Minister in 2005.

Tavish said:

Representing the people of Shetland has been my life for 20 years. It has been an enormous privilege and honour to have been Shetland’s MSP since the Scottish Parliament opened in 1999.

I want to thank people the length and breadth of the islands for their support over the years. The bread and butter of representing people is helping solve problems and making their case to government, organisations and businesses. I have always enjoyed the challenge of serving Shetland and it is the part of the job that I will, without doubt, miss the most.

There have been many highlights, wonderful moments and intense political drama that I would not have missed for anything. I leave the Liberal Democrats at an exciting time in the party’s development. There have been excellent recent results in the recent European elections, improved poll ratings and there is genuine optimism about the future for the party.

So on this, the 20th anniversary week of the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament, it is the right time for me to change direction.

I am absolutely delighted to be joining Scottish Rugby at this incredibly exciting time for the sport in Scotland and across the world.  To have the opportunity to work for Scottish Rugby is a huge challenge and one that I cannot wait to begin. I will miss the cut and thrust of politics and the people I have met and represented for 20 years, but there can be no better new beginning than working for Scottish Rugby.

Willie Rennie paid tribute to his decades of service:

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