Stewarts will fight for Badenoch seat
A husband and wife team will fight for the Badenoch seat in next year’s election to Holyrood.
Highland MSP, David Stewart and his wife, Linda Stewart, Director of European and International Development with the University of the Highlands and Islands, have been selected by local Scottish Labour Party members to be the party’s candidates for the Inverness & Nairn and Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch constituencies in next year’s Scottish Parliamentary elections.
The two constituencies were twinned, meaning at least one of the seats would be contested by a female candidate, in keeping with the party’s commitment to having at least half of its candidates female.
Members from both constituencies met in the Beaufort Hotel, Inverness on Saturday (Octber 11) and overwhelmingly backed the husband and wife team in their decision to stand again, both having stood as candidates for the seats at the previous Holyrood elections in 2011.
Mr Stewart was previously the MP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber between 1997 and 2005 before making the move to Holyrood , becoming a regional MSP for the Highlands and Islands in 2007. He was selected again for the Inverness and Nairn Constituency, which he last fought in 2011, moving Labour from third to second place locally.
Mrs Stewart , elected to stand for the SLP in the neighbouring Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch constituency, is a leading member of the party’s Scottish Executive Committee. She previously stood at the Scottish Parliament election, 2007 for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber and again in 2011 for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.
Mr Stewart commented: “I am delighted to have been selected. With our new leaders Kezia Dugdale and Jeremy Corbyn in place, we are seeing a real surge in membership and I hope to be able to convert the increasing local support into votes in the constituency next May.
“We know locally the Lib Dems let people down badly and many voters in the Highlands are now turning to Labour as a real alternative to Tory austerity and as a protest against the SNP centralisation agenda.
“I look forward to hitting the campaign trail in the coming weeks and months and reconnecting with voters across the constituency to help deliver for Inverness, Nairn and the Highlands. “
Commenting on her selection, Linda Stewart said: “I am grateful to members for giving me the opportunity to stand again. I fought hard for people right across the length and breadth of the constituency from Caol to Cromarty and from Dalwhinnie t o Dingwall at the last election and I am look forward to this challenge again.
“We have to be realistic about the challenge ahead of us, but the shine is starting to come off the SNP, not only in the Highlands, but right across Scotland. Just as Kezia Dugdale has done, I ask voters in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch to take a fresh look at Scottish Labour. Those who do will see a real alternative, a Scottish Labour party committed to social justice and equality and one which stands in opposition to the centralisation and cuts agenda being put forward by the SNP in Edinburgh.
“I will be working hard to win every vote I can in this constituency and look forward to debating the local issues that matter to local people. Issues that we should be pushing to the forefront of the political agenda like education and healthcare, rather than continuing to argue about constitutional change."
