Electioneering, Commercial Street Lerwick

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Electioneering, Commercial Street Lerwick

Image: © Mike Pennington Taken: 15 Aug 2019

A by-election for the Shetland constituency of the Scottish Parliament will take place on 29th August 2019. Anyone wandering around Lerwick would think that there is only one candidate standing, as lamp-posts are festooned with the name of SNP selection Tom Wills (whose father once stood for the seat for Labour before quitting the party to join the SNP, and who has also edited the local newspaper 'The Shetland Times'). This is despite the fact that seat is, percentage-wise, the safest seat in the parliament, being held by Tavish Scott for the Lib Dems since the instigation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999; he had a 44 percentage point lead in the last election in 2016. The most recent Westminster election (for Orkney and Shetland) was much closer, and the SNP clearly think that they can beat the Lib Dem nominee Beatrice Wishart, who is vice-convenor of the Shetland Islands Council (standing as an independent when elected). First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been in the isles twice already to support the campaign. While the battle for the first two places promises to be tight, the battle for 3rd place will be interesting as well. Labour, represented by Johan Adamson this time round, was third in 2016, but only polled 651 votes, while the only other candidate last time round stood for the Conservatives and received 405 votes - Brydon Goodlad is their representative this time. The Greens have Debra Nicolson as their nominee, while UKIP has parachuted in Stuart Martin, the only candidate not resident in the islands. There are four independent candidates, including two current councillors, Ryan Thomson and Ian Scott, and a former councillor, Michael Stout - all three stress their local understanding. The fourth independent, Peter Tait, claims that he has no interest in local matters but is standing on a constitutional platform to 'bring back the monarchy to Scotland'.

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