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Bob Duncan, Scottish National Party (SNP)

Steòrnabhagh a Deas / Stornoway South

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Having visited most of the homes in the Stornoway South ward over the past weeks and months, I have been given a chance to gauge the feelings of the voters and to understand more fully the issues which occupy them.

For this opportunity, and for the warm and courteous welcome I have received on every doorstep, I am very grateful.

If elected to serve in Stornoway South, I will strive to ensure that every penny spent by the Comhairle brings the maximum possible benefit to the community. In particular, I will strive to ensure that capital projects support local jobs and businesses to the maximum extent. I also want to make the Comhairle much more open and transparent than it is now. That is one reason I am standing under the SNP banner.

My top priority will be the retention and creation of jobs, in both the public and private sectors. I believe the most important contribution the Comhairle can make is to create and maintain an excellent infrastructure. This includes not only physical communications links such as ferries, roads, airports etc., but also telecommunications and broadband.

There are many high-tech industries whose owners and employees are highly mobile and who choose to run their businesses in areas which provide the environment they enjoy. These “lifestyle” businesses will find our islands highly attractive, as long as the infrastructure makes them a viable location. Examples include renewables, biotechnology, software development, media, tourism and publishing. These industries have the added advantage of providing highly-paid skilled jobs.

I have found that there is tremendous anger in the community that the ruling group in the Comhairle has allowed so much money and so many jobs to be lost to the islands. The £120 million schools project will not be repeated in our lifetimes, and the opportunities it offered have been lost to us for ever. This is one of the complaints against the current councillors in the ward which I have heard repeated most often.

As one of a group of SNP councillors, I will ensure that the council's tendering policy is improved to better allow local firms to take advantage of capital projects, bringing jobs to the islands, rather than to the island of Ireland. The Irish workers who are building our schools may be welcome visitors, but we will never see a reciprocal arrangement whereby Western Isles firms secure £120 million pounds of work in Ulster.

I passionately believe that candidates who are members of (or activists in) political parties should stand under their party banner and not masquerade as independents. This does a disservice to both the voters, and to the genuine independent candidates, of which there are many in the Western Isles. For someone who has recently stood for parliament under a Labour banner, to then stand as an “independent” for the council is simply disingenuous.

The SNP are open and up front about party membership. By standing as a party group, we are able to produce and publish a local manifesto. This manifesto was written on the island by islanders for island communities and allows voters to tell precisely what we are proposing to do, in considerable detail if they wish, and then to hold us to this in office. It also allows us to achieve policies, such as freezing the council tax for the next few years, which would be impossible for independents to guarantee.

In our manifesto we present the following vision for the future of our islands:

 

The Scottish National Party will make the Western Isles a place where:

  • statutory services in local communities are given priority
  • local schools are defended
  • jobs are protected
  • older and vulnerable people are looked after in their own homes
  • services are decentralised wherever appropriate
  • access to cultural and leisure services is maintained
  • infrastructure is improved
  • our environment is protected
  • Gaelic language and culture is promoted

 

No other candidates have produced a manifesto, so they cannot articulate a common vision. The best they can hope for is to make a series of deals and compromises with their fellows on a continual ad-hoc basis. I believe the people of the Western Isles deserve better than this.

The SNP has had a tremendous record over the past 5 years in government, despite constant oppositional-ism and bitter negativity from Labour over the first 4 of those years. I want to see the same competence, openness and ability shown by the SNP in government applied to the Comhairle as well.

Finally, and most importantly, I am married to Susan who fully supports me in my efforts to become your representative in Stornoway South. We have three children, two in University and one at the Nicolson Institute. I hail originally from Oban, having been brought up in West Lothian. I have lived in Lewis for over 10 years, following 10 years working and living abroad.

Please vote for both SNP candidates on May 3rd.