Thirty Days to Go!

Unbelievably we have now a mere thirty days until the Scottish Parliament election. I was selected by the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth SNP members to be their candidate well over a year ago, but it somehow seems much more recent than that, yet here we are, little more than a month until "D-Day".

This election is perhaps the most important in the history of our country. The 1st May will see the tercentenary of the enactment of the Act of Union which extinguished the burning flame of Scottish independence. Two days after that anniversary we will have the third election to our devolved Scottish Parliament.

The campaign to decide the make up of that body has seen a tremendous amount of effort expended by the Labour government in convincing the Scottish people that they are singularly incapable of self government. They have continued the old unionist myths of Scotland being an economic basket case that cannot afford independence, whilst simultaneously claiming that they have performed wonders stewarding over the Scottish economy. Try squaring that circle!

The fact of the matter is that our country is just like any other. We are entirely capable of governing ourselves and looking out for our own affairs. It is true that with independence we may from time to time stumble. But at least it shall be on a path of our own choosing.

This election can be the one where we start to make real lasting changes for Scotland. We can have a change of government, with a First Minister in Alex Salmond who is ambitious for Scotland and who will stand up for Scotland, and we can demand a chance to decide our own constitutional future and to go for independence.

We will make that decision collectively as a nation in thirty days time. In the interim period I shall be doing my level best to see that we vote for change and to move our country forward.