The Partick East/Kelvindale by-election: What are the candidates saying?
DISCLAIMER: THE YOUTH VOTE UK CONTACTED ALL CANDIDATES WHO ARE STANDING AT THE PARTICK EAST/KELVINDALE BY-ELECTION ON THE 18/03/2021. WE RECEIVED NO RESPONSES FROM JILL BROWN (LABOUR), ABDUL BOSTANI (SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY) AND BLAIR ANDERSON (SCOTTISH GREEN PARTY). IN THE INTEREST OF FAIR COVERAGE, WE HAVE INCLUDED POLICIES THAT THESE THREE CANDIDATES HAVE MADE AVAILABLE ON THEIR CAMPAIGN PAGES.
Partick East/Kelvindale (Glasgow) is having a by-election on the 18/03/2021 to elect a new councillor after Tony Curtis (formerly Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party) lost his seat after failing to attend council meetings for six months. We here at The Youth Vote UK contacted all the candidates that are standing and asked them how they aim to tackle issues that matter to young people.
Naveed Asghar - Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
“Local issues will be at the heart of my campaign. I want to ensure we come out of the pandemic, our kids get the help they need, our businesses are supported to sustain jobs and services in the West End are protected.”
Scottish Independence:
"I unequivocally oppose Scottish independence and am proud to be standing as a candidate for the only political party in Scotland willing and able to defend our place in the United Kingdom.”
Education:
“The Scottish Conservatives have a comprehensive plan to restore our schools invest in the future of our children by:
· Recruiting 3000 additional teachers
· Introducing a national tutoring programme
· Providing every primary school pupil access to a free school lunch and
breakfast
· Establishing an independent school and education inspector.”
Climate Change/Environment:
“Scottish Conservatives have supported a net zero target of 2045 and are in favour of an interim 2030 target of 75 percent.
Thanks to being part of the United Kingdom, I'm thrilled that Glasgow will be hosting the world's climate change summit later this year with delegates and world leaders from up to 200 countries descending on the SEC to work together on this crucial issue. In addition, the UK Government has made ambitious proposals to spur a green recovery from the pandemic - with a 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution set to mobilise £12 billion of government investment and support up to 250,000 highly skilled green jobs across the UK."
Jill Brown - Scottish Labour Party
Understands the impact that cuts have on the delivery of local services.
Good quality local services are a must and that means making sure our bins are emptied, streets cleaned, bus routes are operating and more now than ever that our open spaces such as parks are accessible and well maintained.
She believes we must support our social care staff doing such important work in our communities.
Abdul Bostani - Scottish National Party
Council tax freeze
Reduce poverty
£1.5 million for parks and green spaces
Protect social work
Close attainment gap
Invest in frontline services in neighbourhoods across the city
Get ready for (COP26) United Nations Climate Change Conference 2021
Tahir Jameel - Scottish Liberal Democrats
Climate Change and Environment:
“The sustainability, ensuring the future of life on Earth, is an infinite game changer, the endless expression of generosity is responsibility of all of us.
The Liberal democrat’s policy on climate emergency is to tackle the climate emergency by generating 80% of our electricity from renewables by 2030 and insulating all low-income Holmes by 2025.
I would ensure that we act on climate change for action, and we should be protecting our parks and green places in Scotland and Glasgow. We should encourage climate action for peace by planting trees in schools, institutions and communities, with support from local council leaders and teachers from various different education establishments.”
LGBTQ+ and Gender Identity:
“I fully support the Liberal democrat’s policy and we have committed to banning the practice of Conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ people.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have campaigned to ban conversation therapy since 2014 and are the first party to commit to supporting the End Conversion Therapy campaign.
These areas fall within the devolved powers of the Scottish Government and should be legislated for by the Scottish Parliament”, Conversion therapy is an incredibly harmful practice which has no place in Scotland, or anywhere else in the world. The liberal democrats will always stand with the LGBT+ community.
We want Scotland to be the best country in the world for LGBT+ people.”
Donald MacKay - UK Independence Party
Employment:
“As an employer who occasionally recruits young people, I think that the teen twenty age group receive a particularly raw deal when it comes to employment opportunities.
It is all very well to have a degree or diploma but if you cannot get a job?
That is why the small business community matter. They make profit (which should not be a dirty word) and provide work. Lockdown is therefore a disaster to the hairdressers/beauticians/jewellers/cafes etc, and the long-term consequences are likely to be severe.
Young people can also set up their own businesses and should be encouraged to do so.
Hence my disinterest in LGBT/climate change/ etc. These issues do not put a wage packet in anyone’s pocket.”
Transport:
“As far as public transport is concerned, I should like to see a return to the old 1970s system of Glasgow buses numbered 1 to 64 travelling throughout the city to destinations clearly specified and with a regular timetable.
This may require subsidy but would be a worthwhile investment.”
Blair Anderson - Scottish Green Party
Free public transport
Affordable housing for all
Net-zero Glasgow by 2030
Support for tenants and workers
Matthew Esam (Policy and News Analysis Associate) with special thanks to Yusuf Qureshi and Kirsty Smith