A FORMER Conservative councillor in Edinburgh has left the party and announced that she will be backing independence for Scotland.
Ashley Graczyk, the councillor for the Sighthill and Gorgie ward in Edinburgh, published a statement on Thursday morning detailing her journey to Yes.
Her tweeted statement also outlined her reasons for leaving the Conservatives, after she rejected the party in July.
My journey from NO to YES pic.twitter.com/feAyGUUCFk
— Cllr Ashley Graczyk (@ashleyannotate) August 9, 2018
Graczyk, who is deaf, told of how she became disillusioned with the party and government after they refused to release the Access to Elected Office Fund to support disabled candidates.
She wrote: "I witnessed disabled people throughout the UK who would have loved but were unable to stand as MP candidates, including Scottish candidates, as they could not afford the support needs thanks to the Access to Elected Office Fund UK being reserved (had it been devolved it is likely the Scottish candidates would have had recieved funding from thr Scottish government)."
The former Conservative councillor also wrote that she had seen "the impact the Conservative policies, especially DWP and welfare, had on the local people and communitiues" and claimed that disabled people had been particularly hurt by them.
Describing her journey to backing independence, the now independent councillor stated that "over time, it became glaringly obvious to me the absurdity of reserved matters being dealt with by Westminster and not by the Scottish Government (bear in mind I voted No), as Scotland is capable of governing on reserved matters too."
She continues:"I came to the realisation that to preserve and protect the values we have in Scotland we cannot have policies imposed on us from Westminster that jar with the kind of Scotland we are trying to build. So simply, we need independence."
Graczyk claims feelings of regret that her homeland would have to "break up", but no longer sees an alternative.
She concludes her letter by saying: "The increasingly safe and sensible choice seems to be for Scotland to stay at the heart of Europe, independent and in control of our own destiny. It is time to embrace YES with full confidence in our future."
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