UP to nine contenders are believed to be gearing up to enter the SNP’s race to become the party’s candidate to take a seat held by a rebel Labour MSP.
It is understood that four people have so far declared their interest in winning the party’s nomination for Edinburgh Southern, with two others close to throwing their hats in the ring and a further three considering standing.
Daniel Johnson currently holds the seat and is one of Richard Leonard’s Holyrood group who has been making calls for the embattled leader to step down. One recent poll forecast that Labour may get just 14% of the vote in next May’s election.
So while Edinburgh Central has dominated media coverage, it is neighbouring Edinburgh Southern which has attracting the most interest from SNP MSP hopefuls.
Earlier this week Michael Sturrock, a former No voter, caught the headlines when he announced he was entering the race.
The 26-year-old said that he believed that as someone who had opposed independence four years ago and was now firmly supportive a Yes backer, he would be well placed to win over people to the SNP.
%image('11821607', type="article-full", alt="Catriona MacDonald, right, with Nicola Sturgeon ahead of the 2019 General Election ")
Sturrock joined Doug Thomson, Catriona MacDonald and Alison Dickie in contenders who have so far entered the contest.
MacDonald was the party’s candidate in Edinburgh South at the General Election in December, challenging the sitting Labour MP Ian Murray.
Murray held the seat – the only one Richard Leonard’s party held on to in the pre-Christmas poll – but has his majority slashed by 4419 votes.
MacDonald believes her General Election campaigning experience means she is the ideal candidate to take on Johnson, who has a majority of just 1123.
“It’s a highly winnable seat,” said the 25-year-old who works for the Edinburgh South West SNP MP Joanna Cherry.
The QC and SNP’s justice and home affairs spokeswoman at Westminster endorsed MacDonald’s candidacy earlier this week – a move which has undoubtedly given MacDonald’s campaign a boost.
Cherry posted on Twitter on Tuesday night: “We need more independent minded women in politics. @CatrionaSNP is a community activist with significant business experience. Her #GE2019 campaign made big inroads in Ed South & she’d make the best @theSNP candidate in Edinburgh Southern.”
MacDonald, the secretary of the SNP’s Morningside branch, was delighted to get prominent MP’s support. She told The National: “This election will be the opportunity to get away from Brexit Britain and retake Scotland’s place in Europe.
“I was the SNP candidate for Edinburgh Southern in last year’s General Election which covers most of Edinburgh South area and I think I really laid the groundwork for this coming campaign.
“What I really focused on in the General Election campaign was reaching out to voters with similar values, not just people who support independence.”
The seat is diverse, taking in some of Scotland’s most wealthy areas such as Morningside and the Grange as well as student neighbourhoods such as Bruntsfield and poorer housing estates including Liberton, Gilmerton and Morden.
Thomson has lived in the south of Edinburgh for 25 years. Born in a working-class community in Carluke, Lanarkshire, Thomson first moved to the capital as a sociology student before carving out a career in the city’s financial services sector.
He is a long-standing member of the SNP’s Newington branch an believes his experience in the world of finance puts him in a strong position to win the nomination. “The next independence referendum is going to be about money basically, so we need to get the economy arguments and the currency issues really sorted – and those are my areas of expertise,” he said.
Thomson, who is in his 50s, pointed to the situation where 14 current SNP MSPs are standing down and he believes there will be a need for people with considerable life and career experience to replace them.
Maureen Watt was the latest to announce last week that would not be returning to Holyrood next year – following in the footsteps of 13 others including Sandra White, Bruce Crawford, Michael Russell and Jeane Freeman.
“We are losing a lot of talent from experienced SNP MSPs who are standing down and people like me can fill that gap from day one,” said Thomson who added that it was important for the new parliamentary SNP group to have a mix of people of different ages and backgrounds.
More than 1000 SNP members in Edinburgh Southern will vote later this year on who they want to take on Labour MSP Johnson.
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