"We all know how the SNP Government picks endless fights with London - it's all the party exists for."
So says Richard Thomson the SNP PPC for Gordon, if that is all the party exists for then they really are not a political party but a prize boxer.
Update Richard then went on to justify that this was not the position of the SNP by looking at The Scottish Affairs Select Committee report on co-operation and communication. The following unchaged is what I wrote to look at the above statement more closely, i.e. is there not some element of truth in that statement. (Bear in mind that from 1999 I was working in a newly devolved Northern Irish Department and therefore experienced communication with Whitehall first hand). End
I entered politics to make a positive change for the people around me. I entered politics to bring fairness to all. I believe in proportional voting systems which means that you cannot fight all the time but you would most often have to work together with others to achieve your goals.
The fact that the SNP candidate against Liberal Democrat Malcolm Bruce has been so candid shows that the SNP just do not get it. They are ignoring the economic hole that we all find ourselves in and instead of looking at how we all need to pull together to get out of it, are refusing to make any concessions.
Malcolm Bruce along with myself and all the Liberal Democrat candidates are standing on a manifesto that does not set aside out principles. It is still putting fairness front and centre, still putting sustainability and our environment at its heart. But we've admitted that some aspirations cannot be met while we are crippled by Labour's debt. Meanwhile in Bute House Alex Salmond is prepared to fiddle while the economy of Scotland burns, as he attempts to hold Westminster to ransom.
That is why the people of Gordon deserve Malcolm Bruce as their MP once again. He has served their best interests for 27 years. He stands up for them when he has to but also know when he needs to work with other parties to get things done. That is the art of politics, it more that just picking endless fights, it's also the way you occasionally win.
