Saving the NHS, improving the economy and a passion for Scotland, from a devolved point of view, within the United Kingdom. List MSP, Martin Whitfield, takes his fight, as a Scottish Labour candidate, to the streets of the newly revised East Lothian Coast and Lammermuir constituency. In a bid to retake this constituency from the Scottish National Party (SNP) and return it to the party that had held the seat since the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 – having lost it at the election in 2021.
But who is Martin Whitfield?
What will he do for the people of East Lothian Coast and Lammermuir? Will he and his party be successful in East Lothian and across Scotland?
Born in Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and now resident in East Lothian, Martin Whitfield is a former solicitor and previously taught at Prestonpans Primary School. Martin has been involved in many community groups, including Prestonpans Community Council, where he served as the Chair and as a council member of the General Teaching Council for Scotland, as well as a member of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), Scotland’s largest teaching trade union.
In the 2017 UK snap general election, Martin won the Westminster seat of East Lothian from the SNP, before Kenny MacAskill took the seat back for the SNP in the subsequent 2019 snap general election.
In 2021, he became a Labour Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for the South Scotland electoral region, elected on the list system of Scotland’s Additional Members System. With the new constituency of East Lothian Coast and Lammermuir, losing Tranent to another constituency in a boundary review and leaving the South Scotland list region for the Lothians list region, Martin will be fighting to take the seat back from the SNP, and return to Holyrood as a constituency MSP.
Martin’s priorities for East Lothian Coast and Lammermuir
Citing a change in demographics in East Lothian, as many older people move there to retire, one of Martin’s priorities is ensuring that services and facilities are in place for that change. However, Martin is keen that the services and facilities exist for the younger population too, and will be talking about, and campaigning for, schools and education and “re-engendering hope for our young people”, as well as ensuring there are plenty of jobs, so people can both live and work in East Lothian.
Torness Nuclear Power Station is another one of Martin’s priorities for the constituency. As Scotland’s last nuclear power station, Torness is due to close in 2030, which Martin says will cause huge problems. He is actively campaigning to get a replacement, small modular reactor on the site to prevent demolition of the power station and keep it producing carbon neutral energy. He also cites the need for the station, to keep skilled and well-paid jobs in the area.
A Labour Government in Holyrood?
Governing well for the people of Scotland, improving the economy, saving the NHS. Nationally, Martin Whitfield talks about the 19 years of SNP Government by the end of this parliamentary term, with an NHS in crisis, hollowed out local authorities, and managed decline across Scotland.
Martin, when talking to young people, describes a “light at the end of the tunnel”, and says that at the moment it is “incredibly small”. He says that “that light, that hope for tomorrow, has to be much brighter and much closer”, with it being about good education, good housing, being healthy, and being able to choose where and how people work, as opposed to it just being about independence under the SNP.
But will Labour get into Bute House to implement these priorities? Right now, at the time of writing, Reform UK has outpolled Scottish Labour in four consecutive opinion polls for the constituency vote and two consecutive opinion polls for the list vote. When asked about the polls, Martin, who is confident of a Labour victory in next year’s Scottish election, referenced the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, where Scottish Labour candidate, Davy Russell, defied expectations, the opinion polls and the media, who all said it was a straight fight between the SNP and Reform UK, by claiming a shock win. He acknowledged that people were “talking about Reform as outsiders who can take on incumbents”, but said that come the next election, people will have to decide whether they want a party that “puts the blame onto others”, or whether they want a party that will “put in the hard work”.
Martin Whitfield has big plans as an MSP, for both East Lothian and Scotland, and as part of a party in power. But will Scottish Labour get into power? Will they brighten the light and re-engender the hope? He envisages a much bigger and brighter light, re-engendered hope, and a passion for a devolved Scotland, instead of thinking constantly about whether or not it will be independent in the near future. But will Scottish Labour defy the polls and expectations, like Davy Russell in Hamilton? Or will the pollsters call the result and see voters return a fifth consecutive SNP Government?
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