Indyref, Brexit, locals and now a general election... Once more into the booth

Monklands’ two MPs are getting set for another general election campaign – three years earlier than anticipated.

Airdrie & Shotts representative Neil Gray and neighbouring colleague Phil Boswell, of Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill, will both be defending the constituencies they won in 2015 following the Prime Minister’s surprise snap election announcement.

The two parliamentarians, along with their SNP colleagues across Scotland, were confirmed at the weekend as the party’s candidates once again as their constituents prepare to vote on June 8.

Mr Gray discovered that the Prime Minister planned to make her unscheduled announcement as he prepared to board a flight to return to Westminster after the Easter break – and, having started the day preparing Judith Tonner to lead a debate on employment support allowance, he landed to news of a general election.

The MP – who won his Airdrie seat from Labour’s Pamela Nash in 2015 – told the Advertiser: “It’s been a whirlwind two years, but this has been a crazy week.

“The first idea I had about it was at the same time as everybody else last Tuesday, and some colleagues and I speculated about what it could be. When we landed and the [phone] signal started kicking in again, I had various messages saying, ‘ Here we go again’ and from people saying, ‘We’re ready to work again’.”

Mr Gray added: “It’s so unexpected – there was so much speculation when Theresa May came to power that she’d call an election to give her a mandate as Prime Minister and pursue the Brexit course she was looking to pursue. Once Christmas was past I thought she wasn’t going to do it, and she was so adamant right up until March that there wasn’t going to be an election – it’s a bolt from the blue and just looks like a cynical attempt to shore up her personal position rather than anything for the good of the country.

“There’s definitely a Brexit element in the process, as the Prime Minister realises she’s going to find negotiations [with the European Union] tougher than she thought and this means she’s able to give herself two years after coming back with a deal instead of doing so right before a 2020 election.

“She’s also calculating that she can sweep the board and is hoping to have a bigger majority, and not to have to worry about some of the backbenchers who have caused her problems.”

Mr Gray said of the forthcoming