IanDuncan
I was born and raised in Alyth. My mum worked in the shoe shop on Airlie Street (she started work when she was 15) and my dad worked in Smedley’s Cannery in Rattray.
I was in the last year to take Highers at Alyth High School. The local council decided the senior school should be closed. Together with my fellow pupils, I led a campaign to keep the school open - a campaign that was well covered in the Blairie at the time. We were successful, but for only one year. After the school was stopped from offering exam certificates, the whole senior school was closed down soon thereafter.
Education has always been important to me. After Alyth High School I studied geology at St Andrews and earned a doctorate from Bristol University.
Hearing from parents and grandparents across Perthshire about of the state of our schools is troubling: not enough teachers, limits on what can be studied, dumbing down of grades, discipline problems.
Education is a devolved issue, but the Scottish Government has spent more time on plans for another independence referendum than anything else. After 10 years of SNP government in Edinburgh education here is in a woeful state. That must change. Accepting the result of the 2014 independence referendum and ruling out an unwanted, divisive second referendum would be a start.
I have spent the last three years representing Scotland in the European Parliament from my office in Perth. In the time I have been in Brussels, VoteWatch has declared me the 10th most influential MEP on environmental policy and 6th on energy policy.
Ensuring that the voice of Perth and North Perthshire is heard in Westminster will be my mission. Whether it be farmers worried about Brexit, small businesses concerned about trade and investment opportunities, parents worried about schooling, those just worried about getting by.
It is time for an independent voice in Perth, not one shackled to a single ideology. Making sure that when folks say they don’t want another independence referendum, they are heard. That would be a good start. Put someone from Perthshire in parliament.