Stirling is first stop on campaign tour
Battle starts for key seat
Stirling’s status as one of the most hotly contested constituencies in Scotland was reinforced this week as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made it her first campaigning stop after the announcement of December’s General Election.
It was her second visit to the constituency in 10 days, having been at Stirling University on Sunday October 20 for the launch of SNP candidate Alyn Smith’s campaign. MEP Mr Smith was recently selected to fight the seat which is currently held by Conservative Stephen Kerr by the slender margin of 148 votes.
The SNP leader said of the Stirling contest: “This is the most important election Scotland has faced for decades – and Stirling will be a key battleground if we are to escape from Brexit.
“The SNP is the only party which can deliver that opposition to Brexit in Stirling, and a vote for Alyn Smith will lock the Tories out of government.
“Scotland has been ignored and treated with contempt by Westminster, and this election is an opportunity to bring that to an end.
“A General Election is Scotland’s chance to come together to reaffirm our opposition to Brexit and our right to decide on our own future.”
But a Stirling Conservative spokesperson responded: “It certainly is an important election. One at which the people in Stirling can tell Nicola Sturgeon and her appointed candidate from Edinburgh that enough is enough, that they cannot get away with ignoring referendum results or their appalling record in government any longer and that their negative, grievance-fuelled, voice is not that of Scotland.”
On Wednesday the First Minister appeared alongside Mr Smith for a stopover which took in Creative Stirling’s Made in Stirling premises in King Street and the Burgh Coffee House.
She also met activists at the rotunda at the bottom of King Street.
Ms Sturgeon was shown around the Creative Stirling premises by the organisation’s founder and director Joe Hall. She was shown a weaving demonstration by Mairi Breslin of Stirling who was making a scarf.
She also added her own design in felt-tip to one of Doune art and design student Mia McGregor’s cubes before watching tots having fun on the Thistles Spider Project slide, a former feature of the Thistles shopping centre, which was recently brought out of storage.
This is the most important election Scotland has faced for decades - and Stirling will be a key battleground Nicola Sturgeon