Flustered Kezia struggles to name her party candidates
KEZIA Dugdale endured a car crash interview yesterday as she struggled to name her own election candidates – including a veteran MSP.
The Scottish Labour leader was forced to deny she had struggled to find people willing to stand, during an appearance on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland yesterday.
She was asked why her own website did not have names for candidates in Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Perthshire North and Uddingston and Bellshill.
Miss Dugdale: ‘It’s not true. Every one of our candidates is in place.’
She added: ‘I’m sure we will be able to update that [website] in the next hour or so.’
Asked to name the people standing in those three constituencies, she stuttered: ‘We’ve… er… Uddingston, I can’t quite remember.
‘I don’t have the list in front of me right now but they are all in place, I can guarantee that.’
Embarrassingly, Michael McMahon, an MSP for 1 years, is the Uddingston and Bellshill candidate. He has been at the Scottish parliament since it opened in 1999 – long before Miss Dugdale arrived in 2011.
Nathan Morrison is standing in Banffshire and Buchan Coast, while Anna McEwan is the Labour candidate in Perthshire North.
Derek Mackay, SNP business convener, said: ‘The fact that Kezia Dugdale can’t remember the names of her constituency candidates demonstrates that Labour aren’t even trying to win constituencies any more, preferring to focus on the list votes.’
A Scots Labour spokesman said: ‘This is pathetic from the SNP, who are desperately trying to find anything to get away from what this election is about – using the powers of the Scottish parliament to stop the cuts to schools and services.’