Councillor hopes to run for Argyll and Bute MSP role
A Glasgow city councillor is seeking to become the MSP representing Argyll and Bute in Holyrood.
Rhiannon Spear, originally from Bute, is hoping to be selected to the seat vacated by veteran SNP politician Michael Russell.
Mr Russell, aged 67, plans to step down, after 22 years in politics, ahead of next May’s elections to the Scottish Parliament.
Ms Spear, aged 29, went to school on Bute and is the National Women’s Convenor for the SNP.
She moved to Glasgow in 2008 to study law at university.
She said: ‘It’s definitely my home constituency and obviously growing up there, going to school there and having all of my family still living on the island, I truly understand the area, the challenges it faces, and the massive opportunities and potential that it holds from the people who live there and the talent the region holds.
‘It would be the honour of my life to represent the area.
‘I’m one of those people who moved away to go to university and to have the opportunity to move home and represent Bute would be a dream for me.’
Ms Spear has been an SNP member since the age of 20 and is a founding member of Generation Yes in 2012.
Ms Spear was elected to the council in 2017 to represent Greater Pollok; made the Glasgow list for MSP in 2016 and chairs Glasgow’s Social Enterprise Board and the TIE Campaign - Time for Inclusive Education.
Party members across Argyll and Bute will have the ultimate say in a vote of the successful shortlisted candidates.
The party will host an all-woman shortlist to improve gender balance.