Brian Whittle has been selected to contest the Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley seat for the Scottish Conservatives at next year’s Holyrood elections.
The South Scotland MSP was elected in 2016, doubling the party’s number of votes, and has set up his local office in Kilmarnock.
The constituency is currently held by the SNP’s Willie Coffey.
A former Olympic athlete, Mr Whittle is the Tories’ wellbeing and sport spokesperson and he has campaigned for more support for charities and third-sector organisations.
He has also been involved in the delivering of the Ayrshire Growth Deal – which looks set to see millions of pounds invested into Ayrshire by the UK Government, Scottish Government, the three regional councils and private business – and the Kilmarnock-based HALO project, which will create new jobs in the town with a hub allocated at the former Johnnie Walker factory site.
Mr Whittle has also managed to lead attempts to improve the health of Scotland’s young people through the improvement of accessability to sport, music and drama.
And he has called for more money to be spent in south-west Scotland improving the region’s transport infrastructure in a bid to boost economic growth.
‘‘I am delighted to be standing again in Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley,” he said.
“This constituency is being badly let down by the Scottish Government.
“We have some of the highest drug death rates in Scotland, but all the SNP will talk about is a safe injection facility in Glasgow.
“Roads like the A77, Bellfield Interchange and A71 are crying out for investment, but time and again they’re passed over for projects in the central belt and north-east.
“This is a constituency where great things are happening and it has the potential to be so much better.”
Mr Whittle continued: “It’s been a pleasure to serve and champion Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley as a regional MSP and I’m excited about the opportunity to be its next MSP.”
