Stewart Hosie is the Scottish National party parliamentary candidate for Dundee East. He'll be posting here throughout the campaign. Today he argues that only the SNP offers policies that are "made in Scotland".
"Labour, Tory and Liberal campaigns are focusing mainly on issues which are already devolved. Their campaigns are being referred to as the "except for Scotland" campaigns."
Stewart Hosie writes:
"We had our national campaign launch in Dundee this week. It was a good event, well attended by the press. At the same time Labour had a little local launch where they set free 50 balloons. One, they said, for each quarter of unbroken economic growth. Unfortunately for Labour, there have only been 10 quarters of growth in Scotland and letting off 10 balloons would hardly have been as effective a press stunt.
"While we all know that Labour never lets the truth get in the way of a good picture story, this episode underlines the problem of the election campaign here. Labour, Tory and Liberal campaigns are focusing mainly on issues which are already devolved. Their campaigns are being referred to as the "except for Scotland" campaigns.
"This offers the SNP nationally and here in Dundee a massive opportunity to present policies which are "made in Scotland" and indeed, right for Scotland. With 12 of 18 councillors SNP in the constituency in which I'm running (which has been subject to huge boundary changes), I feel I'm in a good position at the start of the campaign."
