Ayr by-election 2000

saltire shield'Green MSP Robin Harper dubbed the Executive's plan for former students to contribute £2000 to a graduate endowment 'a student poll tax' and Mrs Thatcher's nemesis reared its head again when SNP finance spokesman Andrew Wilson mocked the use of the word 'endowment' instead of tax, claiming 'presumably the poll tax would be called "the poll endowment by their language''.
Frances Horsburgh and Elizabeth Buie in the Herald, 28 th January 2000.		Lion Rampant

SNP Select Jim Mather For Ayr By-Election

A News Release from the Scottish National Party

At a selection meeting in Ayr this evening [Thursday], Scottish National Party members in Ayr constituency selected MrÊ JimÊMather as the Partyâs candidate in the Ayr Scottish Parliament by-election. The selection was unanimously endorsed at the conclusion of the meeting.

Tomorrow, SNP leader Alex Salmond will open the Scottish Parliament office in Ayr of Michael Russell MSP and Adam Ingram MSP. Members of the media are invited to attend. Afterwards, both Mr Salmond and Mr Mather will take part in a walkabout in Ayr town centre (media welcome), and several other constituency visits.

Commenting on the selection, SNP Deputy Leader Mr John Swinney MSP said:

"Jim Mather is an excellent candidate - an extremely talented individual, who will fight a first-class campaign.

"Jim will work hard to win for Ayr and for Scotland - as a strong and positive alternative to parties which take their orders from London."

SNP candidate Mr Jim Mather said:

"I am honoured and delighted to be chosen by the local party as the candidate in this Scottish Parliament by-election.

"Ayr is a three-horse race between the SNP, Labour and the Tories, with all of the recent polls showing the SNP advancing throughout Scotland. The SNP will be fighting to win this important by-election."

Note 1: Jim Mather (52) is a Chartered Accountant, and a businessman who is currently Executive Director of "Business for Scotland", the pro-Independence business grouping.

Note 2: The regional list vote in Ayr for the Scottish Parliament sets the context for the by-election, since it removes the "candidates factor" at that stage, and gives a straightforward indication of the partiesâ support as it stood last May.

Lab: 32.1%; Con: 30.9%; SNP: 22.6%; Lib Dem: 6.2%; Oth: 8.1%. As can be seen, the SNP, Labour and Tories were all within 10 points of each other.

27 th January 2000


Return to home page