Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'Many Members in the old days never or virtually never came to Westminster.' House of Commons Information Office Factsheet M3 reveals that East Lothian MP, Anne Picking is not in fact a trendsetter.

East Lothian

Candidates

	Labour	Anne Picking MP
	Scottish National Party	Paul McLennan
	Conservative & Unionist	William Stevenson
	Lib Dem	Christopher Butler
	Scottish Socialist Party	Gary Galbraith
	Scottish Green Party	Michael Collie
	UK Independence Party	Eric Robb
	Operation Christian Vote	William Thompson

Candidates

The Labour candidate is Anne Picking, a shadowy and highly elusive character who reputedly succeeded John Home Robertson as MP for East Lothian in 2001. Picking was born in Dunfermline in 1958 and was educated at Woodmill High School. She worked as a nurse in Kent and was a Labour councillor on Ashford Burgh Council from 1990 until 2000. Her selection for East Lothian in 2001 was a surprise as she was, and remains, largely unknown in the constituency. Even Picking's election agent has failed to justify her prolonged disappearances, merely commenting in the local paper that Ms Picking was not available. Picking's attendance record in the House of Commons was the poorest of any Scottish MP, while her expenses claims were amongst the highest in the UK: she claimed £39,744 for travel in 2004, more than any other MP in the whole of the UK. This can be compared to Alistair Carmichael in Orkney & Shetland who claimed £27,366 for travel, while David Hamilton in neighbouring Midlothian claimed just £18,883. Picking's total expense claim in 2004 was £148,818, in the top ten highest claims for the whole of the UK. Picking has refused to divulge a breakdown of her expenses. She supports the illegal war in Iraq.

The Scottish National Party candidate is Paul McLennan, who was born in Dunbar and educated at Dunbar Grammar School. He works as a business banking manager with the Bank of Scotland. He is a member of the Chartered Institure of Insurance (MLIA dip). Paul is an elder of Dunbar Parish church and Treasurer of Dunbar Community Council. He is the Convener of East Lothian SNP and lives in Dunbar with his wife Sharron his son Scott and daughter Kirsty. Paul is a keen football supporter and qualified SFA coach, and he currently coaches Dunbar Colts. Paul is also a member of the Tartan Army. He led a campaign against proposed cuts at Belhaven Hospital, handing in a 1,000 signature petition into the Scottish Parliament. In 2003 he contested the Dunbar East ward of East Lothian council, coming second with 26.56 %, just 1.40 % behind Labour, and reduced the Labour majority in the ward from 212 to 25.

Tory candidate Wlliam Stevenson has a BA in Accountancy and Finance from Heriot-Watt University, and is now an Elder with the Church of Scotland as well as Treasurer of a Conservative Constituency Association (but not, apparently, East Lothian). William, who currently lives in Stenton, has lived in East Lothian for the past 15 years.

The Lib Dem candidate is Christopher Butler, who was born in the year of 1966 and studied French at Edinburgh University. Currently married with two children, he lives in Musselburgh. His interests include the church, the family business, and travel. His political experience includes working as an Lib Dem election agent.

The SSP candidate is Gary Galbraith who is a registered nurse and is an active trade unionist in Unison. He has stood alongside and supported nursery nurses and firefighters on picket lines and is involved in local health campaigns. Gary previously stood as the SSP council candidate for Haddington in the local elections in 2003. He lives in Haddington, has three children and is married to Cindy. Gary is fighting for every school child in Scotland to be given free, nutritious, school meals.

The Scottish Green Party candidate is Michael Collie who is Parliamentary Assistant to Chris Ballance MSP, involved with constituency issues across East Lothian. He has previously worked in mental health and journalism. Michael lives with his wife and son in Musselburgh where he is a member of his local school board. He has been a Green campaigner for over twenty years.

The UK Independence party candidate is Eric Robb who was born and educated in Edinburgh. He emigrated in 1959 to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) having attested in the British South Africa Police the majority of service in the Rhodesian Intelligence. He left Rhodesia in 1969 on being appointed, by the British Overseas Police Serivice, as Chief Officer of Police of the South Atlantic Territories. In 1975 he emigrated to South Africa entering commerce as the Director of Companies. In May 2001 returned to Scotland with his wife Trudi, and settled in the village of East Linton, East Lothian. Thier two daughters, son-in law and two grandchildren are resident in New Zealand.

The Operation Christian Vote candidate is William Thompson.

Notional 2001 result

Logo	Party	Denver			Baxter
		Votes	%		Votes	%
	Labour	21,590	48.89 %		22,190	48.99 %
	Liberal Democrat	7,579	17.16 %		7,796	17.21 %
	Conservative & Unionist	7,083	16.04 %		7,137	15.75 %
	Scottish National Party	6,567	14.87 %		6,961	15.37 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	967	2.19 %		842	1.86 %
	Others	376	0.85 %		376	0.83 %
Notional Labour win	Notional Labour majority	14,011	31.73 %		14,394	31.77 %

Local Government wards in the constituency

This new constituency consists of the whole of the old East Lothian seat with the addition of four wards from the old Edinburgh East & Musselburgh seat and one ward that was shared between the two constituencies. The new Westminster seat covers the whole of the East Lothian council area.