Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'For the SNP, 2003 is the new 1992. And indeed the SNP experience is eerily similar to that of Labour in their doomed campaign against John Major. The SNP's main opponent was weaker than it had been for years, led by a leader who had only been in charge for a few months. The Nationalists ran the best campaign by far. Its leader wiped the floor with his opposite numbers. And he lost. He lost.' Stewart Kirkpatrick in the Scotsman, 2 nd May 2003.

Paisley & Renfrewshire South

Candidates

	Labour	Douglas Alexander MP
	Scottish National Party	Andrew Doig
	Conservative & Unionist	Thomas Begg
	Liberal Democrat	Cllr Eileen McCartin
	Scottish Socialist Party	Iain Hogg
	Socialist Labour Party	Howard Broadbent
	Pride in Paisley Party	Gordon Matthew
	Independent	Robert Rodgers

Candidates

The Labour candidate is th current MP for Paisley South, Dougals Alexander. He was born in 1967 in Glasgow, and educated at Park Mains High School in Erskine, Pearson College in Vancouver, Canada, and Edinburgh University. He worked as a solicitor and a politics lecturer. In 1995, he contested the Peth & Kinross by-election following the death of Sir Nicolas Fairbairn. The seat was won by Roseanna Cunningham for the SNP, with Alexander taking 22.9 % of the vote (up 10.5 %) and beaing the Tories into third place. In 1997, he stood at the Paisley South by-election following the suicide of Grdon McMaster. Alexander held the seat but saw the Labour vote fall by 13.4 % to 44.1 %, while their majority was cut to 2,731 over the SNP's Ian Blackford. In 2001, Alexander consolodated his hold on Paisley South, taking 59.39 % of the vote and obtaining a 11,910 majority over the SNP's Cllr Brian Lawson. Alexander is an acolyte of Gordon Brown, and has cowritten many pamphmets with his mentor. In 2001 he was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Trade & Industry, being transferred to the Cabinet office in 2002, while in 2003, he was also made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In 2004 he was appointed Minister of State working at both the Foreign Office and at the Department of Trade & Industry. His sister, Wendy, is an MSP and onetime Scottish 'Minister for Everything'.

The SNP candidate is Andrew Doig. Andrew lives in Renfrewshire with his wife Audrey, and 9 year old son, Iain, and currently works locally counselling people with addiction problems. Formerly he has worked in rehab services for people with epilepsy and also as a local radio news reporter. He joined the SNP in 1979 and has stood twice previously for Westminster, in Glasgow Pollok (1987), and in Clydesdale (1997). Within the SNP Andrew has held the position of Assistant National Secretary of the Party (1992-96) and has been an Elected Member of the Party's policy-making National Council (1985-98), where he was a veteran policy-maker. Andrew was also Depute Rural Affairs Spokesman for the SNP in the late 90's (1997-98). Andrew has an Honours Degree in Divinity from the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham, one of the oldest theological colleges in the British Isles, and is a licensed Eucharistic Assistant within the Scottish Episcopal Church at St Johns Episcopal Church in Johnstone. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Contemporary Scotland, a Glasgow-based think tank which seeks to promote public debate on all aspects of modern Scottish life.

The Tory candidate is Thomas Begg.

The Lib Dem candidate is vetern camapigner Cllr Eileen McCartin. Shefirst contested the new seat of Parsley North at the 1983 Westminster election for the SDP, coming second with 23.7 %, while as SDP candidate in 1987, she came third with 15.8 %, 10 votes behind the Tories. She did not contest the by-election in 1990 where the Lib Dems fell to fourth place, but at the 1992 general election she came fourth for the Lib Dems, with 8.3 %, 0.1 % less than they had scored in the by-election. In 1997, she moved to Paisley South, coming third with 9.37 %. She did not stand at the 2001 election, but in 2003, she stood in Paisley South at the Scottish parliamentary elections, coming third with 14.08 %, and was also second on the Lib Dem West of Scotland list.

The SSP candidate is Iain Hogg, aged 37, who works as an electrician and is a graduate in electronic engineering. For eight years he served as SeedhillÕs councillor, before leaving the Labour Party in disgust at the New Labour project, particularly their use of PFI in education - the creeping privatisation of our schools. As a socialist, he found a home in the SSP, where he is a committed campaigner for public ownership of our railways, schools and hospitals.

The Socialist Labour Party candidate is Howard Broadbent.

Gordon Matthew is standing for the Pride in Paisley Party

Robert Rodgers is standing as an Independent.

No longer standing is the Scottish Green Party candidate is Phil Anderson who is from Foxbar in Paisley. He has been involved in various youth groups in the Paisley area, and is committed to making Paisley a better place to live. He has recently been re-training in the retail sector. He is particularly interested in environmental issues and urban renewal.

Notional 2001 result

Logo	Party	Denver			Baxter
		Votes	%		Votes	%
	Labour	22,049	56.99 %		22,691	57.05 %
	Scottish National Party	8,081	20.89 %		8,096	20.36 %
	Liberal Democrat	3,701	9.57 %		3,705	9.32 %
	Conservative & Unionist	3,247	8.39 %		3,441	8.64 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	1,099	2.84 %		1,319	3.32 %
	Others	514	1.33 %		521	1.31 %
Notional Labour win	Notional Labour majority	13,968	36.10 %		14,595	36.70 %

Local Government wards in the constituency

This consists of the whole of the old Paisley South seat, including one ward shared with Paisley North, plus two wards from the old Paisley North seat and two wards from the old West Renfrewshire seat.