THE only SNP MP to make a Holyrood bid in the wake of the party’s dual mandate ruling says he’s taking nothing for granted as he prepares his 2021 campaign.
Neil Gray has been elected to Westminster three times in five years. Now the Airdrie and Shotts MP has become the only one of his grouping to seek and win selection for next year’s Scottish Parliament bid.
That was announced on Friday evening as the party published its full roster of 2021 hopefuls.
Gray’s bid comes as long-serving Airdrie and Shotts MSP Alex Neil stands down – and follows the establishment of a new rule which requires any sitting SNP MP to quit their seat before an official Holyrood election campaign begins.
That move, enacted by the party’s 42-member National Executive Committee (NEC), was put in place over concerns that as many as 10 MPs would seek to make the move, opening the floodgates to a raft of byelections that could put the party’s Westminster block at risk and cost both it and the public purse.
Philippa Whitford MP said she and her colleagues had been “trapped” at Westminster. Kirsty Blackman spoke out about the change and some MPs urged the NEC to make a U-turn.
In the end, Gray was the only one of his 46 colleagues to stand and now faces having to let his office staff go and become jobless as the official Scottish Parliament push begins.
The timing of that is still to be determined, but likely to take place before the UK Parliament’s Easter recess, and he will continue to carry out his MP duties until then.
He told the Sunday National: “I can understand perfectly the reason why the NEC took the decision they did. I fully respect it. I have gone into the selection campaign with my eyes wide open in terms of what that’s going to mean.”
He went on: “Everybody has individual, personal, political circumstances. I fully respect anybody who may have wanted to but chose not to. I know for certain that every member of that group is working hard to make their positions redundant so that we are all back in Scotland’s national parliament, so that we are in an independent national parliament. Just because they have chosen not to seek selection for Holyrood shouldn’t be read as any less of a determination for us to be independent than my determination.”
Gray, father to Isla, six, Finlay, four and one-year-old twins Emmie and Freya, says they and wife Karlie are “excited” at the prospect that he may spend less time away from home in future: “I want to be the best father I can be for my young children and the most supportive partner I can be.
“The next parliament has to be the one that delivers independence and I want to play my part in that. Being closer to home will allow me not only to spend more time with my family, it will let me spend more time in my constituency serving the people of Airdrie and Shotts.
“The reason I am in politics is to make Scotland the place that’s the best possible for my children to grow up in.”
The NEC will now consider moves to begin the selection contest for the coming by-election. Gray expects there to be “significant interest” from within and outwith the area.
His own campaign will see him battle against Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard, who is currently an MSP for Central Scotland.
Gray said: “I don’t underestimate the challenge that will be before us. He is the leader of one of Scotland’s political parties and I take no votes for granted. I will earn every single vote.”
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