FERGUS Mutch is confident he can take Aberdeenshire West from Alexander Burnett, and thinks the seat is key to securing an SNP majority in Holyrood.
Burnett only had a majority of 900 votes in 2016, and after reducing Andrew Bowie’s majority in the overlapping Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine seat in the 2019 general election to just 800 from 7950 in the 2017 election, Mutch thinks he’s in with a good chance.
The National spoke to Mutch in Westhill, Aberdeenshire, about the priorities for the area and why it’s so vital for the SNP to win in the area. He explained: “If I can do that much damage to a Tory margin in a six week election than hopefully, fingers crossed, I’ll be able to do a lot more damage to a 900 majority because that’s all it is.
“It’s vitally important [SNP win]. Seats like this will make the difference to winning that all important majority. We had a majority in 2011 and we won this seat, we lost our majority in 2016 and we didn’t have this seat, it’s crucial to winning a majority. It’s also important because this seat is typical of huge parts of Scotland, it’s got areas like this which are residential, working people, it’s got quite affluent areas, areas of multiple deprivation, so it’s almost like you’ve got Scotland in a microcosm, you’ve got everything here. If we’re not winning this then we’re not winning a majority for Scotland.”
Locally, connectivity is a big issue for families struggling with low download speeds amid the pressures of working from home and home-schooling as the area has large swathes of rurality. But it also depends heavily on jobs in oil and gas, and looking to the future, Mutch believes that green jobs are the key to making changes in the area.
He said: “I’m passionate about the North East, I’ve grown up here and I’ve got some bright ideas about how we can make it better. The crucial thing that I’ve seen all my life is that the North East does really well but we don’t come close to reaching our potential, and there’s some big challenges in the year ahead, for example the oil industry isn’t going to be around forever, so we need to think about how we rebuild Scotland and the North East needs to come first in that. The SNP in this election are offering people a choice over their own future, and so if you want the right to choose your own future then vote SNP.”
Aberdeenshire West hasn’t avoided the impact of Brexit. Asked if the topic had come up during campaigning and speaking to farmers, he said: “It really has actually and farmers are maybe small c conservatives by nature, they’re capitalists, they want to find a spot where one blade of grass grows and make sure two blades of grass grow there the next time sort of thing, and I get that.
“They were promised a lot in the recent years by the Conservatives, you know Brexit would be an opportunity to cut red tape, don’t need to worry about your EU subsidies we’ve got you covered. Actually as it’s transpired there’s no certainty for farmers in the future and the big farming industries here are beef and sheep, and actually the export markets for that have been completely crushed by Brexit, so I think beef exports from the UK are down 92% from the start of the year.
“They’re doing ok just now because there’s domestic demand to keep that pipeline going, but the high value market is the export market so eventually the bottom will fall out of that and that’s really bad news coming down the line for farmers.”
The National also spoke to locals in Westhill, to get their views on who they were backing and why.
Rab Collinson, 79, retired, is backing the SNP and Mutch. He said: “I’m voting for Fergus Mutch and the SNP, because he’s a very good guy. I support independence for the same reason it’s best for every other country in the world, it’s the natural way that politics should be carried out, that the people of the country vote for the people they like, with policies they like, to govern the country in a way that the people are happy with.
“Independence is the answer to everything else, it’s the answer to the economy, it’s the answer to foreign relations. Nobody is going to look after the infrastructure or the economy of a country better than the people that live here.”
Independence, although being a key SNP policy, wasn’t the main reason behind why some voters in Aberdeenshire West were backing the party for the constituency vote.
Grant Massey, 25, a personal trainer, said: “I’m going to vote SNP in the seat vote and Greens in the list vote. It aligns the most with what I want, I feel like the seat is very much an SNP or Conservative option in this area so I don’t want to vote for the Conservatives, so I’ll vote for the SNP.
“The Greens are the closest to a properly progressive party we have in Scotland at the moment so that’s why I’m voting for them. The environment is a big issue but I also like a lot of their stuff on creating more green jobs, I think it’s really important going forward. It’s important to create jobs to move past that [oil and gas], I think it’s a step in the right direction.
“I’m not too fussed on independence as an issue, I’m not too fussed either way, I’m not super for or against, the other policies are kind of why I vote the way that I do, rather than independence being a key factor.”
India Duane (above), 24, a former doctor and medical writer, also said she would be voting SNP and Green, as she has serious concerns over the future of the NHS under a Tory government. She said: “I’m undecided between SNP and Greens, I’d prefer to vote for the Greens but I’ll probably end up voting SNP from a tactical point of view to keep the Tories out. They appeal to me mainly because they’re both against the privatisation of the NHS. I quite like their policies on the environment, particularly Greens, I’m not 100% sure if I would vote for independence.
"If there was a way we could do it and then reapply to the EU then I would, but I’m a bit undecided about that. The only reason I would vote for independence in Scotland is if we were to reapply to the EU. The main reason I’m against the Conservatives, well there are a lot of policies that I don’t agree with like privatisation of the NHS, I think if they stay in power it will mean really bad things for the NHS.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here