THE founder of the NoToYes campaign has thrown his hat in the ring in a bid to become the SNP’s General Election candidate in Falkirk.
Michael Sturrock, who currently works as the communications chief for Culture Secretary Angus Robertson, is bidding against Councillor Paul Garner for the nomination.
The Falkirk constituency is currently represented at Westminster by SNP MP John McNally, who in July announced he would be stepping down.
After first taking the seat from Labour in 2015, McNally won more than 50% of the vote in the 2019 General Election.
The strong SNP support in the area means that there is an opportunity to tell a different story to elsewhere in Scotland, Sturrock said.
“In Falkirk, where independence support has grown since 2014, we can be bold and put forward a candidate with the message that the independence campaign is not only alive and kicking but bringing new voters on board every day,” he said.
“I think we can put forward a candidate who has moved from No to be able to really take that message, not just in the constituency but to the rest of Scotland, too.”
Sturrock will be up against Garner, who on Wednesday put his name forward for the nomination.
Garner (below) is currently a councillor for the Denny and Banknock ward in Falkirk, the same area McNally represented before winning his seat in Westminster.
He told the Falkirk Herald: “With the final boundary review placing Denny and Banknock at the heart of the new constituency, I have been absolutely humbled and overwhelmed by the support I have received from local members, colleagues and a number of constituents, all encouraging me to put my name forward for selection as the party’s candidate to contest the seat at the next election.”
Sturrock is not local to the constituency and previously bid to run for the SNP in Edinburgh Southern in the Holyrood elections. However, he did not pass party vetting because he did not have enough campaign experience.
But three years on and arguing for the Falkirk nomination, he said his perspective as the founder of the NoToYes group – which charts people’s journey’s from opposing to supporting independence – would help to speak to diverse communities in Scotland.
“All these things are just about having the conversations and seeing where people are coming from,” he said.
“Having a conversation with someone is the best way to see each other's point of view, so I think amplifying those voices is going to be absolutely key to persuading people to the Yes movement.”
Sturrock also explained the patterns he had seen among people like him who had made the switch from supporting the Union to supporting independence.
He said: “It's actually a wider disparity than I originally thought.
“Some people are focusing on the sort of cultural aspects and how there's maybe some cultural divergence, a lot of people talk about Brexit, of course. And then one of the key reasons is just about how we treat people in society.
“There's a whole host of policies that we are putting in place in Scotland that are having a real effect, like reducing poverty, that are just different to what is happening in the rest of the UK.
“There's a lot of things that we are doing differently here in Scotland, and that's why people are saying, look, we can make better decisions here and we should be able to do that.”
Other candidates may yet put their name forward for the SNP Falkirk nomination.
The local constituency office is expected to make a decision before November.
