News / Scalloway man stands again
SCALLOWAY resident Ian Scott has confirmed that he will again fight for one of the three Shetland Central seats in May’s council election to offer voters a left-wing alternative.
The 62 year old said that there was an alternative to further council cuts brought upon communities by the Tory austerity agenda.
“We don’t need the cuts and the attacks on our social services and education. We’ve got £300 million in the bank and there are other ways to deal with the Tory cuts – and that is to fight them,” he said.
“Money is not tight when it comes to renewing Trident or for wealthy offshore bankers – it is only tight for working people.”
He said he acknowledged that the majority of local authority funding came in the form of a grant from central government. However, he said it was not good enough to just accept that, instead councillors had to fight for a better settlement.
He added: “The SNP in government has been so disappointing. Although predictable, all they are doing is managing austerity rather than fighting it.”
Scott said he was under no illusions as to his chances of being elected. However, appealing to all those who didn’t vote at the last council election, he said austerity cuts weren’t a necessity, as that “there is something that can be done”.
Five years ago, Scott was just beaten by Mark Burgess who became the third member of the ward to be elected. The other two councillors for the area are Davie Sandison and Vaila Wishart.
Ian Scott joins a number of people who have already put their names forward for May’s election. The other are: Ryan Thomson, Duncan Simpson and Alec Priest (all North Isles ward), Ian Tinkler (Shetland West), Vic Thomas (Shetland North) and Frankie Valente (Lerwick South).
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