Election / ‘I want to give people the opportunity to vote for Labour’ – on the campaign trail with Labour’s Conor Savage
AFTER 14 years of chaos with the Tories there is a desire to see change, and Labour is the right party to deliver that, Conor Savage says as we leave his temporary base in Lerwick for some door-knocking followed by meetings with local organisations.
The Scottish Labour candidate for the 4 July general election is adamant that there is all to play for in this “unique constituency” that has voted liberal for the last 74 years.
Shetland News is joining all the candidates actively out on the election trail to see and hear first hand how they are getting on.
So far, we published Lib Dem candidate Alistair Carmichael knocking on doors in Brae, and his main rival Robert Leslie of the SNP visiting Bressay.
Change in government is very much on the horizon next week and Savage sees his role in this giving people in Orkney and in Shetland the opportunity to vote for Labour.
The 30-year-old sustainable finance expert with a degree in marine biology freely admits that getting to grips with the many local issues that have come up so far during the election campaign has been challenging at times.
However, the main issues having come up in conversations and meeting so far are the cost of living crisis, particularly the price of energy, and the many aspects of transport.
Born in Oxford and brought up in Cheshire, Savage studied in Wales before moving to Dublin though a graduation placement scheme. He now lives in Edinburgh where he works for Sainsbury’s Bank’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy.
A Labour party member for some time, he put his name forward and was accepted to become a candidate.
“I was selected, and I am grateful for having the opportunity to be here,” Savage says. “I am not going to deny that this is a tough seat but for me it is all about making sure that people have the opportunity to vote for the Labour party, and for me to make the case as well as I can do.”
At the last general election in December 2019 then Labour candidate Coilla Drake came fourth behind the Tories with a meagre seven per cent of the vote.
And while he agrees that the national trend in favour of Labour is helping him in his campaign locally, there is little doubt that winning this seat seems unlikely.
Having said that the two residents who opened the door while calling along people’s houses on Lerwick’s King Harald Street on Wednesday said they might well vote for Labour – a straw poll, though, that was in no way representative.
“There is a tremendous amount of reading and learning and a lot of local issues to pick up on,” he says.
“I feel that I have done a good job at that since I have been here and have put forward the case what Scottish Labour and I would do if was lucky enough to be elected.”
Savage enjoys the support of both party branches in Orkney and Shetland and describes his approach to the campaign as a listening and learning exercise.
As such he has meetings with representatives of Shetland Women’s Aid and the Shetland Food Bank in the afternoon to hear about their challenges and offer help should he be the next MP for the Northern Isles.
Women’s Aid prevention education coordinator Ashlea Tulloch is happy to have Shetland News sitting in while talking to the Labour hopeful.
She explains how varied and complex the organisation’s work is, from confidential support for victims of gender-based violence, to children’s services, training sessions with local emergency services and education in schools.
And Tulloch makes the point that everybody has a duty to call out misogynist and transphobic language, while many in the community still believe that domestic abuse and gender-based violence is not something that happens locally.
Describing the extent of support the organisation delivers, she said in one year alone Shetland Women’s Aid supported 243 women and 106 children and young people.
Afterwards Savage says meeting such as this one was all part of building up knowledge: “It was important to be finding out about the challenges they are facing; how it all works, and finding out how best support them.”
And he adds: “After 14 years of chaos with the Tories, people want a change. “There is a desire to see that change, and I think Labour is the right party to deliver that, and I am hoping come 5 July we will see a Labour led government in London.”
The other candidates standing in this election are in alphabetical order: Alex Armitage (Greens), Alistair Carmichael (Lib Dems), Robert Leslie (SNP), Shane Painter (Tories) and Robert Smith (Reform).
Follow our general election coverage here:
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