Michael Sturrock for Edinburgh Southern

Aim

I'm standing to be the SNP candidate in Edinburgh Southern for the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections.

I have a confession: In 2014, I voted No to Scottish independence. 

It was a huge mistake.

I believed the Better Together lies. They told us the only way of securing Scotland’s place in Europe was by staying in the UK. They told us we’d have a new “Union of Equals”. They told us that if we didn’t “leave the Union we’d lead the Union”.

That was six years ago. Since then, we have each been stripped of our EU citizenship and watched in collective horror as the UK has turned away from our closest neighbours. Brexit is a nightmare driven by a right-wing, homophobic and xenophobic Prime Minister. 

I'm in my 20s, and my generation wants none of it. We want Scotland to flourish as an outward-looking, compassionate, progressive European nation. We know that to solve the biggest problems of the day we have to work in partnership with our EU neighbours. Only independence will allow us to do that now. 

I work as Head of Public Affairs for a business trade association, representing over 1000 organisations in Brussels, Westminster and Holyrood.  

I have real experience working with politicians from our party and across the political divide on policies to modernise and grow our economy. From this I know that the economic case for independence in Europe is stronger than ever. 

Scaremongering over our economic future was a reason many voted No last time. But undecided voters, enraged by Boris Johnson’s hard-Brexit recklessness, are reconsidering independence. 

We must turn those undecided voters into committed Yessers. 

I believe I can. After all - I was on the other side, once.

Please consider donating to my campaign to reach as many voters as possible in Edinburgh Southern. Funding will go towards the creation of my website & voter engagement platform, and sharing my story of becoming a Yes voter and to raise awareness of the many reasons why others should take the step from No to Yes.

If you would like to get involved or discuss my campaign, please visit michaelsturrock.scot - I'm really keen to hear your views.

If I do not win the candidacy, any remaining funding will go to the Edinburgh Southern campaign for Holyrood 2021. 

This project successfully funded on 10th October 2020