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Billy McLaren for Westminster?

Billy McLaren, owner of the MacLaren Hotel in Brodick, has been selected as SNP candidate for the Paisley and South Renfrew constituency in the next Westminster election.

Written by Nick Underdown
Friday, 5 October 2007

2,860 views   0 comments


Billy McLaren has been selected as SNP candidate to contest the Paisley and South Renfrew constituency in the next general election. Billy, who owns the MacLaren Hotel in Brodick, came close to becoming an Ardrossan and Arran SNP councillor in the recent local government elections. ‘I was selected for the Westminster candidacy nomination on the back of it,’ he says.

Backed by Cunninghame North MSP Kenneth Gibson and NAC Provost Robert Rae, Billy contested the constituency with a number of other candidates and made it through to a short-list of three. Billy performed well at a local party hustings, and won the candidacy after a vote by 40 local SNP constituency branch members.

Billy says the party is ready to fight an election at any time. However, the longer he has before an election is called, the longer the SNP have to prove their worth in Holyrood — and of course, the longer he has to campaign. He is hoping to overturn the 13,000-strong majority enjoyed by Douglas Alexander. ‘It’s a case of getting the profile up,’ he says. He has already started issuing leaflets to introduce himself to future voters and hopes to sit in on councillor surgeries and visit town centres.

Billy owns a number of properties in the area and knows the constituency well. He is keenly aware that it faces an affordable housing shortage, and on a more detailed local issue, says he favours Nicola Sturgeon’s recent review of hospital car park charges.

Billy recognises that the SNP’s commitment to Scottish independence sets him on a path that may make him redundant as an MP, but in the meantime he feels that representation at Westminster is crucial. ‘You need someone to look after the Scottish interest,' he told The Voice earlier this week. 'You’ve got to work within the system.'

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