Lewis man selected by Scottish Labour to stand as its candidate - in Shetland!

Cameron Thompson, 23, has spent most of his life living in the Western Isles, where he currently works as a finance worker for the local authority, and where he has played an active part in local campaigning as a trade union representative with UNISON and as vice-chair of the union’s young members committee in Scotland.

Cameron is also currently trade union liaison officer on Scottish Labour s young members committee.

When it comes to addressing issues that are very specific to island communities, an islander has a distinct advantage, Cameron suggests:

“It is better that Shetland has someone from another island rather than getting stuck with someone from the Central Belt", the Stornoway-based candidate states, "because there is a very unique way of life in the islands, and when it comes to campaigning in the islands, it is a lot more local and a lot more personal than it would be on the mainland, everyone knows you and you know a lot of the people who could be voting for you.”

Scottish Labour in the Western Isles is set to meet this Thursday to select its candidate for May’s parliamentary elections, but on 6 May Cameron Thompson will be up against incumbent MSP Beatrice Wishart of the Liberal Democrats, who won the Shetland seat in a 2019 by-election, and the SNP’s candidate Tom Wills, who pushed Ms Wishart hard in that by-election, and which saw the Lib Dems hold the seat but with a swing to the SNP of more than 9 per-cent.