Monday, May 10, 2021

Voters in the Scottish constituency of Airdrie and Shotts are to go to the polls on May 13 to elect a replacement member of parliament (MP) to the United Kingdom House of Commons.

The outgoing MP for the seat is Neil Gray — a representative of the pro-independence Scottish National Party — was resigning to run in the Scottish Parliament election, which was to occur on May 6. Gray won the seat with 45.1% of the vote at the 2019 general election, winning 13.1% more than the second placed candidate Helen McFarlane of the Scottish Labour party, who received 32.0% of the votes.

One of the eight candidates running in this constituency is Neil Manson, the Scottish regional chair of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The SDP website claims Manson has “enjoyed a varied career working across international markets in both the manufacturing industry and energy sector”, and Manson joined the SDP in 2019 after reading the party’s New Declaration, which outlines the party’s principles.

Wikinews spoke to Manson about important issues facing Airdrie and Shotts in this by-election.