All of the fifteen candidates running to become MPs for West Lothian voters on 4 July have been named.
At the close of declaration of candidates on Friday afternoon it was revealed that the SNP which is defending both West Lothian seats will face contenders from the breakaway party Alba and independents.
Two serving councilors will once again bid for a seat in Westminster and a third makes a first attempt.
In Livingston Damian Doran-Timson, the Conservative group leader of the council, will stand against former SNP incumbent Hannah Bardell in a re-run of the 2019 poll.
As the Local Democracy Reporting Service highlighted last year, a redraw of parliamentary constituencies will respect historic links between towns in West Lothian as the Boundary Commission cuts the number of Scottish seats in Westminster.
West Lothian Council had objected to initial proposals for the two local constituencies to be re-jigged in a way which would have split Whitburn between a Livingston and Bathgate constituency, and other geographic inconsistencies.
The new constituencies will see Broxburn and Uphall joining the Livingston constituency while Winchburgh will join a renamed Bathgate and Linlithgow constituency. Whitburn and Blackburn stays within this constituency rather than being split.
In the new Bathgate and Linlithgow seat depute council leader, Labour’s Kirsteen Sullivan will be going up against the sole Lib Dem on the council Sally Pattle. Councillor Pattle stood for the Lib Dems in 2019.
A former West Lothian councillor, Martyn Day has held the Bathgate and Linlithgow seat, formerly called Linlithgow and East Falkirk, since 2015 for the SNP when he took the seat from Labour’s Michael Connarty.
The Scottish Greens have named candidates including Cameron Glasgow, who first stood in Livingston in 2019. He is joined on the Green ticket for this coming vote by Simon Jay in Linlithgow
Nigel Farage’s Reform party will also field candidates in both of the county’s constituencies – its predecessor the Brexit party fielded a candidate in Linlithgow in 2019.
The full list of candidates is:
Livingston
Hannah Bardell, SNP.
Damian Doran-Timson, Scottish Conservative and Unionist.
Debbie Ewen, Alba Party for Independence.
Cameron Glasgow, Scottish Greens.
Caron Lindsay, Scottish Liberal Democrats.
David McLennan, Reform UK.
Gregor Poynton, Scottish Labour Party.
Bathgate and Linlithgow
Martyn Day, SNP.
John Hannah, Independence for Scotland.
Simon Jay, Scottish Greens.
Stuart McArthur, Independent.
Jamie McNamee, Reform UK,
Lynn Munro, Scottish Conservative and Unionist.
Sally Pattle, Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Kirsteen Sullivan, Labour and Co-operative Party.
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
