LIST OF CANDIDATES FOR WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL ELECTIONS ON THURSDAY, MAY 5

By Bill Heaney

Updated and corrected at 12 noon on Thursday, April 1

The list of candidates for the West Dunbartonshire Council elections on Thursday, May 5, has been announced.

A total of 22 councillors elected will take their seats in the chamber – and there could be some changes, although there are, disappointingly for democracy, few new faces on the list.

And of those who have decided to stand for election, few of them look as if they will be around the local political scene for long.

At this stage it appears as if the final result is going to be tight with, by our forecast, Scottish Labour edging it by three seats.

Controversial SNP group leader Jonathan McColl is putting himself forward for re-election and the SNP are so short of talent that they are bringing back Cllr McColl’s father, Ronnie McColl, after ten years in the political wilderness.

Ronnie McColl will be standing in the Leven Ward, where the SNP’s Caroline McAllister quit the SNP and joined Alex Salmond’s Alba Party.

This happened when the party’s national executive over-ruled the local constituency party and refused to allow her to stand against Labour’s Jackie Baillie in the Dumbarton seat which includes Helensburgh, Cardross and Lomond for parliamentary purposes.

Cllr Caroline McAllister, rejected by SNP and replaced as a candidate in Leven Ward by Ronnie McColl, father of the SNP group’s controversial leader, Jonathan McColl.

Cllr McAllister, which is what she remains at present and who portrays herself as a champion of women’s issues, especially domestic abuse and gender matters, upset the SNP hierarchy in Edinburgh when she refused to agree with their policies.

She did not want a situation to arise where TRANS persons would be allowed to use public (or private) facilities such as toilets, which are normally reserved for women. Or that vulnerable young persons would be allowed to change sex given the possibility that they would deeply regret that decision later.

Five sitting SNP councillors plus Independent Denis Agnew, who supports the Nationalists at every turn, are quitting. They are Provost William Hendrie; Cllrs Jim Finn, Jim Brown, Iain McLaren and Marie McNair, who has gone to the Scottish Parliament for the SNP.

Standing in the Leven Ward though – and a certainty to be elected – will be Cllr Jim Bollan who has been a veteran of the Dunbartonshire political scene for many years.

Labour’s John Mooney, who has been involved in a bitter internal battle within Labour with Kilpatrick councillor Lawrence O’Neill, is standing down this time.

Cllr Bollan will have Community Party colleague Drew Maceoghainn standing alongside him. See picture right.

Drew will go to the polls in the Lomond Ward, which takes in most of Balloch and up Lomondside to Gartocharn, against the Conservative Sally Page, Jonathan McColl and two Labour candidates – Martin Rooney and Hazel Sorrell.

There are only three seats in Lomond which could produce a sensational result if the electorate there decide to reject Jonathan McColl on account of his perceived transgressions and poor decision making.

These have led to significant SNP public service cuts plus. There is also the squandermania row which is currently happening on in the Scottish Parliament over the Sturgeon ferries scandal and could cost the SNP votes locally.

Drew Maceoghainn, who works hard for young people in the community and led a campaign to save St Martin’s Primary School in the village, is up for the challenge he faces in Lomond and has already called on all the candidates to appear at a pre-election hustings at a public venue and on Zoom.

If Jonathan McColl survives these perceived impediments however Labour could lose out with long-serving Martin Rooney, who is Opposition leader on the council, and Hazel Sorrell, possibly failing to poll the necessary numbers.

It’s going to be difficult to track down candidates on the internet though if, like me, you have never heard of some of them.

The Green Party in Leven Ward will be represented by Paula Baker, but unless she and others send their leaflets and publicity material to The Democrat at democratonline.net or heaneymedia@btinternet.com then she could be mixed up with a woman with big boobs, short blonde hair and a tattoo on her shoulder.

Or another eponymous blonde 23-year-old is offering revealing pictures of herself to admirers, who have tracked her down on Facebook.

One new face standing for election as an Independent is Sian Wilkie, a director of Wilkie and Rider’s opticians and jewelry business in Dumbarton Town Centre and Main Street in Alexandria.

Now, Sian, pictured left, is certain to be someone who is interested in seeing the Vale and Dumbarton town centres brought back to life and refurbished with the £22 million that Boris Johnston sent West Dunbartonshire’s way via the Tory Levelling Up Fund.

The SNP are desperately spinning that the money actually came from them, but it was Boris Johnston who came up with the cash.

Since Jim Bollan will win in Leven Ward for the Community Party and John Millar will be re-elected for Labour then Sian Wilkie and and old man McColl could be in the line-up when the prizes are handed out.

Dumbarton voters will elect four councillors. Tory Brian Walker, a sitting member, who has hardly uttered a word in meetings during during his time there, looks certain to be sent back by the voters to his full-time to his job at the Base.

The four most likely to make it to the Burgh Hall for Dumbarton are Karen Conaghan, SNP; Gurpreet Singh Johal, who is campaigning for his brother to be released from custody in India, and David McBride, both Scottish Labour Party. Andrew Muir, of the Scottish Family Party could edge his way in there.

Only three councillors will be elected in Kilpatrick, where there are five candidates. They will most likely be Douglas McAllister and Lawrence O’Neill, both Labour, and Gordon Scanlan, SNP.

The four most likely to go forward in the Clydebank Central seat are Craig Edward and Clare Steel, Labour; Sophie Traynor, SNP, and Liam Wilson, Scottish Conservative and Unionist.

And in Clydebank Waterfront, where Provost William Hendrie, right, is retiring and Marie McNair has gone to the Scottish Parliament, the most popular candidates are likely to be Brian Michael Lally , Scottish Family Party; James McElhill, SNP, and Danny Lennie and June McKay, Labour.

* Would all candidates and their agents, if they want to publicise the fact that they are standing for election, please e-mail to heaneymedia@btinternet.com their photograph, a short biography and 150 words stating why they are going for election and what their principal aims would be were they to win a seat on the Council? Thanks, Bill Heaney, owner/publisher of The Dumbarton Democrat

THE FULL LIST OF CANDIDATES IS AS FOLLOWS:

Gavinburn PS Gaelic classes PIC SHOWS Cllrs Karen Conaghan and Caroline McAllister with the Pupils

West Dunbarton Councellors 2017

Election candidates – Karen Conaghan, Andy Muir, Brian Walker and David McBride.

Lomond (3 councillors): Drew Maceoghainn (West Dunbartonshire Community Party); Jonathan McColl (Scottish National Party); Sally Page (Scottish Conservative and Unionist); Martin Rooney (Scottish Labour Party) and Hazel Sorrell (Scottish Labour Party).

Leven (4 councillors) Paula Baker (Scottish Green Party); Jim Bollan (West Dunbartonshire Community Party); Ian Dickson (Scottish National Party); Matthew Dillon (Scottish Conservative and Unionist); Ronnie McColl (Scottish National Party); Michelle Marie McGinty (Scottish Labour Party); John Kelly Millar (Scottish Labour Party) and Sian Wilkie (Independent).

Dumbarton (4 councillors) Karen Conaghan (Scottish National Party); Gurpreet Singh Johal (Scottish Labour Party); David McBride (Scottish Labour Party); Lynda McEwan (Scottish Trade Unionist Socialist Coalition); Andrew Joseph Muir (Scottish Family Party); Chris Pollok (Scottish National Party); Jonathan Rainey (Scottish Libertarian Party); Brian Walker (Scottish Conservative and Unionist) and Kelly Wilson (Sovereignty)

Kilpatrick (3 councillors) – David Jardine (Scottish Conservative and Unionist); Douglas McAllister (Scottish Labour Party); Lawrence O’Neill (Scottish Labour Party); Gordon Scanlan (Scottish National Party) and Marina Scanlan (Scottish National Party)

Clydebank Central (3 councillors) – Diane Docherty (Scottish National Party); Craig Edward (Scottish Labour Party); Clare Steel (Scottish Labour Party), Sophie Traynor (Scottish National Party) and Liam Wilson, Conservative and Unionist Party.

Clydebank Waterfront (4 councillors) – Brian Michael Lally (Scottish Family Party); Daniel Lennie (Scottish Labour Party); James McElhill (Scottish National Party); June McKay (Scottish Labour Party); Holly Moscrop (Scottish Conservative and Unionist); Lauren Oxley (Scottish National Party) and Jacob Toland (Scottish National Party).

That would deliver a Council made up of one Tory, ten Labour, two Community Party, one Independent, two Family Party and seven SNP with the Provostship probably going to David McBride, who represents Scottish Labour in the West End of Dumbarton.

We reserve our judgment on this though until nearer the election in five weeks’ time. Events, as Prime Minister Harold Macmillan once said, can change everything in politics …