Top of page picture: Dumbarton from the air by Pedro Pix.
Let the battle begin. In the red corner we have Dame Jackie Baillie, the sitting Labour MSP for the Dumbarton constituency, and in the blue corner David Smith, a Royal Navy veteran who lives in Dumbarton and is the prospective candidate for Reform UK in the Scottish Parliament election a year from now, next May. The Dumbarton Democrat is a privately owned, independent news media platform which has been banned from covering West Dunbartonshire Council because we asked for better access to their meetings. Labour and the SNP have allowed a council official to make this decision without reference to the elected members, the people voted in by the public to represent them. We are a free to access platform owned by local people for local people. We won’t be taking sides in the parliament elections, so it’s up to the parties to see this ban is lifted so that we can report and comment on politics in a fair and democratic way. Today we received the first press release from the Reform UK prospective candidate. Editor
By David Smith, Reform UK prospective candidate for Dumbarton.
Our historic victory across England means we now have 677 new councillors, two new mayors and 1 new MP elected. Reform has won ten councils across the country and will control another four.
It’s the first time ever that a party that isn’t Labour or the Tories has won a local election.
These results are unprecedented!
What we have achieved with a small, dedicated group of people over the last 12 months is nothing short of a miracle.
At the end of April, the far-left radical romantic parties of the SNP, Labour, Green, Liberal Democrats and Alba, along with senior civil servants, held a large summit in a very grand and expensive building, all at taxpayers’ expense, to discuss the rise of what they call, the ‘far right’.
What they were really talking about was Reform UK. They are worried about retaining their positions within government which they have taken for granted their whole careers.
Indeed, the rise of Reform UK is all anyone is talking about.
Our local membership is climbing rapidly, and our local meetings are positive and uplifting.
The foundations of our civil society are crumbling under the successive failures of the UK and Scottish Governments. Labours campaign against pensioners, which saw the removal of their winter fuel allowance, has been fully supported by Anas Sarwar and Jackie Baillie.
They fully support the destruction of our farms, which is being executed through family farm taxes.
They fully support the destruction of our industries through the relentless pursuit of Net Zero, which have given the UK one of the highest energy costs in the world.
Labour’s response to the elections in England has been to say that they need to go ‘further’ and ‘faster’ in bringing about change. Which is frightening for many.
Robin House in Balloch, which is a hospice caring for Children and providing support for their families, is an amazing charity that we should all be supporting and is testament to how we should care for one and other in times of our greatest need.
Labour sees them as simply a business. They have increased Employers National Insurance on them and refused all calls to make charities exempt from the increases.
Our latest, West Dunbartonshire Council Budget has been nothing short of an attack on our most vulnerable. Pensioners, disabled groups, school children, will all feel the ill effects of the decisions taken by our councillors.
Something needs to change, and change begins by changing the government.
Many people have completely lost faith in politics and politicians due to the incompetence and bare faced lies that we have been exposed to over many years.
Reform UK are seeking your vote at the Scottish Parliamentary Elections in May 2026 to resolve this and address all the crises within our society.
Labour have nothing to offer except more misery.
The SNP have nothing to offer except more chaos.
What’s worse is that Kezia Dugdale [former leader of Scottish Labour, now resigned] has already been writing about a Labour and SNP coalition, which will be devastating for everyone in Scotland.
Our message is very simple.
Vote Reform, Get Reform.
Can’t disagree with much of what this guy says about Britain I’m decline.
Labour may well be mismanaging the sinking ship but the reason for Britain’s collapse goes back all.the way to Thatcher when she started hiving off all our national assets to the corporate spivs to plunder.
But folks should not make the mistake that Reform will make it better. Farage wants to privatise the NHS and introduce charging to make it better.
Leaving Europe, with a big yellow bus coming back evert week with hundreds of millions of pounds was another UKip now Reform.fairy story.
But yes, Labour and the conservatives have presided over Britain’s decline. And no it’s not a pleasant slide into genteel Great British poverty
Reform UK will not privatise the NHS.
This is just a line that the opposition use to deter people from voting and it is a lie. Our policy at the general election was to allow people to use the private section, funded by the government, to get the waiting lists down. Until the waiting lists are down the NHS will never function as it should.
To that end, Reform would use every available bed, every available doctor and every available surgeon to make it happen.
What the opposition has is a small clip of Nigel passing a comment years and years ago saying that there maybe some merit in having a debate about an insurance based system, like they have in the states. It was a comment to start debate. Not a policy plan and certainly not a Reform UK policy.
We are not a party of millionaires who think the NHS should be privatised for some sort of personal gain. We are normal people, just like yourself, only we’ve not been drawn in by the lies coming from the opposition.
Our contact from the general election is still available on our website if you would like to have a look.
Thank you for your comment.
It’s really good for us to see these comments.