Long-standing Labour MSP Dame Jackie Baillie; SNP prospetive candidate Math Campbell-Sturgess and Reform UK candidate David Smith.
By Bill Heaney
The SNP have made a political howler by choosing Councillor Math Campbell-Sturgess as their candidate for next year’s Holyrood elections over Clydebank Central councillor Sophie Traynor.
Surprise didn’t cut it when the party announced that the virtually unknown politician from the Rosneath Peninsula had been chosen to take on long-time Labour MSP Dame Jackie Baillie, who holds the seat.
Clydebank Central councillor Sophie Traynor has been building her political profile in recent times and shown herself to be on of the brightest of the SNP council cohort.
Campbell-sturgess will compete to represent Dumbarton in the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2026, trying to unseat Dame Jackie, who is one of the last two MSPs from the original 1999 election.
The 41-year-old said on social media: “I am delighted to announce I have been selected as the SNP candidate for Dumbarton. Thank you to the members who have put their trust in me. Now let’s win this seat.”
When he announced his candidacy, he said: “Dumbarton needs an MSP who will stand up for our communities, push for investment, and campaign for independence. I am ready to take on Jackie Baillie.
“I’ve fought for transport improvements, backed active travel projects like the Helensburgh-Cardross-Dumbarton cycle path, and I’m working to reopen Helensburgh Pier, ensuring it can play a role in our town’s future.
“We’ve already seen what the SNP government can deliver for Dumbarton constituency and for Scotland. New affordable housing, better schools, and a fairer social welfare system for our most vulnerable.
“With an SNP MSP fighting for our area, we could do even more.
“The truth of the matter is that the man with the double-barrel name is unfamiliar to the electors of Dumbarton constituency, seldom appearing in the media apart from the Helensburgh Advertiser.
But most Dumbarton, Vale of Leven and Clydebank voters have never heard of him.
Baillie is one of the Big Beasts of Scottish Labour and is deputy leader of the party with a high profile as their health spokesperson, fighting weekly in the media against long NHS waiting times in particular.
Although he is yet to announce officially that he is running for the seat here, Dumbarton resident and ex-Royal Navyman David Smith is running for the Reform UK party headed by Nigel Farage.
He has, however, taken a close interest in public affairs locally and showed up at a meeting in Bellsmyre on school transport for local pupils when no other councillors of any party did.
Jackie Baillie, who is one of only two MSPs to have served at Holyrood since the parliament’s inception 25 years ago will be a tough political nut to crack even if Labour have blotted their escutchion of welfare payments, child benefits and much more while West Dunbartonshire Council’s Labour administration are a public joke over issues such as budget cuts, including their failure to cut the grass in open spaces. They have lost the plot on communications matters.The Scottish Conservatives and the LibDems have yet to name their prospective candidate, but we are still a long way away from the election next May.