EDINBURGH Western may be a tough seat for the SNP to take, but Sarah Masson believes being the only pro-EU candidate could secure her the win. The 28-year-old is up against incumbent LibDem Alex Cole-Hamilton, 43, who was elected in 2016 with a majority of only 2960 votes. The seat has historically been LibDem in four out of five elections since devolution, except for when it was taken by Colin Keir for the SNP in 2011, and is one of the key battlegrounds that could secure a pro-independence majority in Holyrood. SNP candidate Sarah Masson stood in the seat in the 2019 General Election, finishing second with 33% of the vote, and said she has been getting “incredible feedback” on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s handling of the pandemic now restrictions have lifted and door-to-door campaigning has begun.
Politicians have called for the Scottish Government to allow buffer zones between anti-abortion protesters and women attending medical appointments AN SNP election candidate has called on the Scottish Government to consider bringing forward plans to create ‘buffer zones’ outside abortion clinics to stop women being intimidated by protesters. A long-running campaign in Edinburgh, launched by Scottish Greens councillor Claire Miller in 2018 culminated in health bosses stressing that as things currently stood there was no overwhelming evidence to suggest the actions were causing unnecessary distress and as such did not feel the necessity to enact any police measures” at the Chalmers Centre in the capital.
Call for buffer zones around Scottish abortion clinics to keep back protesters
Councillors in Edinburgh have already backed a scheme to stop patients at a sexual health clinic in the capital from being harassed by protesters
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Anti-abortion protesters gather outside Stormont in Belfast (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
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