The Scotsman is holding its seventh election hustings in the North East regional list area. Image: Craig Sinclair Mr Mutch stood down from his head of communications role in the SNP in January last year and was succeeded by former Daily Record editor Murray Foote. He is seeking the seat held by Conservative MSP Alexander Burnett, having separately stood in the nearby West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine constituency in the December 2019 general election, when he lost to Tory MP Andrew Bowie by just 843 votes. A man was last week charged in connection with threatening comments allegedly made to Mr Mutch and about First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.