It is now less than a month until voters head to polling stations on May 6 to decide who they want to represent them in the next term of the Scottish Parliament.
The candidates who will be standing in the constituency of Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley at this year's Holyrood election have now been announced. They will be setting out their stance on key issues such as health, education and climate change.
This week, the candidates talk about the constitution.
Sharon Dowey on the constitution
I believe in Scotland being an integral part of a strong United Kingdom. The Scottish Parliament is devolved. It has more powers than any other devolved Parliament in the world.
There are few things that are not devolved, the constitution being one of them, and this is what the SNP seem to have an issue with.
NHS, social care, local government, education, police, the court system, benefits, income tax rates, farming, infrastructure, to name a few, are all devolved. This means they are solely under the remit of the SNP Government. Although any issues in these areas and the SNP are very good at blurring the lines and blaming anyone else other than them, usually Westminster.
Take Health for example, pre-COVID the IFS stated that in England under Theresa May and Boris Johnson there was an increase in spending, in real terms, of 0.8 per cent. In Scotland it only increased by 0.5 per cent, even though the Scottish Government was allocated 0.8 per cent in Barnett Consequentials.
I would like a Scottish Government that concentrates on matters that are devolved and that we can have an impact on, one that leaves the divisions of the past behind us and for Scotland’s sake works with the Government at Westminster to rebuild from the coronavirus pandemic.
I believe it is now vital that we all work together to realise Scotland’s future potential and opportunity within the United Kingdom.
Kirsten Herbst-Gray on the constitution
After the year we have all endured, we need to bring our country together and Put Recovery First.
We need to move on from the divisive arguments of the past.
People deserve better than the false choice of independence and the status quo offered by the SNP and the Conservatives.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have a third way with a comprehensive package of reforms to give Scotland a bigger say in a reformed UK.
Scottish Liberal Democrats were central to the foundation of the Scottish Parliament, fair votes in council elections and more powers for Holyrood.
Now we want to go further with a federal UK, a reformed House of Lords, a written constitution and power devolved across the nations and regions of the UK.
This is a positive programme for reform for improving our democracy.
That’s how we bring our country together.
Carol Mochan on the constitution
It was the Labour Party who delivered devolution and a Scottish Parliament over 20 years ago. We have been active ever since, developing its powers when the case has been made and Labour will be at the centre of further constitutional reform right across the UK in the future.
However, this is a time to be wholly focused on a post COVID recovery. This election isn’t a binary choice about whether or not we have a second independence referendum, however much the SNP and the Tories want to paint it as such. Devolution was designed to deliver Scottish solutions where there are Scottish problems but too often it has been reduced to a row between Nationalists and Unionists, which has taken us nowhere fast. The truth is the SNP have never wanted to make devolution work. It doesn’t suit their argument for independence.
The crisis we face coming out of this pandemic means Scotland deserves better than this. We need a Government – and an opposition – prepared to put the bickering to one side. At this election you can vote for a Parliament where we all work in the national interest to deliver a better future for Scotland.
That’s the priority for Scottish Labour in this election.
Elena Whitham on the constitution
This election is the most important in Scotland’s history.
As we begin rebuilding Scotland from the pandemic, at stake is who will shape our country’s future and determine the life chances of this and generations to come.
Should it be Scottish governments – of whatever party – elected by the people of Scotland and with the priorities and interests of Scotland at heart?
Or Westminster governments that time and again we have rejected and yet suffered under their rule?
This is our democratic deficit in a nutshell.
If we want to make sure the country we rebuild is the one we want it to be – with kindness, compassion, fairness, equality and enterprise at its heart – we must work to the right plan, with all the tools we need to do the job and this requires independence and a bold ambitious policy programme to kickstart and drive recovery as set out in our SNP manifesto.
The SNP will give people in Scotland the right to choose their own future through an independence referendum to be held once the COVID crisis has passed.
It is high time that we are in possession of all the powers of a regular, normal, everyday independent nation.
Our people deserve no less.
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