Will RISE Be The Surprise on Election Day

2nd May 2016

Left-wing alliance candidates include independent MSP Jean Urquhart and SSP leader Colin Fox.

A coalition of left-wing parties modelled on the Greek Syriza movement has announced its candidates for the Holyrood election regional list.

The pro-independence RISE, which stands for Respect, Independence, Socialism and Environmentalism, will field candidates from the Scottish Socialist Party and Radical Independence campaign. It was formed in 2015 as an electoral alliance but will have a combined manifesto.

Sitting independent MSP Jean Urquhart, who quit the SNP in October 2012 over the party's commitment to the NATO nuclear alliance, will top the list in the Highlands and Islands. She was elected in 2011 for the Highlands and Islands then left the Scottish National Party (SNP) in October 2012. She was a SNP councillor at the Highland Council.

''RISE brings a vital radicalism and freshness to Scottish Politics. I am pleased to be standing as a RISE candidate in the Highlands and Islands and look forward to what promises to be a big campaign that will put forward a progressive agenda for transformational change," she said.

Former MSP Colin Fox, spokesman for the Scottish Socialist Party, tops the Lothians list and said the alliance will be making a case for a second independence referendum. The Glasgow list is topped by campaigner Cat Boyd, who is a columnist in the National newspaper.

The group has drawn a charter for candidates which commits them to accepting only the average wage of a skilled worker in Scotland, publishing all lobbying received and limiting their tenure as an MSP to a maximum of two terms if elected.

The RISE list candidates for Highlands and Islands are -
Jean Urquhart
Conor Cheyne