Jamie Stone chosen for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross in Holyrood election

Tain councillor Jamie Stone has been chosen by Caithness, Sutherland and Ross Lib Dems to contest the seat in next May’s Scottish Parliament election.

He said yesterday: “I am delighted, and also touched, that my party is keen for me to make a reappearance on the national stage.

“My campaign next year will be a positive one. The message will be that I offer voters experience, knowledge, and a proven track record…

“In addition I trust that my 13 years as a Ross-shire councillor and twelve years as the MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross – the last time returned with an increased majority – indicates my experience, and also the fact that voters recognised it…

“Meanwhile if voters want to get an early glimpse of the prospective candidate speaking in public – then they only have to buy tickets for the Tain panto in December when I shall be playing the arch-baddieAbanazer in Aladdin!” [The Northern Times]

Jamie Stone was previously an MSP from the first Scottish Parliament elections in 1999 until standing down in 2011. One factor in his previous retirement was internal party wrangling over whether he should be re-selected. As he put it afterwards, “It’s all in the past,” and whilst those who opposed him are no longer members of the party, he himself continued to campaign intensively for the Liberal Democrats.

The Lib Dems finished second in the seat in 2011, 7,458 votes behind the SNP.