Thread by @mathcampbell

Why I’m standing. - a thread.
Having previously served as Cllr in Greenock, I know how important a local voice is for a community.
In 2016 my partner and I moved to the constituency to raise our about-to-be-born daughter - who started nursery this week btw, how did that happen?!

We bought a house here - a home to raise our daughter. We’re not leaving if I don’t get elected.
I’m the Convener of Lomond North SNP; I wasn’t born here but it is my home and I want to be that local voice Dumbarton needs.

But also, with another #indyref coming *very* soon, I passionately believe we need an MSP who believes in independence and is willing to fight for it.
In 2014 Angel and I were supposed to be getting married.
We spent the time (and money!) on indyref. We launched @EnglishScot4YES

In doing so, I spoke at dozens of public meetings. Was on TV for the first time. Then the 2nd. 3rd, 4th..I stopped counting at 20. I was on Newnight! I was *live* on @GMA with an audience of 96 million! (I still have nightmares!)
If elected I WILL be fighting for a YES vote.

I want to be a voice for English people in Scotland - English Scots as we like to say, who believe Scotland should be independent.
But also a voice for those in my constituency who have no voice. For the single mum getting denied help becuase *london*.

For the #NewScots having to fight the Byzantine labyrinth known as UK immigration. For the young people whose chances should never be restricted because of where they were born or went to school. For people who, like me, have had or are having mental health problems.

I don’t shout about it loudly - maybe I should - but I have #ADHD. I was diagnosed at 13/14 but it got “lost” in the system when my mum died a little later. I was rediagnosed at 29 - but it took me 5 years and moving health boards to get me on medication and treatment that helps.

I don’t want anyone else to have to go through that. I want to see mental health on the same level as other health care. We need more specialists - especially for adult care. We need more understanding in society that mental health isn’t just “feelings”.

We wouldn’t ask an employee with a broken leg if they’ve tried not having one. We need to do better in politics as well. A party colleague cautioned me in 2012 when I ran for council about mentioning my adhd. “Don’t want voters to think you’re a bit weird or not up to the job”.

They meant well - but it’s telling of how in politics and wider society those with mental health issues or conditions get treated. Don’t mention it. Don’t fuss. Just take some tablets and be “normal”. That needs cancelled.

Turning back to parliament tho - we should and need a better approach to mental health in our politics. A mental health day shouldn’t be abnormal.
I will through the campaign and if successful, a term in office, do my best for any staff, volunteers, activists and colleagues.

I also want to stand to do better for our communities in general. For the families in rural poverty & urban poverty too. Trapped in unfit housing with no clear path to decent living.

Some of these are things government can help to fix - local and nationally - others require a voice in parliament to also speak with business. Help kickstart our economy as we emerge from this disastrous pandemic. Bring new jobs, industries and opportunities to the area.

We need an MSP with vision.
If selected as our candidate I won’t be spending my time criticizing my opponents. I’m sure the voters of dumbarton are aware of Jackie’s strengths and failings. Instead I’ll speak to what I will do if they give me their vote. My vision for the future.

How we should be going global to bring new industries to dumbarton, helensburgh & the vale. Helping ours producers here reach a global audience as well. I’d love for someone in deepest Alabama to pick something off a shelf in their store and say “where’s ‘Baaawl-lock Scotland?”

How to lift up our young people - my daughter amongst them - and make sure they not only meet their potential but exceed it. Make sure the learning opportunities they have are world-leading. To truly fulfill the promise of leaving our children a better Scotland than we found.

Now, I don’t deny the scale of the task that confronts me. I need to earn the trust and support of our membership locally. I then need to ask the people to put their faith in me to speak for them in Edinburgh. I will meet that challenge head on - with optimism, hope and humility.

I know Ms. Baillie is a formidable opponent. She was first elected when I was leaving high school. A bit insignificant number of voters weren’t even born. She represents the last real bastion of Labour in the west. We’ve never won this seat - yet. They will throw everything at it

To her, and her party, I say bring it. I know in the past she has waxed lyrical about the base and her support for Trident. I do not support trident. I support the men and women we ask to do the impossible every day. I wore the uniform (allbeit in the reserves).

I want to see the base expanded after Indy. I want our forces equipped for a 21st century world, not fighting a Cold War that ended 3 decades ago.
I want to see our ships patrolling the Greenland-Iceland-Scotland gap. I want to see their families making a home, as I have, here.

(With a hat tip to @navynotnuclear who I borrowed that line from, I believe!). I also know that some in the Labour Party like to make snide references to the SNP being somehow anti-English.
I *dare* them to say that to my (Cambridge-born) face.

Lastly tho, as this is an epically long thread that most will have stopped reading a few tweets back, I want to commit that whether I am selected or the members bestow that trust on another, I will be here, fighting for Indy. Because it’s comin yet, fer aw that.