Ahead of election day on 4 July, the Student sat down with Tommy Sheppard, the Scottish National Party candidate for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, to find out his views on issues close to students.
Sheppard has represented Edinburgh East and Musselburgh in Westminster since 2015.
Asked what motivated him to run again, he said:
“I sense an opportunity for change and an opportunity to pursue what I believe in, in a way that hasn’t been there under Tory majority governments at Westminster.”
“[Labour] won’t be as dismissive and disrespectful as the Conservatives have been.”
Labour and the SNP
A Labour Party member until 2003, Sheppard left the party over its transition away from its socialist roots under former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Yet, he said the current Labour leader, Kier Starmer, is “worse than Blair”.
Sheppard argued that Starmer’s campaign is based on adopting the views of conservative voters rather than offering an “alternative worldview” like Blair.
Meanwhile, discussing leadership changes in his own party, Sheppard accepted that it has been “a difficult time” for the SNP.
However, Sheppard added that “the party has come back together now under John Swinney”.
Cost of Living
Sheppard said the SNP government in Holyrood has helped to lower costs on young people through policies like free tuition fees for Scottish students and free bus travel for people under 22.
However, he said other policies like a real living wage and social tariffs on energy bills would “require big changes at Westminster” as they are not devolved to the Scottish Government.
Sheppard also said that the 16 per cent cut to affordable housing spending was a product of the limited budget provided by Westminster.
Israel–Gaza Conflict
Drawing comparisons to Labour being “dragged into a better position”, Sheppard said that the SNP had “led from the front on building solidarity with the Palestinian people”.
He said the SNP would push for the new government to recognise Palestine as a state in a move towards a two-state solution and instruct the UK’s United Nations representatives to press for a ceasefire.
“I think we ought to be confident of having a majority viewpoint in that Parliament for that case”, Sheppard added.
Climate Crisis
Sheppard said the transition to net-zero should be state-funded, with North Sea oil and gas workers “reskilled and put into high quality jobs in the renewable industry”.
The SNP’s proposal to subject new oil and gas licences to climate compatibility tests rather than rule out granting new licences has drawn criticism from other parties.
The Scottish Green’s co-leader, Lorna Slater, said the SNP should “get off the fence”, while Edinburgh South’s Labour MP, Ian Murray, called the position “laughable”.
In response, Sheppard said this criticism was “disingenuous” and pointed to Labour’s plans to not revoke licences issued by the Conservatives, such as the controversial Rosebank licence.
On the SNP government in Holyrood’s decision to ditch their target of reducing carbon emissions by 75 per cent from 1990 levels by 2030, Sheppard said:
“[T]here comes a point where you just look completely stupid if you have a policy that… it’s clear to everybody that you’re not going to get anywhere near it.”
“The truth is we need to go as fast as we can and as hard as we can…”
Independence
Responding to criticism from former SNP leader Alex Salmond’s Alba Party over the SNP’s commitment to independence, Sheppard said this election would give his party a mandate to argue for independence.
“Line one of our manifesto will be that Scotland should be an independent country”, Sheppard said.
He added that independence was “probably the only route” to rejoining the European Union.
Message for Students
Looking back at his nine years in office, Sheppard said he was proud of his work on drug policy reform which, while not changing policy, has helped change attitudes in Westminster.
He added that helping constituents with individual issues is “the thing that makes this worthwhile”.
Asked why students should vote for him to serve a fourth term, Sheppard said:
“The question for everyone is, will that actually make any difference and to ensure that it makes a difference?”
“Don’t give Kier Starmer a blank cheque, put people into that new parliament who will hold them to account.”
“Official portrait of Tommy Sheppard MP crop 2” by David Woolfall is licensed under CC BY 3.0.
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