James and Daniel are fine Labour MSP candidates

Today marks the beginning of the ‘short’ campaign for the Scottish Parliament elections, the period of intense campaigning in the run-up to 7 May, when Scots will have the chance to choose a new direction for Scotland.

In south Edinburgh residents have two fantastic local candidates in Daniel Johnson and James Dalgleish, who are standing in newly created Edinburgh Southern and Edinburgh Central respectively.

Daniel has been the MSP for Edinburgh Southern since 2016. In that time we’ve worked together closely to get things done for south Edinburgh, such as pushing for a new school in Liberton, tackling antisocial behaviour on our high streets, helping secure the future of Inch House and facilitating the delivery of Edinburgh South FCs “field of dreams". He’s a hard-working representative who puts his constituents first.

After boundary changes, parts of south Edinburgh including Marchmont, Polwarth, Merchiston, Sciennes and the Grange have moved into the Edinburgh Central constituency, where James Dalgleish is standing for Scottish Labour.

He is currently the City of Edinburgh Council’s education convener, where he’s leading efforts to improve schools across the city. I know he’ll be a committed local advocate for our communities.

As well as standing up for south Edinburgh, sending Daniel and James to the Scottish Parliament will help deliver a Scottish Labour government which will repair the damage done by the SNP, get the basics right, give a fresh start to our parliament and build a better future for Scotland.

How will it do this? There has already been a flurry of policy announcements, including lifting the ban on nuclear energy, funding an additional 1500 classroom assistants in our schools, delivering an NHS app within one year and establishing a £350m pothole fund to fix five million potholes across the country.

These aren’t earth-shattering promises, they are practical solutions to the problems we face. But their simplicity demonstrates the extent of decline since 2007.

The SNP are desperate to make this election about anything other than their own record in government over the last 19 years. It’s perhaps not surprising - even a cursory glance at their time in office paints a dismal picture.

A brief appraisal of their performance: a drug deaths crisis that continues to worsen, a housing emergency, an ever-widening black hole in the public finances and an NHS “dying before our eyes”, in the words of the chair of the Scottish BMA.

Consider also their record here in south Edinburgh. Residents will know first-hand the long-running problems with GP access and provision, an issue on which I have been campaigning for years. Meanwhile, we’ve been promised a new eye hospital at three successive elections, but one is yet to be delivered.

Moreover, thanks to SNP funding decisions, Edinburgh Council is the worst-funded local authority in Scotland. This has left local services stripped to the bone and resulted in higher charges for residents.

This is despite the Scottish Government receiving record funding from the UK Labour government, nearly £12bn in additional resources since July 2024.

In Daniel Johnson and James Dalgleish, south Edinburgh can elect two people who will stand up for our communities and deliver a new direction at Holyrood. It’s an opportunity we can ill afford to miss.