Delighted to be standing as an independent here in the Scottish Borders.
As a candidate I hope to provide Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk voters with a broader democratic choice beyond the regular political parties.
I have never been a member of a political party, always practicing my politics and advocacy as an independent since I was a student politician back in the early 1990s.
I was elected as a sabbatical welfare officer in London on the basis of my strong Palestinian human rights and antiracism activism, my classical music organising and my commitment to equality and diversity, and my political values remain unchanged. In the meantime, I have spent twenty years working as a senior secretary in the City, with experience and an understanding of a broad range of industries, from oil and gas trading and biotechnology, to private banking and stockbroking, via architecture and a world-famous lyric theatre.
A decade ago, my life changed radically and I became the owner of my mother’s home of 25 years in the Scottish Borders. I moved up permanently when Scottish NHS discovered I had breast cancer in 2016 and I am now rooted here for keeps.
I had hoped this election would take place in the Autumn when I might have been more ready. I made a bold commitment to friends and family last year that I would stand at the general election this year but that was before I caught Covid again, for the third time, in January followed by resurging Long Covid and roller-coastering mental ill health.
When Rishi Sunak misfired his starting gun with his grisly “things can only get wetter” speech, however, I felt so angry about the state of UK politics and the Conservative’s chronic destruction of all that was best in Britain – the country’s pluralism, powerful EU membership, global standing, exceptional welfare state, world-class services, tech, scientific and arts output – and outraged at the current Conservative government aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and pariah state activities against Palestine and the sovereign Palestinian people, I had no hestitation in stepping up to the enormous challenge for me (with new disabilities since 2015) of standing as an independent candidate in the area I have adored since I was a little girl but where I have never been politically active before.
In the coming days, I hope to produce a manifesto that I’ve been thinking through for six months, offering the electorate pragmatic Westminster legislative work to benefit them, as well as ways to promote and enhance our constituency’s profile on the national and international stage, establishing our not-so-little patch of Scotland as the top place to live, work and visit in UK.
Vote for me, Ellie Merton, as your independent candidate for Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk on 04 July 2024!
I’ve been thinking through the Scottish Independence question ever since before the Scottish Referendum and then the EU Referendum. I was, as you can see in previous posts, a staunch EU Remainer. I think Brexit has been the single most damaging act of sabbotage by a UK-based government to the UK and its constituent nations ever. It’s more cataclysmic even than English king, Henry VIII’s, split from Rome and that was seismic at the time. The problem for Scotland is (however capable it might be running its own affairs as an independent country) that Brexit UK’s economic and structural conditions are now so dire, it will take a generation to rebuild the EU’s trust to work with any part of the UK, let alone Westminster, and despite any of the devolved settlement, Scotland remains wholly tied into and fundamentally reliant on Westminster for most of its funding AND government departmental policies. So where I am sympathetic to Scottish Independence in the long run, in the short to medium term, it would cripple Scotland to try to go it alone, it just does not have the civil service competencies or structures in place to cope with running its own affairs, and I don’t see those conditions changing in the next five years that I would sit as an MP if I was voted in. We have to push hard to shift Westminster’s policies towards Scotland, and rescue Scotland’s services, by increasing the capital grant first and foremost.
Interesting points! It might not suit the current government still in office to have an educated, thinking electorate, but part of the reason I am standing is to stop the government rot and help constituents gain as much education and thinking capacity as possible.
What is your thoughts on Scotland running it’s own country?
Discussing this candidature with friends at the weekend led to us all thinking about what would be important manifesto commitments. Re-nationalisation for me, a stronger NHS for someone else, and I’m ashamed to say I can’t remember what the other two said, although there was a Big Discussion on how music improves overall learning abilities for children, and me the cynic saying the government doesn’t actually want an educated, thinking electorate….