Graham Leadbitter, SNP's candidate for Westminster in Nairn
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00:00It's a fantastic local business with a fantastic tradition dating back many decades and we've
00:17got a highly skilled workforce, a big local employer and it's really important as a candidate
00:24and as local politicians that we find out about these businesses and understand what
00:29they do in order to provide the best support possible for them.
00:33Talking about local businesses, what will you do for local business in the end year?
00:41I think the first priority of any SNP MP is to go to Westminster and be a voice for Scotland
00:48on the biggest issues affecting their communities. For places like Moray, West Nairn and Strathspey,
00:56infrastructure investment is really important and that means that we need to get down there
01:01and ensure that the budgets that we need. Fundamentally the UK Government controls most
01:08of the budget and we need to make sure that we're getting that fair share, but also making
01:14the point that if we had full control of our finances as an independent country, then
01:19we would be able to take those decisions right now.
01:21So don't you think that you again, and I'm pretty sure this comes first, would be getting
01:28your way off recovery from a single crisis or what's the pandemic left?
01:35No, not at all. You have to do both at the same time. SNP activists, members, there are
01:42tens of thousands of us across Scotland who are every single day making a case for independence,
01:47but it doesn't mean that we don't get on with the day job at the same time. There is a job
01:51of work to be done to tackle the cost of living, to tackle energy prices. Energy regulation
01:56is a major issue here where we pay some of the highest energy prices in the UK. These
02:01are issues that affect households and businesses alike and these are key issues that SNP MPs
02:09all need to take to Westminster. Drew Hendry has previously represented this area until
02:16the boundary changes for this election and he's been leading the charge on issues like
02:21energy pricing and regulation. He has my 100% support and that is certainly a battle we
02:29want to take forward as well for this constituency.
02:32We're talking about infrastructure. We're in there and of course one of the biggest
02:36problems for infrastructure is the dualling of the main communities and the nearby transport
02:40slots. What will you be doing to transition that?
02:44There's no doubting that the E96 is a challenge for us. We do need to get it dualled. Fortunately,
02:52we're making progress on the nearby pass section. The made orders are complete. There's been
02:57no objections to them and that was confirmed by the Transport Secretary a couple of weeks
03:02ago. There is progress there. The land has been acquired and we'll start doing that work
03:08on the ground soon. There is much more that we need to do. Again, it's come back to budgets
03:13that we need to lobby as hard as we possibly can to make sure we get a fair share of capital
03:18budgets. Capital budgets is something that is fundamentally controlled by Westminster.
03:23Budgets for roads, hospitals, schools, housing, all of these are major issues that we need
03:30to tackle, but we need to hold whichever UK government is in place to account.
03:36On this question this morning, we got the news that the Government of Scotland set down
03:40SNP MPs. What's your thoughts about this announcement?
03:45Well, he's certainly managed to make a bit of a pig's ear of his campaigning in the last
03:52couple of weeks and it's not a great surprise that it's come to this. I think he has thrown
03:59a colleague under the bus, a colleague who is recovering from illness, who was a well-respected
04:06MP. That's pretty unforgivable and it clearly was unforgivable for his party. But where
04:13that leaves the Conservative campaign is beyond me. How can they be a credible force in Scotland
04:21if they can't even manage to lead a sensible campaign?
04:29Thank you.