John Lamont, the MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire has announced his intention to resign from the Scottish Parliament to allow him to focus on the campaign to win Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk from SNP at the forthcoming General Election.
John Lamont notified the Presiding Officer today (Tuesday 25th April) that he will resign from the Scottish Parliament, with effect from Thursday 4 May. The Presiding Officer will set the date for the by-election shortly.
Explaining his decision, John Lamont MSP said “It has been a great privilege to serve the people of the Borders in the Scottish Parliament for the last 10 years. During that time, I have worked as hard as I could to represent every community, no matter how small. I have held over 1000 local advice surgeries and assisted tens of thousands of local residents with problems and cases. I have always put local people before party politics.
“I want to continue that service to the Borders as a Member of Parliament and my approach to this important job will be exactly the same as it has been.
“This is one of the most important General Elections Scotland has ever had. In the Borders, it will be straight fight between myself and the SNP. I have decided to stand down as an MSP to allow me to focus all of my energy on this important contest and to ensure that the electorate have a clear choice between the two contenders.
“I’ve taken this decision because I believe that I am best placed to help increase the number of Scottish Conservative and Unionist MPs at Westminster so we can stop the SNP bandwagon in its tracks. With this decision, no one can doubt my commitment to representing the Borders to the best of my ability.”
Commenting, Leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson MSP said: “During his 10 years in the Scottish Parliament, John has built up a formidable reputation as a dedicated community campaigner for the Borders and someone who will always put his constituents first.
“Voters in the Borders can either pick John Lamont, one of Scotland’s hardest working local campaigners, who will put the Borders first and who will oppose Nicola Sturgeon’s damaging plans for a second referendum or they can pick another nationalist who will continue to pursue his obsession with taking Scotland out of the United Kingdom.”