A couple of days ago I still couldn’t decode who to vote for so I decided to try to host my own little hustings and ask (by email) the candidates some questions as no one had turned up at my door. As it was so close to the election I didn’t really expect much of a response, but I was delighted to get answers back from three of the four candidates.

Step forward Fiona Hyslop, Chris Donnelly and Jenni Lang and accept your awards. Onto the naughty step for Mary Mulligan who was the only one not to respond.  I was also able to put the questions to Alison Johnstone during her #AskAlison twitter hustings but obviously the answers had to be limited to 140 characters. (also I can’t actually retrieve them from Twitter. If I can find them I will add them in)

My questions were very specific to me, but I hope that someone else might find the answers useful.

Question 1: What would you do to aid the local community in the Linlithgow constituency (and if I’m being selfish my town of Bathgate) ?

Fiona Hyslop: We need to create a flourishing centre and I will support Enterprising Bathgate and others to promote events in the refurbished centre (funded with SNP GOV town centre regeneration funding) to bring people in. I will work with regal theatre to tackle some of their issues for next area of refurbishment. Will work on facilities for young people. Will promote West Lothian as  tourist area with new transport links an asset.

Chris Donnelly: That’s a big one! I think the most important thing is creating long term employment which is not dependent on the government, as there has traditionally been an over reliance on the public sector which means disproportionate redundancies during times of government cutbacks. Unlike in the 1980s when the car industry pulled out of Bathgate, we now have a much better infrastructure to support major private companies ( Edinburgh Airport, M8/9 links, Airdrie & Bathgate railway etc ) so we should be aggressively promoting the county to business.

I also want to introduce incentive based recycling schemes, which I have implemented at other councils. You put a chip in the wheelie bin, it weighs it, the more recycling you do you get vouchers, like a clubcard, which are redeemable at the local shops. This gives local shops footfall, the company gets the contract and the council saves money on landfill. Of course there are more things I’d like to do, but hopefully that gives you a flavour.

Jenni Lang: As a constituency MSP, I’d want to hold regular surgeries and keep in regular contact with local people, being accessible and helping them with any problems and concerns that they have. I’d report back regularly on my work in Parliament.

My key priority would be doing what I can to support local businesses. As a party we are concerned that banks are still not lending enough to businesses and that the processes for helping business can be cumbersome and often don’t give them the help that they need. We want to create Regional Development Banks to make sure that businesses can find services tailored to their needs, not  the tick box culture. Tavish Scott gives an example of visiting a company where he was told that if they didn’t have to spend so much time dealing with various organisations, they could afford to employ more people.

I want to see West Lothian College get the funding it needs to offer sufficient places for local young people. Liberal Democrats have been successful throughout the previous parliament in  securing funding for more college courses and bursaries for students.

I’m also concerned at the loss of jobs of pupil support workers in schools. I think that our plans to give head teachers more power to employ the staff they need to give the kids in their care the best education might have avoided that.

Me: I’m particularly impressed with Fiona Hyslop’s answer here.  Clearly knows the local area and I’m pleased she is taking an interest in the future of the Regal Theatre.

Q2. The voluntary sector in Scotland is a vital part to play in providing services for vulnerable people in Scotland. What is the voluntary sector’s role in the next 5 years ?

FH: The voluntray sector should be seen as a key partner not just supplier of services and should be involved in shaping services. At national level I have already done that in Government in relation to children and families policy development

CD: I think the voluntary sector is going to have an increasing role, and as someone who has relied on them in the past I am aware of the tremendous work they do. However if they are going to be expected to take on bigger roles they must be properly funded and given the administrative support which they will need. I hope that whoever is in government also cuts a lot of the unnecessary red tape which prevents people volunteering their services, such as CRB checks for lollipop ladies.

JL: Scotland has a vibrant voluntary sector, providing vital services to people and communities across the country and it needs to be supported, and the barriers that hold it back need to be removed. We want to break down the barriers faced by charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises in providing services and ensure that there is sufficient funding and infrastructure support for them. The voluntary sector has had a tough time over the past few year. We want to see it thrive under our plans to take a holistic approach of the delivery of public services by giving people more control of budgets, putting all of the spending by different public agencies in an area together and giving local communities influence over how the money is spent in their area. That will open up the potential of  the voluntary sector and make more services more responsive to the needs of their area.

Me: All three responses see the importance of the voluntary sector, but Jenni’s is the one that has the most detail.

Q3. How would you improve transport in West Lothian, particularly when petrol prices are so high and unlikely to ever get lower ?

FH: Fuel prices are reserved to Westminster and the current Conservative and Liberal Democrats are not introducing a fuel price regulator which cuts duty when oil prices increases and Treasurary revenue increases – sadly Labour didn’t support SNP on this in House of Commons. With teenagers in the family who want to travel north south from Linlithgow to Bathgate and Livingston and vice verca I think those trnasport routes on buses need looked at .

CD: I think the Treasury should tax fuel less, especially for those in the countryside and who depend on it for business, and I am glad the Chancellor cancelled the fuel duty rise in his last budget.

In West Lothian, my priorities would be to increase train service frequencies on the Shotts line via West Calder and electrify it at the earliest opportunity. I would also like to explore the possibility of running a commuter service from Bo’ness to Edinburgh in the morning and a return in the evening, which could take traffic off the M9.

I would like to see a park and ride built at a brown field site at Edinburgh Park station for traffic coming off the motorway. The train takes 8 minutes from there to Waverley and takes cars and buses off the road.

I am against the drop off charges at Edinburgh Airport.

FL: As you’ll  know, it was the Liberal Democrats who ensured, when we were in Coalition, that the Bathgate-Airdrie line was completed and this is a very welcome improvement, making it a lot easier to commute to the west as well as Edinburgh.

Locally, Liberal Democrats joined the successful campaign for Blackridge Station to be reopened as this was not in the original plans.

However, it’s often local transport that’s most difficult – especially with the centralisation of so many Council services in Livingston. A bus every couple of hours from Linlithgow to Bathgate isn’t good enough, meaning that if you don’t have a car, a simple trip to the Civic Centre can end up taking all day. I would want to see more regular services between Linlithgow and Livingston

Me: Jenni’s response is the clear winner here, noting the problems of the bus routes, particularly from Bathgate to Livingston which can be a two hour magical mystery tour of West Lothian