Meet your candidates for the upcoming General Election on Thursday, July 4.
Nine candidates are competing to be East Renfrewshire's MP at Westminster.
Polling stations will be open on July 4 from 7am to 10pm for those voting in person.
Residents who cannot make it to their polling station on election day can appoint a proxy up until Wednesday, June 26 at 5pm, which allows someone else to vote on their behalf.
A total of 24 polling places will be used across East Renfrewshire, with the majority remaining the same as those used for previous General Elections.
Details of which polling station to attend are printed on your polling letter.
Matt Alexander - Reform UK
My background is in sales and business management, which involved extensive travel throughout the UK and beyond.
The experience confirmed my belief that the nations that make up the UK are at their best when cooperating on shared concerns and opportunities.
I settled in East Renfrewshire in 1985. With excellent amenities and services, it was the perfect place to bring up a family.
Recently, along with most of the UK, we have felt the effects of global instability and economic stagnation.
The strain on our education and health services and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis are as undeniable as they are preventable.
Our priority must be to get the economy going again, by making it worthwhile for people to work and gain from their endeavours.
Two of our polices will make things much better for working people.
No one will pay tax until they earn more than £20,000, raising seven million people out of income tax altogether, and making it worthwhile for another two million to come off benefits and get back into work.
We will end the crazy net zero energy policy which will save people on average about £600 on their energy bills.
Central government spending has increased by £200 billion each year since 2016.
This will be slashed to put money back into people’s pockets. We need change, we need Reform.
Alan Grant - Scottish Liberal Democrats
After graduating in 2014, I worked in communications. I now run my own business offering PR services.
It’s unusual for me to be on the front line, but I’m enjoying every minute.
As an entrepreneur, I’m acutely aware of the mess that the Tories and the SNP have made of the economy.
Prices are out of control, confidence has crumbled, and people are crying out for optimism.
That’s why I’m standing for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, the only party committed to a fair deal for the economy.
We have the optimistic and practical policies that East Renfrewshire needs.
I wouldn’t be anywhere without the education I received and I know education matters deeply to people in East Renfrewshire.
We will prioritise education, delivering a qualified mental health professional for every school, boosting in-class support, and investing in early years education.
Care is also important to me and I’m proud to stand alongside Ed Davey and Alex Cole-Hamilton, two men who care deeply about it.
We will introduce a higher carer’s minimum wage, ensuring those who care can afford to.
We will also provide the Scottish Government with the funding it needs to deliver an uplift to the Carer Support Payment in Scotland.
At this election, you have a choice. More dithering and distracted nationalism, a Tory party out of time, ideas, and its mind, or a fair deal with the Liberal Democrats. I hope you will support me.
Sandesh Gulhane - Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
I still carry out work as a GP, having been prompted to stand for election due to my experiences during the pandemic.
In the three years since being elected, I have held successive SNP health secretaries to account over their mismanagement of Scotland’s NHS and their failure to set up any long covid clinics here.
As MP for East Renfrewshire, I would bring both political and real-world experience to the role.
Since my selection last summer, I have canvassed across the constituency and spoken with thousands of people about their priorities.
It has been clear that the continued cuts to council budgets and the knock-on effect on crucial local services, the state of our roads and pavements and delays in experiencing appointments with healthcare services are at the forefront of voters’ minds.
I am the only candidate who has published a vision for the future of Scotland’s NHS, including recruiting an extra 1,000 GPs across the country, putting a ban on the closure of healthcare services.
I am also fully committed to listening to local communities when they raise concerns, including in relation to the proposed battery storage facility in Eaglesham and Waterfoot.
I will lobby the UK Government for funding for town centres and for direct investment in projects that will transform our area and grow the local economy.
While my political and NHS duties do not leave me much downtime, I enjoy spending time with my family and I am a keen follower of sports including football, cricket and rugby and also enjoy listening to audiobooks.
Blair McDougall - Scottish Labour Party
I worked helping local people with Jim Murphy and Ken Macintosh.
I worked in the last Labour government on issues such as helping disabled people, the Olympics, anti-poverty strategies, and international human rights.
I now work around the world helping people to stand up against dictators like Putin. I have worked in 30 countries around the globe from Albania to Zambia.
I live in East Renfrewshire with my family. During Covid I got to work organising an army of volunteers locally to deliver medicines to the elderly and those self-isolating.
I believe my years of experiences in frontline politics in Scotland and beyond have prepared me to be a suitable representative for East Renfrewshire at Westminster who will be an effective voice for local people and their priorities.
I want to serve as your member of parliament because I see so much that needs to be sorted in our local community.
People simply aren’t getting the help they need right now, and we need a campaigning local to stand up for everyone who’s not getting what they deserve.
We can’t go on with two failing governments. None of us can afford years more of chaos.
This isn’t as good as it gets, but we can only change the vote to give a chance. This election only Scottish Labour is offering that change.
Kirsten Oswald - Scottish National Party
It has been the privilege of my life to serve as East Renfrewshire’s MP over the last few years.
This is my community, where I chose to live, to bring up my family, and there is nowhere I would rather be.
Working for you, I have dealt with more than 25,000 constituency cases, met with thousands of residents, organisations and groups, held frequent surgeries in all our communities, made sure that I am visible day to day in our local towns and villages, and always advocated for East Renfrewshire’s interests.
At Westminster I have spoken 600 times, raising important local issues.
As an independent-minded politician, I am proud to support progressive SNP policies which make a real difference to families across East Renfrewshire, including free University tuition, free prescriptions, the baby box, support with the cost-of-living crisis, stopping the privatisation of our NHS, seeking a return to the EU, and so much more.
The SNP will always stand up for Scotland and put our communities first.
We will all be glad to be rid of this rotten Tory government, and East Renfrewshire deserves nothing less than to be represented by an MP who will stand up to UK governments of any colour.
In this election, you can choose an MP who will oppose Tory and Labour plans for more austerity, causing harm to our public services and communities.
Only the SNP can beat the Tories here, so please vote Kirsten Oswald SNP on July 4.
Maria Reid - Scottish Family Party
Standing for the Scottish Family Party brings an opportunity to convey that there is a void in contemporary politics, that is pro-family, pro-marriage and socially conservative policies.
I stand here in East Renfrewshire to fill that void.
A vote for the Scottish Family Party would consist of promoting marriage as a tenet for any functioning and stable society.
Furthermore, the most important aspect of this is that children across Scotland are able to be best brought up in stable family life.
Children should also have the opportunity to be educated in an appropriate manner and thus, I would stand against any sacrifice of the integrity of education on the altar of political ideology.
Children in Scotland deserve to be taught how to think rather than what to think.
Other issues that are key to the Scottish Family Party’s unique policies are that we would oppose any move to introduce assisted dying or euthanasia into law.
This is because everyone needs to be valued and worthy of the highest degree of care throughout their life.
Suicide or the discarding of human life should never be promoted as a valid response to difficulties.
Sadly, the parties of my counterparts take no interest in defending the most vulnerable.
We value families as the building blocks of a strong nation
Our central focus of strengthening family life could help solve many problems in Scotland, from drug abuse to youth mental health, from crime to population decline.
Instead of interfering in family life, we want to support families to make their own decisions and meet their needs.
Karen Sharkey - Scottish Greens
I live in Clarkston with my husband and three young children and have worked in education, specifically in additional support needs.
I have worked with vulnerable young people and their families and have seen the damage that has been done by 14 years of Tory cuts.
I have also seen the positive change that the Scottish Greens have made in East Renfrewshire, including free bus travel for 14,633 local children and young people, record spending on climate and nature projects and the removal of peak time rail fares.
All of these are important steps for our local environment and our communities.
I’m standing in this election to build on that record of success.
I am campaigning for bold action to tackle the climate crisis and eradicate poverty, funded by a wealth tax on those with assets of at least £10 million and an end to the tax breaks lavished on oil and gas companies.
The money raised from these measures will be invested in lifting the punishing two child benefit cap as well as improving our railways, making our homes cheaper and greener to heat and other measures which will help to cut costs and climate emissions.
At this election we need to vote like our future depends on it. East Renfrewshire deserves an MP who will fight for the kind of transformative measures we need to tackle the climate crisis and eradicate child poverty.
The Scottish Greens are proud to give more people than ever the opportunity to vote for our positive vision of a fairer, greener, independent Scotland.
Allan Steele - Liberal Party
I combine that role with being the deputy leader of The Liberal Party.
I am the son of our former provost, also Allan Steele. I was previously a wing commander in the RAF, where I served in the Pentagon, NATO and the United Nations. I served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In addition to my legal career, I am is vice chair of (armed forces charity) SSAFA locally, chair of Woodfarm High School Parent Council and a Giffnock community councillor.
I believe that East Renfrewshire needs a strong local voice in parliament who puts local people before the interests of any party.
I believe that everyone should have the freedom to become the best person they can be. I believe in a tolerant society where all are respected.
That is under threat today with increasing infringements on personal liberty.
As a liberal, I believe in a compassionate society where more emphasis is placed on understanding others rather than condemning them.
If elected, I pledge to work tirelessly for all local people, to fight their causes and to take on vested interests which are often protected by the main political parties.
I believe in a strong Scotland within a federal United Kingdom and will bring a wealth of international experience to the role of your MP if you choose me on July 4.
Colette Walker - Independence for Scotland Party
A political activist for over 20 years, I campaigned for improved disability, equality, accessibility and carer’s rights.
I support the protection of single sex safe spaces and opposed and campaigned against the GRA reform bill.
I have worked alongside Salvo in the passed 18 months on Scotland’s constitutional rights, part of the Stirling Directive.
In the last 12 months I have worked as a member of Salvo Freeport Campaign team, travelling the country, where we have held public meetings to inform the public on Freeports and SEZs (special economic zones). As East Renfrewshire is one of the areas within Glasgow SEZ, I will continue to campaign against freeports and SEZs.
The Independence for Scotland Party (ISP) is standing on an abstention policy. We the people of Scotland are sovereign. We have no place being in a parliament in another country. Myself and ISP will never swear an oath to a monarch that is not ours. We are the crown.
We achieve nothing in Westminster. We need to bring elected representatives back home, working in their constituency directly with the constituents.
ISP support a direct democracy system where our elected representatives are accountable to the people and can be removed if they are not working for the good of the people.
We support Universal Basic Income (UBI) which would bring so many people out of poverty.
If you support Scottish independence, protection of women’s rights and single sex safe space , I am your only candidate to vote for. Vote Colette Walker ISP.
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