Thursday 4 May is Stirling Council Election Day

Read our Manifesto For Stirling and you’ll see Labour have a vision for Stirling’s future and a track record of success.

Vote Labour to protect the local services – from schools, care services, paths, parks, roads and more – that touch our daily lives.

We need local Labour champions who will drive Stirling forward.

Stirling deserves better than SNP candidates who won’t even stand up to their own party and the damage the SNP Government are doing to local services. Stirling Council’s budget has been CUT by £2.6 million this year by Nicola Sturgeon.

Stirling deserves better than Tory candidates who are following an increasingly right wing austerity agenda. Send a message to the Tories that Scotland is shamed by the Rape Clause they’ve introduced.

Vote Labour and you’re voting for a plan to build hundreds more social homes across Stirling’s communities over the next four years.

Vote Labour for a municipal energy company to help tackle fuel poverty and ensure communities retain profits.

Vote Labour to help re-regulate busses to ensure they run to community not commercial priorities.

Vote for local Labour champions on May 4^th.

Stirling Labour sets out vision for Stirling with 2017 Manifesto

Bold new commitments to local bus and energy companies feature in Labour’s manifesto for Stirling. The party’s key priorities were unveiled this week and include a promise to double to 1200 the number of hours of free pre-school childcare available to families, and realise the potential of £600 million in City Region Deal investment. The document will help shape Stirling over the next five years if Labour return to power on May 4^th.

Your Labour candidates who will deliver on manifesto commitments

Violet Weir, one of two Labour candidates standing in the Bannockburn ward, told an audience of local party members and guests that the Labour-led Administration had much to be proud about since coming to power in 2012. Violet said,

“We have created over 400 council homes, built new schools at Cowie and St Ninians, and the £35 million Stirling Care Village is months away from opening. But we must go further and in the next five years we want to create more social rented homes that we have in the last five years. We will promote Stirling to employers around the world and we will realise the once in a generation potential of the £600 million City Region Deal that Labour Councillors are negotiating. We have a vision for Stirling and we will work tirelessly to deliver it in the face of continuing and unnecessary cuts to council budgets from the SNP Government at Holyrood.”

Chris Kane, one of two Labour candidates standing in Stirling East, spoke on the thinking behind the new approach to public transport and energy production. Chris said,

“It is unacceptable that fuel poverty exists and that Stirling’s citizens can’t rely on public transport to get them where they need to be when they need to be there. We want bus services run to community not commercial priorities. We want locally produced green energy with lower costs, fixed for longer periods. Stirling Council has the scale and the resources to kick start a local green energy revolution and sort out the buses and if Labour are in Administration in May, we’ll get to work and deliver for Stirling.”

The keynote speaker at the launch event was Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Alex Rowley MSP who said that Labour were the only party who offered a vision for Stirling’s future, backed up by a track record of success in the past.

To download a full copy of our manifesto, click here.

To read individual sections of our manifesto online, click on the links below:

Alex Rowley MSP with local members and candidates

Labour council candidates say further cuts to Local Authority budgets are a dangerous SNP road to go down

Labour Council Candidates in Forth & Endrick and Trossachs & Teith have today said that a cut to Stirling Council funding from the SNP next week is both a wrong and dangerous road to go down.

Speaking in advance of the Scottish Government laying out its spending plans for the next year, Labour’s candidate for Forth and Endrick, former MSP Dr Richard Simpson said,

“While I know Stirling’s Labour-led administration will do all it can this winter to keep our rural roads safe, the SNP in Edinburgh need to see the bigger picture. Budget cuts not only affect investment in road improvement but also have a real impact on communities trying to go about their daily business which in turn can harm the local economy. Less funding means councils are less able to respond to typical – let alone unusual – winter conditions in future. Although I suspect they’d like it run centrally from Edinburgh, the SNP can’t control the weather – but they can control how much money they give local government who have to keep vital services rolling no matter what the conditions are like. The SNP have to realise that if as a result of their political choices the local government settlement is cut again next week, it will have severe consequences for roads, transport and travel across Scotland.”

Labour’s candidate for Trossachs & Teith, Gartmore resident Gerry McGarvey, says,

“Years and years of cuts and more cuts from the SNP in Edinburgh are having a huge impact on our towns and villages. If the budget is further cut next week, no amount of hand wringing from the SNP will make up for the loss of jobs in the hospitality and other industries if tourists decide to avoid the risk of damage to their vehicles. Buses operators have already decide to cut their services as council subsidies, already stretched to the maximum, can no longer support what the operators need to make rural bus routes viable. We need our government to be supporting Stirling’s rural communities, not making life more difficult for us by slapping us in the face and reducing their financial support.”

After nine years of a council tax freeze, Stirling Council has had to cut over £30 million across all services, with an extra £7 million in this financial year. With around 60% of funding coming from the SNP in Edinburgh, a further cut next week will push services already stretched to breaking point even further.

Richard Simpson added,

“While the SNP will want to point the finger at the Tories in Westminster, it is important to note that while the Tories have cut Scotland’s grant by around 5%, the SNP have cut the grant to local authorities by around 11%. The SNP are the administrators of austerity in Scotland and it is our communities, our roads, our schools, our venerable residents in care and so many more people who suffer. This has to stop and I hope the SNP realise this ahead of their budget statement on Thursday.”

The SNP Government in Edinburgh will publish its draft budget for the coming year on Thursday 15 December.

Trossachs & Teith

In Trossachs & Teith, local members have chosen Gerry McGarvey to be their candidate. Gerry lives in the ward, in Gartmore, with his wife and is an active member of both his local Community Council and Community Development Trust. A passionate voice for his community, Gerry has campaigned on many local issues including this pharmacy legislation which has severely impacted on access to doctor’s surgeries throughout the ward.

gerrymcgarveylabour Gerry says,

“I’m delighted to be standing in the ward where my wife was born and I’ve lived for the last decade. I passionately believe in helping those who struggle to be heard and that’s why I’ve been campaigning heavily in recent years on legislation around pharmacy provision which has had a severely damaging impact on local GP surgeries. I’m also proud to be a part of my local community council and community development trust and know I can do more to help my neighbours and friends as a Stirling Councillor.”