ELECTION 2021: 'Local communities need a voice at Holyrood'

MY name is Mark Findlater. I was born in Banff and brought up on Brodiesord Farm, Cornhill, where my mum and dad still farm the land.

My family have lived and worked here for 200 years.

I’ve been privileged to serve as councillor for Troup for the last eight years and am the Scottish Conservative candidate for the Banffshire and Buchan Coast constituency in next month’s election.

I served my country for 23 years in the British Army from the age of 17, completing eight operational tours of duty in Northern Ireland, Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo in military intelligence and bomb disposal.

When it came time to retire from the military, I returned home and set up an IT business in Macduff. I became an elder at Macduff Parish Church last year. I’m blessed with a prodigiously talented wife and three grown children.

Unlike many politicians, who have never worked or do the bare minimum to 'move up' the ladder, I’ve got proper life experience. I’m a grafter and I get up earlier than most to get the job done. Holyrood is not a career move for me. I’ve not been shipped in from another part of Scotland and wouldn’t stand anywhere else.

In 2016, the north-east picked Scottish Conservative MSPs who spoke up for us all. Folk like Peter Chapman who spoke the Doric, went down and held the government to account and let us know our way of life is just as important as the Central Belt.

If you have met Hardie and me on walks at Crovie, Peterhead Harbour or anywhere along our coast, you’ll know my heart is here.

What I aim to do is give Banff, the Broch, Peterhead and all our rural and coastal communities a voice at Holyrood, as your MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast.

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