ELECTION 2021: Protecting jobs and supporting young people will be priorities for re-elected MSP
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Re-elected Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin has outlined that her focus will be protecting jobs in the area and supporting young people.
She also highlighted that the immediate priority is the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
She held the seat for the SNP, which she was first elected to in 2016.
Ms Martin had a overnight wait for the result as the vote counting started on Friday and continued into Saturday.
She said: "I want to thank first of all and most importantly the people of Aberdeenshire East who put their faith in me. They did it in 2016 and they have done it again.
"I worked every day of those five years, I will work every day of the next five years for you at a very important time for the people of Aberdeenshire who face the crisis of the pandemic, the situation of the oil and gas and the situation that they find themselves in where our young people need our help more than ever.
"I'm there for you, I'm going to work hard for you and I am going to make sure that when we transition to net zero as we have to do, that Aberdeenshire East and the north-east is at the very heart of all those plans.
"I want to thank my constituency staff who work so hard behind the scenes. This win is not just Gillian Martin it's the constituency staff of Aberdeenshire East.
"I want to thank my family, we've had a pretty tough year and they are the most amazing people I know who have supported me and we have all supported each other though this very tough time. I would not be here without any of them.
"The results show that people have continued faith in the SNP and the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon. I look forward to working with her and all my colleagues in the next parliament for Aberdeenshire East."
Ms Martin said her main priority in the next five years is that no more jobs are lost in the area.
She added: "We have to have Aberdeenshire and the north-east at the heart of the green recovery.
"My central, core mission is to make sure that the hard-working people of the north-east who have relied on oil and gas for so many years are not left behind.
"Also young people have had a terrible year and we need to put their welfare at front and centre of everything we do. Those two things are most important to me.
"Now we must focus on the task in hand – Scotland’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. We need to protect oil and gas jobs and ensure a Just Transition as we emerge from this crisis."
