On International Women’s Day, Hollie Cameron, a young, working-class, Scottish socialist woman was informed by the Scottish Executive Committee (SEC) of the Labour Party that they were withdrawing the party’s endorsement of her candidacy for the Glasgow Kelvin constituency in the upcoming Holyrood elections.
We call on the Scottish Executive Committee (SEC) to overturn its decision and reinstate Hollie as the democratically elected Scottish Labour candidate for Glasgow Kelvin.
Having been successfully interviewed by the SEC, Hollie was democratically elected by members from across Labour’s broad church as Glasgow Kelvin’s candidate, with no votes against. During Hollie’s campaign for selection for the Glasgow Regional List and for Glasgow Kelvin constituency, her position as a 2014 Yes voter and her current views on the constitutional question were made clear. However, the focus of Hollie’s campaign was to be on a socialist coronavirus and climate recovery for Scotland.
Hollie took part in an interview with a journalist at The National outlining her perspective on the constitution and the democratic rights of people in Scotland. Running in a constituency where over 60% voted for pro-independence parties at the last Holyrood elections, the aim of this interview was to get Labour’s message to a significant constituency who have stopped listening to the party.
Following the publication of the interview, Hollie was called to an interview with the SEC and was subsequently informed that her candidacy would no longer be endorsed by Scottish Labour. As at the time of writing, we have not been told the basis in the party rule book on which this meeting was called and the decision made. As at the time of writing, neither Hollie nor the CLP has received written confirmation of the outcome and the reasons for it.
Glasgow Kelvin CLP secretary was then informed that a candidate will be imposed on the constituency. This is a further attack on the CLPs democratic right to decide its candidate.
We call on the SEC to reinstate Hollie immediately.