Tess White has been selected as the Scottish Conservative candidate for Angus North and Mearns at next year’s Scottish Parliament election.
The North East regional MSP and shadow equalities minister will contest the seat vacated by the SNP’s Mairi Gougeon next year.
In 2021, the Scottish Conservatives polled 38.7% of the vote (13,635) and came within 3,509 (9.9%) of beating the SNP. Third-placed Scottish Labour were nowhere to be seen on 2,686 votes.
The Scottish Conservative vote increased by 1.4% on the 2016 election, while the North East regional list vote surged to 30.59% from 28% in 2016.
Ms White lives in the constituency and was an international HR professional and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development before entering politics in 2021. She has been nominated for the “open all hours” Holyrood award and helped secure the rollout of lifesaving pre-eclampsia testing.
Tess White said:
“I’d like to thank members for selecting me as their candidate for Angus North and Mearns next year. I have developed a reputation for getting things done, for not letting up, and for being an effective champion for my constituents at the Scottish Parliament.
When improvement plans for the Laurencekirk south junction stalled, I organised meetings with Transport Scotland and Aberdeenshire Council to find a way through it. For the past two years I worked with local campaigners including Angus Pylon Action Group and Save Our Mearns to fight SSEN's monster pylon plans, which will industrialise our countryside and devastate our productive farmland.
And I held the SNP government to account after Brechin was badly flooded, demanding action and financial support for residents and businesses. Both the Labour and SNP governments are regularly taken to task on their shameful treatment of the energy sector in the North East, which so many rely on for their livelihoods.
And, as shadow equalities minister for equalities, I have been fighting to protect the safety, privacy and dignity of women and girls in our schools, hospitals, leisure centres and other public service. Women and girls have been badly let down by the SNP's obsession with gender self-ID, and voters in Angus North and Mearns have the opportunity to pass verdict on that at next year’s election.”