Scottish Voice leader hits out at city jobs relocation

Published on Wednesday 28 February 2007 11:58

THE millionaire landowner behind Scotland's newest party claims relocating government jobs out of Edinburgh is a good example of what's wrong with current politics.

Archie Stirling, whose uncle General Sir David Stirling founded the SAS, says his Scottish Voice party will field four or five candidates in every region at May's Holyrood elections.

He is not planning a manifesto, but instead wants to put forward experts in a variety of fields and promises to hold the Executive to account.

He said "manifesto-itis" and "target-itis" were part of the problem, not the solution.

Speaking after the official launch of the party at Edinburgh's Balmoral Hotel, he declined to enter into details on the question of a new Forth Road Bridge on the grounds he is not an engineer, but did say: "We need a bridge."

And he came down against the Executive's controversial relocation of thousands of public service jobs from Edinburgh.

Mr Stirling said: "If you have a capital city and a lot of civil service jobs, to move them for the sake of moving them seems pointless.

"I think it's typical of the kind of solutions we read about. It's disruptive for everyone involved and it doesn't serve a purpose."

Mr Stirling, who was once married to actress Diana Rigg, is understood to have up to 20 potential candidates ready to be revealed in the near future, but he has refused to say who is providing the financial backing for Scottish Voice, claiming it would be a distraction.