Armitage sets out election stall with vow to challenge corporations and fascism
CONFRONTING corporate power, standing up for human rights and reducing the cost of living.
These are the three core tenets at the heart of Green candidate Alex Armitage’s election bid, he said as he launched the campaign on Saturday afternoon.
Armitage set out his stall to be Shetland’s new MSP at a Shetland Greens event at Islesburgh, where he detailed what the isles will be getting if he is elected to Holyrood in May.
The Shetland South councillor said that islanders were “living in energy starvation in a rich land”, with the party unveiling new placards proclaiming that it is “Shetland vs corporations”.
He spoke of his desire to see wind farms benefitting the communities that house them, rather than huge energy companies.
Armitage, who works as a paediatrician with NHS Shetland, said he was in politics because he cared “deeply about our Shetland community and justice and truth”.
He added he was “not standing for prestige or power”, and that the Green movement was growing quickly in the isles.
Armitage joins a growing election ticket that includes his fellow council colleague Emma Macdonald (Liberal Democrats), Hannah Mary Goodlad (SNP), Scottish Labour’s John Erskine and sovereignty candidate Brian Nugent.
Reform UK are also expected to announce a candidate this month.
Their move into local politics was referenced several times by Armitage, who said he wanted to “confront the rise of fascism” – which he called “sickening” – head on.
Armitage said he was not a “superman” and that Green Party leader Zach Polanski – a “nice, ordinary guy” that he called a friend – was not a “saviour” either.
But he said that they and the Green Party were “serious about changing the country for the common good”.
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Armitage told the launch that some of his views would not always be popular in Shetland, citing his opposition to the proposed Rosebank oil field and to charity Dogs Against Drugs.
However, he pledged that he would be “standing up for the people here” everyday if elected to Holyrood in May.
Greater powers for Shetland through autonomy was “something I believe in”, he said.
And while he said he was “not opposed to a Shetland tariff” for energy, Armitage added he would prefer to see a social tariff where those earning the lowest in society were given priority access to cheaper electricity.
He was backed by a group of Shetland Greens at the launch on Saturday, who also had the chance to put questions to him about his campaign.
Armitage told the room that he would be launching his election manifesto in the coming weeks.
It is the first time the Green Party has stood a constituency candidate for the Shetland seat since Debra Nicolson in 2019’s by-election to replace Tavish Scott.
Armitage finished third in the 2024 UK general election race for Orkney and Shetland, behind only the Liberal Democrats and SNP, earning over 2,000 votes and an almost 10 per cent vote share.
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