3 January 2021

Welcome to all the readers of this new blog,

I want to start off by thanking everyone who voted for me during the last election for the Scottish Parliament, it’s a great honour to be representing the people of Glasgow Southside this term. I especially want to thank every person who went out there and campaigned for me and for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, you are a big part of the reason why so many of us were returned to the Scottish Parliament and why we are tied the second party in the Parliament. We are on the right path forward and this shows that so many Scottish people put their faith and their trust in us and I’m very proud of that.

I’m also very happy to welcome the new Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, my great friend u/scubaguy194 and I want to thank the last Leader, u/NorthernWomble for his service to the party and to Scotland. I made the decision not to be the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats because I think that u/scubaguy194 is a great asset to the party and to Scotland and that he is the right guy to further our cause, I had the opportunity before and now it should be the opportunity for a newer person to have the opportunity.

I will remain the Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and I gladly accepted the position of Education Spokesperson for the SLDs. As former Cabinet Secretary for Education I know the dealings of the Department and I will definitely scrutinize a future Cabinet Secretary if our Leader is not going to be the new First Minister.

Last term we did a lot of things, including on education and I’m very proud of that, but that should only be a beginning, not the end station. My friend u/NorthernWomble introduced a bill to the Scottish Parliament that will regulate education funding in a fairer way and that’s something that we want to continue and it’s on my list for this term to look for ways to achieve this. We also want to promote Gaelic education across the country, since it can really use a boost and we are welcoming the fact that the Progressives want to achieve this too and we’ll definitely make sure that they are going to keep that promise.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have come a long way, the people of Scotland gave us their support during the last General Election and we earned the most votes of any party, during the last Scottish Parliament campaign the people of Scotland gave us enough votes to be tied second in seats in the Parliament, I want to fight on to ensure that we’re becoming a solid number two with a shot at first place this time around.

Till next time

• Willem