Meet the Glasgow Pollok candidates standing for election

Here are your candidates and what they represent.

HUMZA YOUSAF (SNP)

It has been a huge honour representing the people of Glasgow Pollok since 2016. As the local MSP I have helped over 4000 constituents. I have supported countless local organisations, many of whom have benefitted from Scottish Government funding.

My priority has been to tackle inequality in Glasgow Pollok. From Arden in the South of my constituency to Govan in the North and all the communities in-between, I have seen the benefit our policies have made to people’s everyday lives.

We will build on that progress by doubling the Scottish Child Payment, by giving every School pupil a laptop so they are equipped for the digital age, creating a National Care Service and building another 100,000 affordable homes.

The SNP’s immediate focus is our recovery through Covid led by Nicola Sturgeon. We cannot go back to how things were before, we want a fairer and greener recovery. I believe the people of Scotland should have the right to choose their own future so we can rebuild from Covid with all the levers of power in our own hands, not Boris Johnson’s.

In this upcoming election I ask you re-elect me as your local MSP and make it both votes SNP.

DR ZUBIR AHMED (Labour)

I was born and brought up in Govanhill.  My dad at the age of 82, continues to work as a black cab driver in Glasgow. His example of hard work encouraged me to study medicine, and I now proudly work in the constituency as a surgeon in our NHS.

The wounds COVID has inflicted on our public services, economy and well-being have affected me very personally. I have witnessed deepening inequality and child poverty in Glasgow Pollok, producing unprecedented levels of anxiety and uncertainty.

All the while the SNP remain distant and disengaged, with the current SNP MSP choosing to live in Dundee and a SNP government prioritising division and local authority cuts over healing and recovery.

As your Labour MSP for Glasgow Pollok, I pledge to be local, visible and available. I will utilise all my personal and professional experience to ensure there’s a catch-up plan for our kids, guaranteed jobs for young people, a local hospital that is responsive to your needs and dedicated office staff ready to tackle the issues that matter to you, including welfare and housing.

On May 6, only using both votes for Labour will ensure true local representation and a focused national recovery.

SANDESH GULHANE (Cons)

I have been a doctor for 15 years and this year has been like no other. I have seen first-hand the devastation COVID has brought from deterioration in people’s mental health to long COVID. The vaccine roll-out continues to give our communities hope.

We must focus on health and our post COVID recovery in the next Scottish Parliament rather than being dragged back into another divisive independence referendum.

Residents in Pollok want to focus on day-to-day issues. They are desperate to get the vaccine, return to normality, have their rubbish collected and pot holes filled.

As GP in our NHS, I am committed to delivering record funding for our health service over the course of the next Parliament. The Scottish Conservatives will enshrine that pledge in law through a ‘double lock’. Spending will rise either by the rate of inflation, or the UK Government’s Barnett consequentials, whichever is higher.

This will help tackle the backlog among patients waiting for vital treatments and procedures and support my frontline colleagues.

I would be truly honoured to represent the communities of Pollok. If you want to guarantee a focus on our recovery over a referendum, then vote for Dr Sandesh Gulhane and the Scottish Conservatives.

NADIA KANYANGE (Greens)

The last year has been difficult for all of us. Many of us have not seen our friends or families. The Scotland we build from this must be a better Scotland for everyone. 

Pollok is a vibrant and diverse community and I want to ensure that everyone here is supported. I arrived in the UK in 2003 after leaving the civil war in Burundi. At that time, running for parliament could not have been further from my mind. 

I am standing because I want to build a fairer, greener and more compassionate Scotland, particularly for people who choose to make Scotland their home.

I am standing to help and inspire other people, particularly those who have wanted to stand for parliament for so long but have felt that it is not for them. If our parliament is to represent Scotland then it needs to look like Scotland.

I am asking the people of Pollok to vote like Scotland’s future depends on it. Because it really does. I know that we can build the fairer, greener Scotland that we all want to see. 

JAMES SPEIRS (LIB DEMS)

I graduated with a diploma in Rural Estate Management from the Royal Agricultural College.

I am currently working for a charity which supports people with learning disabilities, and mental health issues, in the community. This has included supporting individuals being involved within the organisation, and now in the Learning & Development team.

I am an active member of the local party, and neighbouring ones. I am very passionate about issues surrounding learning disabilities and mental health, and associated challenges.

I genuinely believe in being able to stand up for issues which need to be raised in an appropriate setting, and I will do everything I can do fight and fix those issues here.

Daryl Gardner (UKIP)

My name is Daryl Gardner and I am the UKIP Scotland candidate standing in Glasgow Pollok and also the lead candidate for Glasgow on the regional list.

UKIP Scotland recognise Holyrood as nothing more than a glorified form of local authority which is expensive and unnecessary.

The so-called First Minister earns £157,000 a year which is more than the British Prime Minister who earns £153,000

Millions of pounds are spent on press officers, spin doctors and chauffeurs; the taxpayer is funding this second rate theatre made up of second rate politicians who elevate mediocrity into an artform.

There are no Foots, Benns, Heseltines or Churchills amongst this lot.

We don’t need Indy Ref 2/3/4 etc or devo max. Let's just get rid of the place depositing the Scottish Parliament into the nearest recycling receptacle.

Sixteen percent of Scots want to abolish the Parliament. Politically they have nowhere to go and are not represented at all in Holyrood.

Scotland needs jobs which means in turn a healthy environment for businesses to operate. None of the SNP so-called “cabinet” has run a business in their lives and know nothing about making a profit.

A vote for UKIP on both the Pollok constituency ballot and the peach regional list paper will endeavour to resolve this lamentable situation.