Who will become Cowdenbeath's next MSP?

There are just two days to go until voters across the Cowdenbeath Scottish Parliamentary constituency elect their new MSP in a by-election. The vote is taking place because of the sad passing of long serving MSP for Cowdenbeath, Helen Eadie, who represented Scottish Labour.

I live in the neighbouring Kirkcaldy constituency so I won't be able to cast a vote in this election. Nonetheless, the upcoming poll has aroused my interest. I can technically argue that I have played some kind of a role in the overall pre-election campaigning period. Last week, BBC Radio Scotland's Big Debate programme came to Lochgelly (which is within the constituency). Five of the seven candidates took part in a live debate which was broadcast across Scotland, presented by one of Dundee United's most famous fans, Brian Taylor.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to make three separate contributions to the programme. Firstly, I asked the candidates what they would pledge to do to improve Cowdenbeath town centres (and other centres within the constituency). As expected, the candidates gave various responses and I made a verbal appreciation to some of the candidates' ideas suggested in my second contribution. But for the purposes of this blog, I will have the ability and time to briefly summarise what the candidates said.

Scottish Labour's candidate, Councillor Alex Rowley, focused on tackling youth unemployment and how, as current leader of Fife Council, he has tried to tackle the issue since his party were re-elected as the administration for the Kingdom.

Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate, Jade Holden, stated that she believed the National Insurance cut was helping employers and mentioned a visit she made to a particular nationally known business where she said they were employing more people as a result of the policy.

Scottish Conservative candidate, Councillor Dave Dempsey, spoke about how the growth of the internet could not be inhibited and stated that Fife had to attract headquarters (I assume for major companies).

Scottish National Party candidate, Natalie McGarry, said one of the first things she would do if elected was to vote in favour of increasing the Small Business Bonus Scheme in the forthcoming Scottish budget and defended the current Holyrood government's record.

United Kingdom Independence Party candidate, Denise Baykal, was sceptical of how the current training and education programmes were being run and suggested that grammar schools were the idea place for vocational education.

But the highlight of the programme came towards the end of the programme. UKIP's Denise Baykal's scepticism of Holyrood became more and more notable as the debate continued on, leading me to spontaneously put a question to her about what she would replace Holyrood with. Her response was unequivocal: "UKIP", she emphasised.

After a hysterical reaction erupted across the room, Brian Taylor himself asked Denise what she would actually do with the Scottish Parliament and she suggested that local democracy should take it's place and the Scottish Parliament should not be making the decisions (but she did say she wouldn't abolish it).

Also, for the purpose of neutrality, the other two candidates standing in the election this Thursday are James Trolland of the Scottish Democratic Alliance and Stuart Graham of The Victims Final Right Party. The Scottish Democratic Alliance support Scottish independence and they are seen as an alternative to the Scottish National Party (especially on issues such as membership of the European Union). The Victims Final Right Party was set up by Stuart and Margaret Graham and focuses on human rights.

It has been a short, yet sharp campaign period in the run up to the vote later on this week. Realistically, I am expecting a battle for the top spot between Scottish Labour and the Scottish National Party. I have gained the impression that this is a strong Labour voting constituency and I do not see this changing for the vote. I predict that well known Fife Council leader, Councillor Alex Rowley, will become Cowdenbeath's next MSP and clinch an important victory for Scottish Labour. However, complacency should not be on the menu for him nor his party and nobody can ever dispute the fact that Natalie McGarry is a highly active campaigner who will undoubtebly provide a strong challenge to Labour.

Meanwhile, there are just three days left to listen again to last week's BBC Radio Scotland debate. You can listen to the whole programme again or listen to my contributions at 22:40, 30:10 and 53:36.