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A Christian Voice in Holyrood

The Scottish Christian Party believes the country needs a distinctly Christian Voice in the Scottish Parliament and, by God’s grace, it is possible to do so.

How is it Possible? Click here.


 

 

 


 

The Scottish Christian Party believes the country needs a distinctly Christian Voice in the Scottish Parliament. By God’s grace, it is possible to do so.

We are thankful that there are Christian MSPs in the mainline parties, but they are not always able to articulate Christianity clearly because their party managers don’t want them speaking in a “religious manner”. Even our Prime Minister was prevented by his advisers from ending his address to the nation, at the start of hostilities in Iraq, with the words: “God bless you.” On a later occasion, Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister’s director of strategy and communications at the time, interrupted an interview with Tony Blair to say: “We do not do God”, in order to prevent the Prime Minister from answering a question about his Christianity. We hope to be a distinctly Christian Voice in the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, Edinburgh.


Is it possible?
The new Scottish Parliament in 1999 wanted to engage the Scottish electorate. The “first-past-the-post” voting system would have resulted in no Conservative MSPs elected to the Parliament. So the voting system for the Scottish Parliament included a second form of voting, based upon a type of proportional representation. So each voter had two votes.

The first vote was for a Constituency MSP, just like the system for the General Election to the Westminster Parliament.

The second vote was to elect a list of seven MSPs to represent not a constituency but a Region of Scotland. A Region consists of many constituencies. There are eight Regions in Scotland and one of them is the Highlands and Islands Region. This H&I Region has eight constituencies. So the H&I Region has eight first-past-the-post MSPs and seven List or Regional MSPs in Holyrood. These seven List or Regional MSPs are selected by the proportion of the vote for a Party across the whole Region – across all eight constituencies taken together.
In order to engage the electorate and to make the Parliament more representative, the voting system for the Regions has been arranged to favour smaller parties. This makes it possible for the Highlands and Islands to have a distinctly Christian Voice in Holyrood by electing a Scottish Christian Party MSP. This is explained here. It explains how wasted votes in the Regional List could have been cast for a Christian Party to great effect.

 

Change in layout of the Ballot Paper in 2007

Please note that the Electoral Commission has recently decided to have both votes on one ballot paper in the 2007 election. It has turned round the layout of these two votes. Please note that in the 2007 election, there will be one ballot paper which has turned round the layout of these two votes. The first vote on the left hand side of the ballot paper will be the Regional Vote, and the second vote on the right hand side will be for the constituency candidate. In the Highlands and Islands Region we suggest to Christians that they vote for their usual party on the right hand side, but that they give their FIRST (Regional or List Vote) to the Scottish Christian Party on the left hand side of the ballot paper.

 

Small Parties in Holyrood

The result of this system can be illustrated by the Green Party. In the first Scottish election in 1999, the Green Party elected its first MSP, Robin Harper. Four years later in 2003, having made this breakthrough, seven Green MSPs were elected. The Greens have promoted many green initiatives. There were also six Scottish Socialist MSPs elected. Across the whole of Scotland the Greens got 132,138 votes, and the Scottish Socialists 128,026 votes. Yet there are more Christians in Scotland than these numbers combined. There are 600,000 Church of Scotland members, and there are a large number of other Churches. However we do not have a distinctly Christian voice in Holyrood – not yet. With your help, and by God’s grace, we may have it.

 

The balance of power

The smaller parties may hold the balance of power in May 2007, and their vote will be important. The major parties will need every vote to count, and they may not want to waste a vote by one of their own party being Presiding Officer. So Robin Harper has been tipped as a possible Presiding Officer. However, Robin Harper is also a prominent supporter of homosexual issues. He is a patron of LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] Youth Scotland. Do Christians want this?

 

Download the full article A Christian Voice in Holyrood in PDF Format

 

What is the point in having a Christian Voice in Holyrood?

The rise of the Green vote in the Scottish Parliament, from one MSP in 1999 to seven MSPs at present, has contributed to the other parties turning green. Similarly, we believe that a rise in the Christian Voice will have an effect on the other parties. Party managers in these other parties, keen to win back “the Christian vote”, will allow Christians in their own parties to speak more openly about Christian values. At present, the Labour Cabinet seems to think that there is more humanism in the country than Christianity, so it ignores even the powerful Roman Catholic vote over the gay adoption issue.

The Scottish Christian Party will work with Christians in other Parties. We will talk with other Parties, but we will oppose them when they oppose Christian values. Thus we do not attack the Green agenda, but we attack the Party for supporting homosexual practices. At the same time, the Scottish Christian Party will oppose discrimination against homosexuals as we are to love our neighbour as ourselves.

All Christians in Scotland will be able to use this Christian Voice in the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Christian Party MSPs will articulate and promote Christian issues.

 

Highland Candidates

The Scottish Christian Party candidate at the top of the Highlands and Islands Regional list is Murdo Murray, a former Technical Director of Western Isles Council.

 

The full list of our Regional Candidates is:-

1. Murdo Murray (Western Isles)

2. Sandy Shaw (Nairn)

3. Tom Forrest (Wester Ross)

4. Les Turner (Inverness)

5. Jessie Cormack (Caithness)

6. Angus Ross (Orkney)

7. Andrew Shearer (Shetland)

8. Susan Wallace (Fort William)

9. Tony Bond (Lochinver)

10. Barrie Cormack (Caithness)

11. David Forbes (Farr)

12. Donald John Morrison (Inverness)

 

A small Window of Opportunity which may close

However, there are plans to change the voting system which will make it more difficult for smaller parties such as the Scottish Christian Party to gain representation in the Scottish Parliament. Therefore we ask Christians to support the Scottish Christian Party to use this opportunity at least on this occasion. "For such a time as this." Your support after 4th May 2007 will be very welcome, but it may come too late if the window of opportunity is closed after the Election on the previous day.

Please give this your prayerful consideration, and vote for the Scottish Christian Party on 3rd May 2007.

 

 

God bless you.