Category: Branch News

Bo’ness branch SNP has congratulated SNP candidate Michelle Thomson on her substantial win in Falkirk East constituency. 

Michelle won the highest number of votes recorded of any candidate in Falkirk East since the constituency was created in 1999. Michelle received the votes of 18,417 electors in Falkirk East in Thursdays election, with Labour candidate Allyson Black coming second with 10,832 votes. The previous record for any candidate was outgoing MSP Angus MacDonald’s win in 2016, which garnered the support of 16,720 voters across Falkirk East.

The party ran an extremely active campaign in Bo’ness, with a heavy initial focus on social media based campaigning, bolstered by a new website and engaging with many first time younger voters through Instagram and Snapchat, and later adding to this with more traditional methods of campaigning such as leafletting and canvassing, inline with COVID restrictions.

The ongoing COVID rules also meant a return to other classic methods of campaigning, with banners, window posters, car stickers and car loudspeaker systems being made use of across the town to promote the SNP’s message. 

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In the lead up to polling day, and on the day itself, an extensive get out the vote operation was organised by Bo’ness branch in order to ensure as many of its supporters as possible got out to vote. Further to this, the branch also organised polling agents to stand outside polling stations on the day itself, in order to greet voters and ensure that due scrutiny of the democratic process was carried out. 

Bo’ness SNP members that were at the count commented that the SNP support in boxes from Bo’ness polling stations was extremely high.

“We are delighted that Michelle Thomson has been elected as MSP for Falkirk East with an overwhelming backing of the people of Bo’ness.  Michelle ran a very positive and energetic campaign which looks to have captured the attention of the constituents of Falkirk East.  Michelle will be an asset at Holyrood and a strong voice for Falkirk East.  She was ably backed by the hardworking Bo’ness SNP campaign Team, led by our Branch Organiser, David Mitchell.I’d like to also put on record our thanks to outgoing MSP, Angus MacDonald, who served Falkirk East with distinction during his two terms at Holyrood.”

Bo’ness SNP Convener Alan Gilbert

The Bo’ness branch of the SNP has recently launched its campaign to promote registering to vote and registering for a postal vote amongst SNP and independence supporters ahead of the Scottish election on the 6th of May. The campaign has been endorsed by the SNP candidate for East Falkirk, Michelle Thomson.

The branch has stated that the most important reasons for registering for a postal vote is to keep yourself safe from COVID-19, and to make sure that your vote counts, as postal voters are more likely to cast their ballot than those who vote conventionally. If you forget to post your ballot back in time, you can hand it in to your normal polling station on polling day.

Further to this, when you register for a postal vote, you can opt for it to be recurring – so this helps to build strong SNP and Yes turnouts for the future as well. This is why it’s important to encourage your SNP supporting friends and family to register for a postal vote – particularly when you are not entirely sure they always vote!

You can register to vote by clicking this link, and find the form for applying for a postal vote here.

If you have issues printing the form, please get in touch with Bo’ness branch, and we will get one out to you. 

This campaign will be extremely digitally focussed and COVID compliant, with campaign videos, graphics and endorsements from notable people in the community going out on the local branches social media channels. To see these as they come out, you can like and follow Bo’ness SNP’s various social media channels, available here, with more information below.

Ahead of next years Scottish Election, Falkirk East SNP’s constituency association has undertaken designing a calendar with the intention to sell to raise funds. 

The calendar features 12 photos from across the constituency, which were submitted by local SNP members over the month of October – with many of the pages being sponsored, by councillors, SNP branches, individuals and businesses. See below :

These calendars are priced at £10 each, but are VERY LIMITED. Each branch (including Bo’ness) has an allocation of just 25. Almost 10 of Bo’ness’ allocation have already been purchased.

There are four branches within Falkirk East SNP – Bo’ness, Tryst, Braes and Grangemouth.

If you’d like to buy a calendar, or have any further inquiries, please message our social media pages, or email : BonessSNP@Gmail.com

The list of new SNP candidates to contest constituencies across Scotland in next May’s Scottish election was released on Friday. 

Following a selection process which saw SNP members across East Falkirk choosing from a list of four extremely capable candidates, former MP for Edinburgh West and spokesperson for ‘Business for Scotland’, Michelle Thomson was chosen by members. 

In a statement on Facebook, Michelle said

 Delighted to have been nominated as the SNP candidate for Falkirk East. Thank you to my fellow candidates (Laura Murtagh, Cecil Meicklejohn and Sue Friel) for such a great competition and to SNP Braes, Bo’ness SNP, Grangemouth SNP and SNP Tryst Branch for their contribution, to our other councillors (too numerous to tag) and our elected SNP parliamentarians for their support.  Now the real work starts – we need to ensure we return another Scottish National Party (SNP) MSP and we focus absolutely on the core principles : independence and the furtherance of all Scottish interests.”

Michelle Thomson

Next years Scottish election will take place on Thursday the 6th of May.

Bo’ness SNP would like to send our congratulations to Michelle, and commiserations to the other candidates and would like to wish them well for the future. We look forward to all that they will do for Scotland.

The full list of candidates can be found here : https://www.snp.org/the-snps-candidates-for-the-2021-scottish-parliament-election/