Introducing GISELE SKINNER, resident of Stranraer and the Rhins determined to restore our local area to the great economic hub it once was bringing employment and services that the area is crying out for. I belong to the Scottish Heritage Party who from the outset of the pandemic rejected all notion of shutting down the economy and in effect enforcing through fear risky medical interventions that are now being proven to have caused injury and even death.
As your elected representative I will be a champion for the people of this area from the young mum looking to have her baby in a local hospital rather than giving birth in an ambulance on the way to Dumfries to the Pensioner struggling to heat the house on the State Pension alone. As a 71 year old State Pension only Pensioner, I know what it is like to try and balance the books and on council and in government I will ask passionately how a State Pensioner in Iceland receives equivalent to £2,997, and in Norway £2,447 whilst in Scotland only £921 monthly, indeed around Stranraer I know of pensioners receiving far less than that, my State Pension income being £782. By giving a living pension, pensioners will spend more with local businesses, for example hospitality, so giving pensioners a pittance costs society as a whole! I am determined to put this right!
I realise Iceland and Norway have invested more passionately with infrastructure, which Stranraer and the Rhins desperately need. Our road and rail services have sadly become outdated through neglect from a far off council and government offices of unelected officials, so I will fight for our area to become an vibrant area again using our oil and natural gas resources rejecting the nonsense of un-environmentally wind turbines, the nonsense of enforced lockdowns with risky medical interventions bringing back to our area common sense initiatives that go beyond constant feasibility studies to positive action.
I will look to work with fellow councillors and government officials to reach these objectives looking to bring healing rather than divisions in society. We need to stand together in an uncertain world, my family having experienced losing all we had with the Northern Ireland troubles and it is my heart for Stranraer and the Rhins to have a community that stands together in bringing about not only the economic wealth but also the society stability and care for each other a successful nation always has at its heart.
I look forward to serving you who have elected me for many years to come.
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Questions from the Free Press
How would you improve the roads infrastructure and public transport links in and out of Wigtownshire?
It is time for a radical change in Wigtownshire, Norway having used its oil & gas revenues taking the choice to prosper rural communities rather than burden them with unrecyclable wind turbines that harm farmlands and sea beds.
Better road and rail links will have a positive impact on the environment, our area needing the tourist trade that would include setting up of heritage railways that have been a major boost in North Wales and indeed the Highlands in Scotland.
This is the difference between us and other parties for we recognize there is a strong link between having excellent transport links and the prosperity of a region like Wigtownshire. As your Councillor I will demand change giving us the infrastructure we need for our businesses, farmers, fisherfolk, general population and hard hit pensioners who deserve to be able to make ends meet!
Upgrading the A75 and A77 entails a dual carriageway which would include bypasses for towns and villages and improving junctions with motorway style slip roads for safety, not having these costing lives with the A9 in the Highlands.
In effect I will be encouraging a great “D” road (other way round “D”) from the M6/M74 serving community after community along its way particularly to Cairnryan, our great ferry port. One can guarantee light industry and warehouses providing jobs would be set up along its way providing easy access to the UK mainland and Northern Ireland.
In addition there would be a need to improve rail infrastructure. This would help create a more efficient and safer corridor for transport. These upgrades are desperately needed and would help reduce congestion. As your Councillor I will push for a restoration of the “Paddy Train” which would be a huge boost for Stranraer giving our town a direct link to London with an additional station at Cairnryan. As a progressive Councillor I will look to have a transport link to the Isle of Man from Stranraer itself with vessels not requiring the dredging larger ferries needed. After all, restoration of heritage is the mark of the Scottish Heritage Party and there used to be a direct link to the Isle of Man decades ago!
The old Stena Line property at Stranraer can be used to bring the station nearer to the town as well as housing a 24/7 fuel, cafe, showers and a place of safety for truckers and tourists alike to wait for ferry travel. Stranraer needs a new lease of life, the old parties leaving it to decay. Stranraer needs a Councillor that addresses this decay making our town vibrant once more as it used to be.
The look of the town today surrounded by potholed roads, some particularly going North on the A77 subject to landslide delay, shows that voting for other parties is voting for more of the same. I will not be your usual Councillor but rather be looking to bring everyone together so that Stranraer and the Rhins will become accessible for all to enjoy our magnificent area.