Leah Francetti Is Labour Candidate For Caithness, Sutherland and Ross

20th March 2016

Leah Franchetti has been selected by Caithness, Sutherland Ross Labour to contest the upcoming Scottish elections.

Ms Franchetti was selected by an overwhelming majority at a members meeting of the local Labour Party in Brora.

Raised in Sutherland, Ms Franchetti grew on a small croft in Helmsdale and attended Golspie High School. A former primary school teacher, she currently works for the Educational Institute of Scotland as an Area Officer

Speaking after her selection, Ms Franchetti said:I am delighted to have been chosen to fight for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross in the upcoming election and I look forward to discussing my plans for the area with local people.

For the past five years, this SNP Government have shown time and time again that they do not understand our area. We have seen armed police on our streets,  our NHS having to centralise services in Inverness as it faces real financial and staffing problems and a lack of investment in our transport network  The SNP has spent the past five years obsessing over constitutional change, instead of obsessing over how they can change local peoples lives for better.

"As a trained primary school teacher, I know that the best way to improve local people's' lives is by improving education.  We need to fully support our young people and their teachers.  We need to focus on improving our education system so that our area can compete in a modern economy. This means not just improving education in the classroom but also in terms of apprenticeships. The better the education someone has, the better the chance they have of improving their lives."

"I will campaign to put our local communities back at the heart of our public services as the best decisions for our area can be made by people who know it. I will campaign to improve our roads and trains and I will campaign to tackle fuel poverty once and for all. No one should be cold in their own home."

Scottish Labour is changing and I hope the people of Caithness, Sutherland and Ross will give me and our party a fresh look.

Commenting on Ms Franchettis selection, East Sutherland Councillor Deirdre Mackay said:I am absolutely delighted that Leah has been selected for the upcoming election.  She is passionate about bringing real change to our local communities.
She knows our area and she knows what action is needed to help local people.  She will make a great advocate for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross in Holyrood and she will fight to improve our  education system, our local transport and our NHS. I look forward to campaigning with her in the months ahead.

Leah grew up in Sutherland, attending Helmsdale Primary and Golspie High School. She is a trained primary school teacher and currently works for the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) as an Area Officer. She is married with two sons.

Other candidates include Gail Ross for Scottish National Party and Jamie Stone for Liberal Democrats. Struan Mackie is the conservative candidate.

Labour list candidates are -
1. Rhoda Grant
2. David Stewart
3. Leah Franchetti
4. Sean Morton
5. Sarah Atkin
6. John Erskine
7. Robina Barton
8. Gerry McGarvey