Friday April 24th 2026
(left to right) Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party candidate Phil Doggart, Scottish Labour and Cooperative Party candidate Caitlin Stott, SNP candidate Colin Beattie, Scottish Liberal Democrats candidate Jenny Claire Marr Butler, Scottish Green's regional list candidate Jo Philips, Reform UL candidate Pal Chidambaram and hustings chair and moderator Malcolm McGregor KC
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
All candidates displayed compelling arguments at Wednesday night’s Midlothian North election hustings, hosted by Midlothian View.
With three questions at the core of the debate, representatives from Midlothian North displayed strong arguments and clearly portrayed their party’s manifesto and personnel plans for the new constituency following the boundary changes this year.
The panel consisted of SNP candidate Colin Beattie, Scottish Liberal Democrats candidate Jenny Claire Marr Butler, Reform UK candidate Pal Chidambaram, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party candidate Phil Doggart, Scottish Labour and Cooperative Party candidate Caitlin Stott and Scottish Green’s regional list candidate Jo Philips.
Talking to around 100 people at Dalkeith King’s Park Church, the 5 candidates answered questions pre-submitted by Midlothian View readers with chair and moderator Malcolm McGregor KC controlling the debate.
Prior to the questions beginning, each candidate had around one minute to briefly explain who they were.
Beginning with a question surrounding Scotland’s health care; What will the candidate sort within health care? Colin Beattie answered first with the mention of walk-in GP’s that are slowly beginning to roll-out, calling the walk-in service ‘not a permanent solution’ and backing calls for an end to ‘lottery’ 8am calls for appointments.
Phil Doggart also mentions the 8am rush in his answer that Beattie labelled ‘archaic’, explaining that the Scottish Conservatives aim to increase the share of funding for GP’s within the health budget to 12%, highlighting that this plan is over the course of the parliament as ‘you do not change things overnight’, explaining that increase in this budget would allow for more people to access appointments easier.
Jo Philips of the Green party explains the importance of GP’s, describing them as the ‘frontline of the NHS’, explaining the importance of keeping GP’s strong as they ‘prevent more serious illnesses from developing’, which she explained as what the Scottish Green’s intend to do. She also highlighted the Scottish Green’s plans to have a GP per 1000 people.
Reform UK’s candidate Pal Chidambrama got straight to the point saying that the NHS has a real problem with funding, explaining that the ‘country has no incentive’ and talks of a drop of productivity within the NHS following the Covid outbreak, blaming the pandemic for slowing down waiting times. Despite his strong opinion on the state of the NHS, the candidate didn’t explain what himself and his party will do to improve this drop in productivity.
SNP candidate Colin Beattie made the call for GP’s to be brought under NHS control, after explaining that millions of pounds is given to the services without accountability.
The politician who has represented Midlothian North and Musselburgh for 15 years said that these GP issues stretch all the way back to the NHS’ launch in 1948 when family doctors were granted independent contractor status, blaming current issues on a decision from nearly 80 years ago.
Scottish Labour’s Caitlin Stott focused her answer on the NHS GP app in England, explaining the digital systems benefits and calling for Scotland to have a similar policy which is disputed by a member of the audience who explains that the app was introduced in 2019 by a Conservative government.
Scottish Lib Dem candidate Jenny Butler used her personal experience with diabetes as the centre of her argument, explaining that she personally deals with issues in Scotland’s health care and GP system while receiving her medication. Explaining that she understands the issues and aims to fight them, coming across as very relatable.
An audience question asked the candidates if they would be willing to take on the doctors unions to increase the number of doctors qualifying via university.
Colin Beattie then raised an interesting point that tied in with the issue of lack of GP’s, that a small number of graduating medical students don’t want to move on to work in a general practice, instead wanting to work within the hospitals, using Aberdeen Medical School as an example.
This was followed by Cailtin Stott explaining Labour’s ‘train here stay here policy’, which she explained as “if you are lucky enough to be smart enough to train as GP, you need to make sure you stay in Scotland to carry out those services”. This proposal was announced by Scottish Labour leader Anas Anwar in February this year, aiming to tackle staffing shortages within the NHS.
The next question asked by the moderator highlighted issues in education; The SNP asked to be judged on Education, with Scottish education results slipping down the international tables, the judgement has to be a “Fail”. What is needed to turn Scottish Education around?
Mainly directed at Colin Beattie, the SNP candidate disagreed with the question which gained a reaction from the audience. The candidate explained that people travel to Scotland to see and learn from the education system, highlighting that school absences are an issue in the western world, not just Scotland.
Caitlin Stott raised the issue of school absence, hinting that the SNP Government aren’t doing enough to guarantee children are in education. She also talked about the mobile phone ban which she has strongly supported in her campaign.
Stott has previously raised the issue that mobile phones aren’t welcome in classrooms, explaining that “we need the council to give a clear statement of intent that the classrooms they are responsible for places where children learn and grow safely, without social media, bullying and online pressure following them through the door”.
The Midlothian Council did introduce new guidelines for mobile phone usage in 2025 and continue to discuss new restrictions but the Labour candidate has previously explained that ‘giving schools the option to ban phones is a start but not enough’.
Using the phone ban as an explanation Stott talked about her children and how it is heartbreaking that they aren’t experiencing the same level and experience within education as she did, blaming the SNP Government for failures within the system.
Jenny Butler shared the same opinion that the SNP’s have ‘let kids down’ during their time in parliament. She explained that she fears most of her answers surrounding education will be ‘put more money in’ but that is simply ‘what needs to happen’, going on to raise the issue of the lack of ASN.
Colin Beattie raised issues in the lack of ASN support after an audience question highlighting the potential need for separate schools for children with additional learning requirements.
Understanding that there is an issue, Phil Doggart agreed with Colin Beattie’s opinion, stating that ‘teachers are not social workers, they are teachers’, highlighting that more separate learning campuses and schools are required for ASN pupils.
The Reform UK candidate explained that he was unable to answer the questions as he was not educated in the UK.
This discussion led to an audience question asking what their definition of what a positive destination is for school leavers following finishing secondary school, asking if zero hour contracts and voluntary work is positive which the SNP Government’s definition states.
Scottish Green’s list candidate Jo Philips focused on mental health issues, autism and ADHD, explaining that within her party’s manifesto they have policies for investment in further support. She also explained that looking at the bigger picture, one in five people in Scotland are living in poverty, which she highlighted as an issue that can affect children’s quality of education, adding that “we have to look at the root of the problem”.
Jenny Butler labelled the positive destination question as a ‘two-pronged question’, explaining that “there is a definition but there is also what we want young people to achieve”.
Phil Doggart targeted one of his audience responses at Labour, explaining that to ensure conditions are strong “you don’t increase national insurance contributions on employers”, which he explained as a tax on jobs, and “you don’t increase business rates”, which he highlighted as Labour policies.
The next question surrounded a lack of public transport in Midlothian, which has been a heated topic in the past months due to Lothian Buses withdrawing services within the county.
Cailtin Stott’s campaign in the past weeks heavily focused on the withdrawal of bus services, hosting a public meeting in March which saw around 150 Midlothian residents in attendance. Following the meeting, Caitlin Stott submitted a Freedom of Information request to Lothian Buses seeking full details of the reasons behind the service changes, including any consultation carried out with residents or local authorities. She has also written to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport raising concerns about the impact on growing communities in Midlothian.
The Labour candidate criticised Colin Beattie for the action he took in fighting the bus service losses, explaining that ‘she has done more in a few months of campaigning than he has done in years of being the area’s MSP’.
This comes after Beattie explained to the audience the action he took, which consisted of writing letters to all parties involved in the decision; Midlothian council, Edinburgh Council, Lothian Buses and Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop.
Phil Doggart explained the ownership behind Lothian Busses (around 91% ownership by Edinburgh Council, Midlothian Council 5% and the remaining East Lothian and West Lothian Councils sharing the remains), explaining that public bodies should be in control by the people who fund them.
Colin Beattie added that if he is reelected he will continue to fight against the bus service changes, explaining that, “Edinburgh council stuffed the trams into the profitable Lothian Buses and now have to take a lose for the trams”, slightly blaming this decision for the service losses in Midlothian.
The hustings ended with a question asking where the money is coming from to fund all of this, rounding off the previous questions aimed at the candidates. This led to Jo Philips highlighting that the ‘trickle effect’ of big businesses providing money down the chain is not working, explaining that council tax is not fair and it affects the poorest.
Lib Dem’s Jenny Butler agreed with this statement, saying that “council tax needs a complete reform”.
Colin Beattie used this opportunity to criticise Labour’s NHS plans, explaining that if the plans go ahead the NHS will lose £1 billion. This is argued by Caitlin Stott who highlighted that Institute of Fiscal Studies research said that Scottish Labour had ‘the most realistic manifesto’.
Overall, all candidates strongly shared their plans, painting a clear picture of what they intend to do if elected. With no clear winner on the night, there seemed to be even support throughout the crowd for all candidates.
Watch a video of the hustings below.
Apologies, but due to a sound issue at the start of the hustings most of the candidate introductions were not recorded.
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