A short postscript to my amusement about the leaflet from my constituency's Labour candidate that - at extraordinary length - went right round the houses of all the points on which he can be considered a thoroughly 'local' man, while unaccountably leaving out the central issue of where he actually lives. Today I received the SNP candidate's leaflet, in which there is a Q&A section that gives her the chance to straightforwardly 'ask' herself "Do you live in the constituency?", and to equally straightforwardly answer "Yes". No meal made out of it, just that. Advantage Nat on the 'local' front, I'd venture to suggest.
For the avoidance of doubt, I've never thought the local credentials of a candidate were the be-all-and-end-all, or anything close. But if Labour are foolish enough to deliberately define the battle in such trivial terms when they've got such a weak hand to play, they can hardly complain if it comes back to bite them.
I don't think it's the be-all-and-end-all James but it certainly makes me feel that a person with a good in-depth local knowledge of the area (particularly a bit one like Perthshire) would be far more effective immediately. Otherwise the electorate have to wait a few years for them to 'acclimatise'. Not good.
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