Labour 's most famous power couple, Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, may have been reduced by 50 per cent at the general election, but the party now has another marital pair fighting the cause.
A husband and wife from Inverness have been selected as Labour candidates in neighbouring Highland constituencies in next year's Holyrood elections.
David Stewart, already an MSP, has been chosen to fight the Inverness & Nairn seat. His wife, Linda Stewart, Director of European and International Development with the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), meanwhile has been selected for Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch.
The two constituencies were twinned, ensuring at least one of the seats would be contested by a female candidate, as part of Labour's commitment to gender balance.
Local party members met in Inverness and overwhelmingly backed the husband and wife team, both having stood for the seat previously.
David Stewart was the MP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber between 1997 and 2005 when he was defeated by the new candidate for the Liberal Democrats, Danny Alexander. Mr Stewart then moved Holyrood becoming a regional list MSP for the Highlands and Islands in 2007. He was selected again for the Inverness and Nairn Constituency, which he last fought in 2011, moving Labour from third to second place locally. But he will face the SNP's Energy Minister Fergus Ewing in May.
Linda Stewart previously stood at the Scottish Parliament election 2007 for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber and again in 2011 for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch. The SNP will also have a new candidate with the party's sitting MSP Dave Thompson retiring and being replaced by Katie Forbes from Dingwall.
Mr Stewart said: “We know locally the Lib Dems let people down badly and many voters in the Highlands are now turning to Labour as a real alternative to Tory austerity and as a protest against the SNP centralisation agenda. “
Linda Stewart said: “We have to be realistic about the challenge ahead of us, but the shine is starting to come of the SNP, not only in the Highlands, but right across Scotland. Just as Kezia Dugdale has done, I ask voters in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch to take a fresh look at Scottish Labour. Those who do will see a real alternative, a Scottish Labour party committed to social justice and equality and one which stands in opposition to the centralisation and cuts agenda being put forward by the SNP in Edinburgh.”
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