"We're on our way back across the North-East": Liberal Democrats' Ian Yuill for Aberdeen South

Last time Ian Yuill was fighting an election campaign, it was under very different circumstances. Tony Blair's Labour Party was to achieve its second landslide victory and the Conservative party won 166 seats; it was, however, not a terrible election for the Liberal Democrats, who gained six seats, more than any other party that year. Ian Yuill didn't celebrate a victory in Aberdeen South that night, but now 18 years later he's back to do it all again.

Cllr. Ian Yuill

Mr Yuill, currently a councillor in Aberdeen, is not one to call election results, but seems confident of one thing that will happen on Thursday.

"I’m not going to predict what’s going to happen on Thursday, I think there will be some close results. It’s a very important election - it’s about the future of our country, both Scotland and the UK and I am confident the Liberal Democrats will go up and that there will be more Liberal Democrat MP’s elected to parliament" he says.

Asked what it's like to fight as an underdog in this election where debate in the North-East surrounds the SNP and Conservative party, the candidate recalls a time in the not to distant past when the Lib Dems held MP's in this area: "The Liberal Democrats held Gordon up until 2015 and west Aberdeenshire until 2015 so in fairly recent times there have been Liberal Democrat MP’s in the North-East but I’m not going to predict what’s going to happen.

"We’re on our way back across the North-East", he says confidently.

Despite the last pre-election poll showing the Liberal Democrats coming joint third with Labour in Aberdeen South with 11%, finding a number of voters on doorsteps who have moved their support from both sides has been a source of hope for tomorrow's poll.

"We’re finding people who voted Conservative are switching to us but also people who in the last election voted SNP are switching to us as well which is very encouraging" he says.

Hammering home their 'Stop Brexit' message in this last day of campaigning, Mr. Yuill says that people across the North-East are well aware of the effects Brexit could have, particularly on this area of the country: "A study done by the Centre for Cities in 2017 showed Aberdeen would be the worst hit – not one of but the worst hit city in the UK by Brexit whether that was hard or soft.

"People are certainly aware of that and the impact it will have on Aberdeen’s economy and have on jobs and families across the city and beyond".

The full list of candidates for Aberdeen South are as follows:

Stephen Flynn - Scottish National Party

Douglas Lumsden - Conservatives

Shona Simpson - Labour

Ian Yuill - Liberal Democrats