Alex Cole-Hamilton - a strong voice for Edinburgh North & Leith in the Scottish Parliament

Alex Cole-Hamilton is the Scottish Parliament candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Edinburgh North & Leith

Alex Cole-Hamilton as is the Liberal Democrat candidate for Edinburgh North and Leith in the next Scottish Parliamentary elections due to be held in 2011. Selected some 3 years before the election Alex has been working along side Westminster candidate Kevin Lang to unseat Labour in this highly marginal seat which the Party regards as its 2nd most winnable (currently unheld) seat in Scotland.

A family fan who is local to Leith

Alex (31) is Married to Gillian who is a primary school teacher, they live in Leith with their baby son Finlay who attends a local Nursery. After growing up in the coastal village of Boarhills outside St Andrews in Fife where he attended Madras College he studied politics at Aberdeen University. On graduating, Alex was elected president of Aberdeen University Students' Representative Council from 1999-2000 where he had an active role in the negotiations which ultimately brought about the end of tuition fees in Scotland. Alex moved to the Leith area in 2000 to take up a position working in the Scottish Parliament. He moved into the voluntary sector in 2003 and has worked there ever since. Alex now works as the Head of Policy for a national children's charity.

No Stranger to Politics, Alex was the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath in May '05, where he doubled the Lib Dem vote against Gordon Brown.

He headed up the Lib Dem List of candidates for the Mid Scotland and Fife region in the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary elections and narrowly missed out on a seat in the Parliament following a spectacular gain for the Lib Dems in Dunfermline West which reduced the regional share of the vote.

Liberal Democrats heading for victory

Speaking about the campaign ahead Alex said: "I am immensely proud to have received the Lib Dem nomination for Edinburgh North and Leith at the next Scottish Parliamentary elections. The fact that I was selected some three years before the next election is a measure of just how significant we regard the opportunity for victory here. Everybody knows that in Edinburgh North and Leith, voters have a straight choice between Labour and the Lib Dems, the Tories are in meltdown locally and on their best ever night in May 2007 the SNP slipped to a dismal 3rd place.

"I now intend to work side by side with my colleague and good friend Kevin Lang to first ensure victory for him at Westminster whenever that election is called and then to push on to victory at Holyrood. Voters are sick and tired of the spin and gimmicks of a Labour Party that has run out of ideas and has taken voters for granted for far too long. As Edinburgh North and Leith is a two way marginal, local residents are beginning to pay particular attention to what the Lib Dems have to offer on reducing the cost of living, maximising opportunities for children and young people and tackling crime. This is clearly striking a chord with local people."