Scottish Conservatives confirm European election candidate list

Scotland’s Conservative MEP Baroness Nosheena Mobarik will seek re-election to the European Parliament next month as she tops the party’s list of candidates.

Mobarik took her seat after Ian Duncan resigned to take a peerage and ministerial position in the Scotland Office in 2017.

The election is due to be held on 23 May, although Prime Minister Theresa May insists she will be able to force through a Brexit deal before then.

The Conservatives currently have one MEP in Scotland, although polls suggest the party has been damaged by a lack of progress in leaving the EU and may struggle to retain the seat.

Second in the six-person list is Leither Iain McGill, a Brexiteer thought to be a close ally of leader Ruth Davidson. McGill has stood as a candidate 12 times in various elections, but told the Edinburgh Evening News he hoped the election does not need to happen.

“I’m hoping an agreement can be reached on us leaving the European Union and this election will just be an academic exercise,” he said.

“Some 17.4 million voters instructed us to leave the EU and we need to make that happen.”

Shona Haslam in third is a councillor in the Borders.

The full list of Scottish Conservative candidates is as follows: Baroness Nosheena Mobarik, Iain McGill, Shona Haslam, Iain Whyte, Andrea Gee and Michael Kusznir.