CHARLES Dundas, a former City of Edinburgh councillor and current Liberal Democrat candidate for the redrawn Edinburgh Central seat has described the positive response from people in the constituency to Lib Dem campaigners.
He says that people on the doorstep feel let down by both Labour and the SNP, and are pleased to see the Lib Dems offering an alternative.
Despite this, however, he did not express much confidence about winning Edinburgh Central outright, which is being contested by former Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater and SNP stalwart, Culture Secretary Angus Robertson.
Instead, Dundas, 47, is focusing much of his attention on Edinburgh Northern, which is a high-priority target seat for the Liberal Democrats.
Charles Dundas is a veteran of multiple election campaigns, and ran for the Edinburgh East and Musselburgh seat in 2024
He said: “I’m splitting my time between Edinburgh Northern and Edinburgh Central.
“Sometimes the doorsteps blend into one and I can’t remember which side of the boundary I’m on, but I get a good response no matter which constituency I’m in.
“No matter what election it is, people are genuinely pleased to hear from and engage with politicians.
“Some people, when you explain why you’re there on their doorstep, don’t want anything to do with it, but the vast majority want to get something off their chest and want to talk about what’s happening with the election.
“I think they’re pleased to see a Liberal Democrat. I’ve been doing this for years, and the last decade has not been especially strong for the Liberal Democrats, but I think we are on an upward trajectory now.”
He said the main feeling he encounters on the doorstep is disappointment and frustration with the established parties in Holyrood and Westminster.
“People are always keen to talk about the other parties and how much they dislike them,” he explained.
“People that voted in the General election in 2024 feel very let down by the Starmer government, and people who voted for the SNP over the last 20 years feel very similar.
“Alex [Cole-Hamilton] gives the party line that they feel they’ve run out of steam, but that’s not just propaganda, that’s not just spin, that is something you genuinely hear from people.
“After 20 years, it’s time for someone else to have a chance.”
Dundas is also third on this list for the Edinburgh and Lothians East region, meaning he has an outside chance of being elected through the proportional additional member system.
Dundas was a City Centre ward councillor in Edinburgh from 2007 until 2012. He says the Liberal Democrats track record of being an influential force on the council is providing a boost in Edinburgh.
He added: “The Liberal Democrat group on the council is incredibly strong and influential, and the influence they’ve been able to have on budget-setting has been very effective.
“My colleagues on the council have been able to focus on these bread-and-butter policies like potholes and street lighting.
“For me, the big issues in the city centre and city-wide that I’m particularly interested in are the tourist economy and the entertainment sector, and how we can balance that with making the city centre a place where people live.
“The fact that we have a lot of residential people right in the heart of the city is one of the things that makes Edinburgh so attractive – you can live in the city centre and not be disturbed too much.
“But there’s always a tension between the activities of a busy city centre and the tourist economy, and people that just want to live their lives.
“I don’t think they’re incompatible, but I think that’s something that we need to address.”
He says he wants to see Edinburgh’s funding shortfall, which makes it the lowest funded local authority in Scotland per head, addressed so additional funding levers, like the recently introduced visitor levy, can be used to directly benefit people and businesses affected by tourism in the city centre.
Dundas grew up in West Lothian and went to university in Glasgow, where he became involved in Liberal Democrat politics.
He is a veteran of election campaigns, having stood in almost every major election campaign for the Liberal Democrats since 2001, and has ambitions, should he fail to gain a seat this time around, to return to Edinburgh Council during next year’s local elections.
He worked in nature conservation for many years for both the Woodland Trust and the Borders Forest Trust, where he eventually served as Chief Executive, planting trees to bring areas back into ecological health.
He now works in corporate governance of the higher education sector. Despite the career change, he said “I’m still very much an environmentalist and conservationist”.
Scots will go to the polls on May 7 and will elect a new set of MSPs to the Scottish Parliament.
Dundas said his chances are slim, but he was still confident of leaving his mark on this election:
“I’m not especially confident about making a dent, because of just how competitive this race is.
“You’ve got, you’ve got two big beasts [Slater and Robertson] fighting it out. You’ve got Labour still pushing to possibly even come through the middle as those two split themselves off.
“I’m not getting big reform numbers on the doorsteps, but you look at what’s happening nationally, who knows what would happen?”
On a more hopeful note, he added: “Everywhere I go, I find people are warmer to the Liberal Democrats than they were five years ago, so I think we can increase what we’ve got, but I’m under no illusions that we’re going to sweep to victory.”
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