"HE'S spineless," says the SNP's Toni Giugliano of his Liberal Democrat nemesis Alex Cole-Hamilton. "He'll do and say anything to get elected."
Welcome to Edinburgh Western, home of the fiercest and most combative election fight in Scotland.
The SNP took the diverse constituency, which takes in Edinburgh Airport, affluent villages, prestigious businesses and deprived Muirhouse, in its landslide of 2011. But LibDem strategists insist they can win back their former stronghold, and have allocated resources accordingly. "We're targeting it heavily and causing the SNP real problems," says one senior party source. "It's bad tempered, but that's because Toni's under pressure - it's really tight."
Read more: Six things the polls are indicating ahead of Holyrood election
LibDems point to an increase in votes for the party in the corresponding constituency at the general election, when the SNP candidate, a certain Michelle Thomson, did just enough take the Westminster seat.
They have focused relentlessly on the Thomson saga, with the MP forced to stand down from the SNP amid a police investigation into property dealings that looked, at best, morally dubious. The tactic has enraged Giugliano, who works for a mental health charity and is a former caseworker for the respected ex-MSP, Dr Ian McKee.
"His leaflets are all about the SNP and people who aren't standing," Giugliano fumes. "There's no positive message. I'm the candidate on the ballot paper, I'm asking people to make a judgement on me. All they want to talk about is a different candidate, in a different parliament, in a different election. Their spin is that people don't have an MP, which is just wrong."
He accused Cole-Hamilton, who also tops the LibDem list in the Lothians, of being "two-faced" over the SNP's controversial named person legislation, saying he had loudly backed it in his role with a children's charity before voicing concerns at recent hustings.
Read more: Five constituencies to keep an eye on in the Holyrood election
"It's an absolute nonsense," Giugliano, who defeated incumbent MSP Colin Keir in an internal SNP selection fight to become the candidate, adds. "He's pleasant when we see each other, but he's running an incredibly negative and divisive campaign."
Giugliano, who remains the strong bookmakers' favourite with Cole-Hamilton priced at 5/1 and Labour and Tories candidates rank outsiders, insists he would rather focus on his pledge to become a mental health champion at Holyrood, saying he, like his mentor McKee, would not shy away from holding the executive to account regardless of party affiliation.
But the LibDems are unapologetic. They insist Cole-Hamilton has offered positive messages but that it is legitimate to point out that an SNP candidate, standing than 12 months ago, became embroiled in a scandal that remains unresolved and led to the area being represented by a politician with her credibility and influence in tatters.
Cole-Hamilton says he has knocked on 25,000 doors since last May, and dismisses Giugliano's claim that Thomson is a non-issue on the doorstep. In turn, he says that the SNP been "playing politics" over recent closures of PFI schools in the capital, attempting to blame the LibDems for faulty contracts in an attack that he claims lacks credibility.
He says that he has "no meaningful contact" with Giugliano, claiming the SNP candidate had long-since blocked him on Twitter, despite the rivals' campaign offices being just a few doors apart in Corstorphine.
Read more: Battle for second Holyrood vote of Scottish independence supporters
"If you deign to criticise the SNP you're pounced upon by nationalists, they just don't like it," Cole-Hamilton, who is set to welcome Tim Farron to the constituency and believes a victory could prove a national springboard for a wider LibDem recovery, says. "But it's incumbent upon me to point out that this area has been very badly served by the SNP in terms of both MPs and MSPs. People deserve better and I would see my role primarily as a servant to the community and delivering on what matters to them.
"They're desperate for me to stop talking about Michelle Thomson, but last year the SNP asked people in Edinburgh West to vote for someone they hadn't heard of and look what happened."
2011 result
Colin Keir, SNP, 11,965
Margaret Smith, Liberal Democrat, 9,276
Lesley Hinds, Labour, 7,164
Gordon Lindhurst, Conservative, 5,047
2016 candidates
Sandy Batho, Conservative
Alex Cole-Hamilton, Liberal Democrats
Toni Giugliano, SNP
Cat Headley, Labour
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel