EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY Students’ Association (EUSA) has succeeded in bolstering support among Edinburgh-area MSP candidates for National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland’s Reclaim Your Voice campaign.

 Various candidates standing in Edinburgh Central, a constituency which includes many student residents, have committed to the campaign’s aims, which include encouraging politicians to rule out tuition fees, protecting graduate numbers and college places and improving support for students.

Sarah Boyack, standing for Labour, Alex Cole-Hamilton of the Liberal Democrats and Marco Biagi, of the SNP have all announced their support for the campaign by signing pledges and posing for photos at various locations around George Square.

EUSA welcomed the candidates’ support of the campaign, which last month included a march from the Royal Mile to Holyrood, where a rally was held.

Thousands of students from the University of Edinburgh, Napier University and Heriot Watt University attended the march, which also included students from Telford College, Jewel and Esk College and several groups of schoolchildren.

Each of the candidates, when signing the pledge, was invited to scribble down the reason they were in support.
Boyack wrote “Scotland needs highly qualified graduates and jobs for the future.”

Cole-Hamilton asserted: “I have fought for free and equal access to education all of my life.”

And Biagi stated simply that “opportunity can’t have a price tag.”

EUSA president Liz Rawlings told the press, "The student vote will make a big difference to the result here in Edinburgh Central and it’s clear that the student voice is already beginning to be heard loud and clear.

“EUSA will be continuing to seek this commitment from all of the candidates for Edinburgh Central in the run up to these Scottish Parliament elections.

“In what could be a really close contest any party or candidate that does commit to students can expect to see the difference at the ballot box.”