Holyrood elections 2021: Here are the candidates and the issues in East Lothian

The battle for East Lothian is set to be one of the most closely-fought contests in the election.

Former Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray is standing down after 14 years as the MSP and the SNP has made it a target seat.

Labour has held the seat since the first Scottish Parliament election in 1999, but Mr Gray's majority fell to just 151 in 2011 and was 1,127 last time.

Taking over the Labour mantle is primary teacher Martin Whitfield who represented East Lothian at Westminster from 2017 until 2019.

East Lothian constituency map. Picture: Allan Faulds/Ballot Box Scotland

He thinks the result could come down to a handful of votes.

“It will be extremely close,” he says. “It's a two-horse race between the Nationalists and Scottish Labour and it's going to be hard – it's going to be a fight for every vote.

“But if you want someone who's going to keep us in the Union and be a strong voice for East Lothian, it has to be me. I have to speak that to people who might not naturally want to vote Labour, but if they don't we will have a SNP MSP.”

Mr Whitfield claims the decision of Kenny MacAskill, who replaced him as East Lothian MP in 2019, to switch from the SNP to Alex Salmond’s new Alba party has angered local people.

Martin Whitfield - Labour

He says: “Kenny is only in it for independence – and independence on his terms, even if that means changing parties and betraying all those people who knocked on doors on dreich December nights to get him elected.”

Mr Whitfield, who used to teach at Prestonpans Primary and is now at Dirleton Primary, says Covid recovery must be the prime concern for the new parliament, with education and support for young people high on the agenda.

“They have been through an experience no-one has had as a child since the war,” he says.

The SNP candidate is Paul McLennan, a councillor for 14 years and a former council leader. He says he is "cautiously optimistic" he can win.