Behind the stunts there’s a serious message - Alex Cole-Hamilton

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey took a bungee jump during a visit to Eastbourne Borough Football Club in East Sussex while on the General Election campaign trail. Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

Like the rest of the UK, I have watched Ed Davey ride a rollercoaster, bungee jump and race around obstacle courses. As the leader of our Scottish party, I’ve dipped my toes in too. I drove a tractor to our manifesto launch, focused my aim on Lib Dem targets with some archery practice and grabbed a sheep by the horns. I’ve felt joy and foreboding in equal measure – I’m just praying my team don’t kick me out of a plane when it comes to the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary elections.

We're taking the issues people face seriously, but that doesn’t always mean politicians should always be serious. We love what we do. Serving our communities, getting out and listening to people, it’s why we get up in the morning. And I truly believe that at this election things are going to change in a deep and meaningful way.

Broken – it encapsulates how so many people feel about our country right now, whether it is the economy, the NHS, housing or education. Ministers have lost sight of what matters to you. You’re working harder but if feels like you’re falling further behind. Liberal Democrats know that things don’t have to be that way. It’s time for a change.

When you look across the spread of each party’s offer, it’s only the Scottish Liberal Democrats that have plans to fix the crisis in social care and save our NHS. By valuing the heavy lifting done by our nation’s carers, we will enable people to leave hospital and relieve pressure throughout the health service. For Ed Davey it is personal, having spoken movingly about his own experience as a carer, first as a teenager nursing his mum during her long battle against bone cancer and now as a father for his disabled son John.

We will address problems at both the front door and the back door of the NHS. That means getting everyone fast access to local health services, including GPs and dentists, so fewer people need to go to hospital in the first place. If we fix the NHS, we fix the economy too. There is an intrinsic link between good health and a growing prosperous economy. Our plans will get people the help they need fast so they can return to work and get on in life. And when it comes to investing in the future, we’ll support our schools, our teachers and our pupils every step of the way to restore Scotland’s world-leading reputation for education.

Whether it’s parties in lockdown, crashing the economy, Brexit or punching down on minorities, the Conservative Party has sown an ugliness into our politics. Scotland has been failed in equal measure by the SNP, pushing a divisive agenda and mismanaging everything from ferries to the NHS, but always blaming someone else. They’ve both got to go.

In huge swathes of Scotland, it’s only a vote for the Liberal Democrats that will win the change our country desperately needs. By backing the Scottish Liberal Democrats on Thursday, you can make sure that everyone gets the fair deal they deserve.

Alex Cole-Hamilton is leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats