Orkney and Shetland Labour candidate is Edinburgh-based former Welsh nationalist

Labour’s Westminster candidate for Orkney and Shetland is a former Welsh Nationalist who lives in Edinburgh.

Election hopeful Conor Savage stood in Bangor for Plaid Cymru, which wants Wales to be independent, in a 2017 council vote.

The climate change specialist works in an environmental role for Sainsbury’s in the capital, more than 300 miles away from the seat he is contesting.

It’s understood the party feared it would be unable to find a candidate to stand in the Lib Dem-held seat, which polls show Labour has no chance of winning.

Labour has also picked a London councillor, Eva Kestner, to stand in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.

It comes days after it was reported Sir Keir Starmer’s party has picked a Canterbury councillor to run for an Angus seat.

A Lib Dem source joked: “To be honest it is not unusual for the Labour candidate in Orkney and Shetland to come from Edinburgh.

“A background in Plaid Cymru though is a bit more unusual.”

Labour only picked up 6.7% of the vote across Orkney and Shetland in 2019, a constituency the Lib Dems have dominated for decades.

It was a similar story for the party in Caithness, where the Lib Dems only narrowly beat out the SNP when voters last cast their ballots.

Selection difficulties

In March, we revealed Labour had not yet picked candidates in around a third of their Scottish Westminster seats – including every one held by the Tories.

That’s despite polls predicting Sir Keir Starmer’s party will inflict a huge defeat on the Conservatives at the election.

The party confirmed it plans to stand in every seat.

Following the latest developments, Caithness SNP candidate Lucy Beattie said: “Labour can’t even find local members who believe enough in Labour to stand as candidates in Scottish constituencies.”

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “Every Labour candidate is united around our plan to deliver the change Scotland needs – from more jobs, to lowering bills and strengthening Scotland’s position in a reformed and renewed United Kingdom.

“While other parties have given up on attempting to convince voters that change can happen and have doubled down on division, Labour is the only party speaking to all voters asking them to join us and help deliver the change that Scotland needs.”