Huw Bell (Scottish Conservatives)

Who is he?

Scottish Conservative candidate for North East Fife.

Huw is 34 years old and unmarried.

He lives in Ceres, having grown up in Dunbar, East Lothian.

Huw has a degree in agriculture, and says his family has a background in farming and forestry.

Working life:

Spent ten years as an RAF officer, spending a year at Leuchars during various deployments throughout the UK. He's served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and elsewhere in the Middle East.

He then removed landmines in Mozambique and Somalia while working for humanitarian charity the HALO Trust. He's been a governor at a rural primary school in Lincolnshire while serving in the airforce. He now advises small businesses alongside his political activity.

This is his first time standing to be a politician.

Scottish Conservative election pledges:

"Zero tolerance for failure" at school by giving children "the best possible start"
and reforming education.
Employ 1,000 extra nurses and midwives and make it easier to see a GP.
No income tax to be paid by anyone earning less than £12,500 a year, and
10,000 new apprenticeships every 12 months.
Reintroduce the right to buy your council house and a "step-by-step" scheme
to help renters own their own home.
Free childcare for all two year olds from the most deprived households.
Letting people or charities set up new schools that are not run by the council.
Make anyone earning £50,000 pay a 40p rate of income tax.
Increase the Basic State Pension by at least 2.5% every year.

About North East Fife

The constituency is the largest in Fife, in terms of landmass, it has a population of more than 75,000. St Andrews, Leven and Cupar are the largest towns.

St. Andrews is the home of golf, and along with the Old Course, features the town's University, which at 604, is the third oldest in the UK after Oxford and Cambridge.

The constituency contains 31 primary schools and four secondaries, which will reduce to three when Kirkland and Buckhaven merge.

Former MP Sir Menzies Campbell stepped down from his role after 27 years representing the area at Westminster. The Liberal Democrats are defending a majority of 9,048, he received 44.3% of the local vote in 2010. The Conservatives have finished second in every election Sir Ming has won, while the SNP gained the seat at the 2011 Scottish Parliamentary elections after 12 years of Lib Dem representation. Labour have traditionally finished third or fourth in this area.