A PORT Glasgow man who waited two and a half years for a knee operation pledged to tackle NHS backlogs as he announced his intention to stand as Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West’s Conservative candidate.

Ted Runciman has also backed his party’s plan to introduce national service for 18-year-olds if they win on July 4 - and called for major action to address Inverclyde’s road infrastructure issues.

The Castlebank resident stood unsuccessfully in the 2022 council elections, but is hoping to win more support from local voters this time around.

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Mr Runciman highlighted his own experiences on an NHS waiting list for a knee replacement and his father’s work as a doctor as he called for action to tackle local backlogs.

He said: “I moved up from the south of England about three years ago and I waited two and a half years up here for a knee replacement, which I got done just a few months ago.

“I was part of that monumental backlog, it affected my quality of life. Those are the things that matter.

“My father was a doctor at the start of the NHS and he operated within what is the greater Glasgow and Clyde area all his life.

“He would be appalled to see the way that the NHS has been mismanaged to allow the backlog it’s got.

“These soaring backlogs are a direct result of the SNP obsessing over independence and pushing at every opportunity, rather than focusing on people’s real priorities in Inverclyde such as cutting NHS waiting times.

“The SNP should start by adopting the ambitious proposals set out by us to deliver a modern, efficient and local health service.”

Jobs losses are another topic highlighted by the Tory candidate, as he is concerned at the ongoing exodus of posts from the area across different sectors of the economy.

He told the Tele: “We have lost quite a lot of employment in Inverclyde of late, we lost Amazon and with Ferguson's we don’t know what’s going to happen."

Mr Runciman says that prime minister Rishi Sunak’s proposal to have 18-year-olds take part in mandatory national service has his support, and he spoke of his own experiences in the RAF.

He also called for steps to be taken to deal with the ‘terrible’ state of local roads, which he claims have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair.

Mr Runciman said: “The SNP have not done Scotland any great benefit at all, over the last 17 years we have seen a decline.

“We have seen the NHS suffer badly, we have seen employment prospects fall, we have seen that the infrastructure within Scotland has not been progressed.

“I feel that the pure focus on just independence means they’re not looking at the things that really matter to the people of Scotland.

“I stood in the local elections two years ago to say that looking around Gourock we were seeing a decline in various things.

“I think Inverclyde is one of the most deprived areas of Scotland and I want to see a proper regeneration, which is why I got involved.

“I’m prepared to turn round and say that I think it needs to change. I also wonder about employment and the approach that a potential Labour government is going to take.

“I’ve lived through every Labour government since the war and the end of each Labour administration has been a disaster.

“When you look at the u-turns Keir Starmer has given us you want to say ‘what does he stand for?’.

“That has motivated me to say I want to stand as the Conservative candidate for Inverclyde to try and get a better deal for the individuals in Scotland.

“Let’s put independence aside, what matters to people on the street and in the houses right now. They want to know what’s going to happen about their education and what’s going to happen about their health.”