Laurie Moffat – Candidate for Cowdenbeath Constituency and Mid Scotland and Fife Regional List in the 2026 Scottish Parliament Elections
Laurie Moffat is a proud resident of Cardenden, with deep roots in the historic coalfields of the Lochgelly, Cardenden, and Benarty area. Born in Sydney, Australia, in 1981 to Scottish parents who emigrated under the £10 Pom scheme, he returned with his family to Fife at the age of three and was raised in Bowhill. His family connections extend to Ballingry (his father’s birthplace), Lumphinnans (his Di’s birthplace, known as Fife’s “Little Moscow”), Bowhill (his mother’s birthplace), and relatives still living in Cowdenbeath.
A former pupil of Lochgelly High School and a graduate of Robert Gordon University, Laurie is a former rugby player and the youngest-ever club captain of Glenrothes RFC, demonstrating proven leadership and community spirit.
With over 15 years of experience in the subsea oil and gas sector before transitioning to the biogas industry—where he managed the Anaerobic Digestion plant at Inchdairnie near Kinglassie—Laurie advocates for an all-energy future for Scotland. This includes renewables, biogas, nuclear, and sustainable hydrocarbons through a pragmatic, worker-focused transition that prioritises job protection.
As a dedicated Georgist, sovereign money advocate, and land reformer, Laurie draws inspiration from Henry George, Positive Money’s work on sovereign money systems, the Scottish Land Revenue Group’s promotion of Annual Ground Rent as a form of land value taxation, and Scotland’s historical land reform movement from the Highland Clearances to contemporary efforts for community ownership. He supports public control of money creation, the end of fractional reserve lending, and a shift in the tax burden from labour and productive capital onto unearned land values—ensuring that community-created land value benefits the public while reducing taxes on wages, earnings, investment, and business.
Inspired by Salvo and the Claim of Right—including his signing of the Edinburgh Proclamation—Laurie is committed to restoring full Scottish sovereignty, independent from both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In line with Sovereignty party policy, he supports the legitimacy of a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI), conditional on a democratic majority of the Scottish electorate voting for pro-independence parties. This approach emphasises radical action by the Scottish people themselves, without seeking permission from Westminster—a path successfully pursued by other nations to achieve sovereignty.
He will stand for Sovereignty in the Cowdenbeath constituency and for Liberate Scotland on the Mid Scotland and Fife regional list in the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.
If elected, Laurie will combat de-industrialisation, oppose freeports that risk privatising public resources, and advance Georgist, sovereign money, and land reform policies to foster regeneration, create sustainable jobs, revive derelict sites for community benefit, and secure long-term prosperity and robust public services across the Cowdenbeath constituency and beyond.
Grounded in local pride and a vision for true democracy, Laurie remains dedicated to ensuring Scotland’s wealth belongs to its people.
Cover picture by Alexnoel66, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons