0:00:02 > 0:00:05I'm Willie Rennie, I'm leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
0:00:05 > 0:00:07I was born and brought up in a small village called
0:00:07 > 0:00:10Strathmiglo, in the north of Fife. Beautiful part of the world.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12We lived above the family shop
0:00:12 > 0:00:14with my three sisters and my mum and dad.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17My mother, she was secretary of the Community Association.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19She got involved in Meals On Wheels,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22and helping out people who were perhaps struggling in the village.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Caring in the community was something that was
0:00:25 > 0:00:27imbued into our family.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30My father was the local grocer.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32We were part and parcel of the community. We got involved.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36Hard work was something that I knew was really important to do
0:00:36 > 0:00:39in your life. If you wanted to get on, you had to graft.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42That was the kind of life that I grew up in.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46And it's certainly affected me now in the way that I view the world.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49I think my decision to get into politics grew in me over time.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51I was brought up through the miners' strike,
0:00:51 > 0:00:55but also the emergence of the SDP-Liberal Alliance.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59The ambition to break the mould of British politics really appealed to me.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02The people who have inspired me in politics
0:01:02 > 0:01:05are people like Charles Kennedy and David Steel.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07They're kind of the essence of decent people
0:01:07 > 0:01:09who have got compassion in their heart,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12that really want to shake up the world
0:01:12 > 0:01:14and change things for the better.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18To me, liberalism means a combination of that
0:01:18 > 0:01:22economic discipline, hard work so that people can get up and get on,
0:01:22 > 0:01:24but also compassion.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27That sense of social justice that means that everybody
0:01:27 > 0:01:30gets a chance to achieve, no matter what their background.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34I've got two active boys. One's at college, one's still at school.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36The younger boy, he loves rock climbing,
0:01:36 > 0:01:38swimming, the Scouts, biking.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43The most important topic in British politics today is education.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45Everybody deserves a chance.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50So investing in early years education to help kids who are struggling,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53I think that's the way to change the way the country works.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57Liberalism, at its heart, is about fairness,
0:01:57 > 0:01:59is about looking to the long-term,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02looking beyond our shores to help other people in other
0:02:02 > 0:02:06parts of the world, and pushing power right back down into communities
0:02:06 > 0:02:10so it can reflect the wide and varied country that we live in.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14That is the essence of liberal democracy.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16My message to people in Scotland is this -
0:02:16 > 0:02:18if you want to get up and get on,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22to care for the people next door, across the world or in the future,
0:02:22 > 0:02:24if you want that combination of
0:02:24 > 0:02:27economic discipline and social justice,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29if you're an aspirational Scot
0:02:29 > 0:02:31with a social conscience,
0:02:31 > 0:02:33then back the Liberal Democrats.