Dennis Canavan

Dennis Canavan
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Falkirk West
In office 6 May 1999 – 3 May 2007
Preceded by	New parliament
Succeeded by	Michael Matheson
Member of Parliament for Falkirk West West Stirlingshire (Oct 1974-1983)
In office 10 October 1974 – 21 November 2000
Preceded by	William Baxter
Succeeded by	Eric Joyce
Personal details
Born	8 August 1942 (1942-08-08) (age 69) Cowdenbeath
Nationality	British
Political party	Independent
Other political affiliations	Labour
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh

Dennis Andrew Canavan (born 8 August 1942) is a Scottish politician, and was an Independent Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Falkirk West.

Early life

He was born in Cowdenbeath.

He was educated at St. Bride's and St. Columba's Schools, Cowdenbeath, and at the University of Edinburgh. He worked as a schoolteacher from 1968 until 1974 and was Assistant Head of Holyrood High School, Edinburgh, at the time of his first election to Parliament.

Career

UK Parliament

He was leader of the Labour Party Group on Stirling District Council in 1974 and, in October of that year, was elected as Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for West Stirlingshire. Following boundary changes, he was MP for Falkirk West from 1983 to 2000. He was Chair of the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Group, 1980 - 1981. In 1975, he tried introducing a bill to abolish corporal punishment in schools and his efforts formed part of the case presented to the European Commission of Human Rights which led eventually to abolition. He voted against the Blair Government's proposals to cut benefits for children of lone parents, abolish student grants and introduce tuition fees.

A keen sports enthusiast, he was founder and Convener of the Scottish Sports Group at Westminster and the Cross-Party Sports Group in the Scottish Parliament. He has completed a marathon in less than 3 hours and the Ben Nevis Race in just over 2 hours. He won a gold medal, playing for Scotland in the British Universities Football Championships in 1967. In his book, The Final Whistle?, Harry Reid claims that he took part in the 1977 Wembley pitch invasion after Scotland beat England and ripped up a patch of the turf - see Wembley pitch invasion ^[1]

In 2003, in the Scottish Parliament, he strongly criticised the Scottish football authorities when Falkirk Football Club was refused promotion to the Scottish Premier League, despite having won the First Division Championship. He strongly supported Falkirk's efforts to build a new stadium for community use and he still regularly attends the club's matches. He is also Honorary President of Milton Amateurs Football Club.

He takes an active interest in international affairs and served as a member of the House of Commons Select Committees on Foreign Affairs and International Development. He is still a member of CND and Amnesty International and is interested in conflict resolution.

He chaired the Northern Ireland Committee of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 1989 to 1997, and led several Parliamentary delegations to Ireland during The Troubles. He served on the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body from 1992 to 2000. As a member of the European and External Relations Committee of the Scottish Parliament, he was author of a report on the potential for co-operation between Scotland and Ireland. He has frequently spoken out against sectarianism and racism.

Scottish Parliament

Throughout his entire political life, Canavan played a leading part in the campaign for a Scottish Parliament. When Labour was in opposition, he led a nationwide consultation about devolution, on behalf of the Scottish Group of Labour MPs, leading to the publication of a bill to establish a Scottish Parliament with revenue-raising powers. However, in 1999, when the first elections to the Scottish Parliament were held, the New Labour leadership rejected him as an official Labour candidate, despite the fact that he had the support of 97% of local party members. He therefore stood as an Independent and won. He was consequently expelled from the party. He had the highest majority of any MSP in the 1999 election. He resigned his Westminster seat in 2000 in order to concentrate on representing his constituents in the Scottish Parliament. Canavan retained his Holyrood seat in 2003, again with the biggest majority in Scotland.

In the Scottish Parliament, he was a member of the European and External Relations Committee and Convener of the All-Party Sports Group from 1999.^[2][3]

Canavan enjoys hill-walking and, in the Scottish Parliament, he championed the people's right of access to the countryside, successfully introducing amendments to the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill in order to extend the right of access to country estates, including land belonging to the Queen. He is now President of Ramblers Scotland.

He is a strong supporter of the idea of a national holiday to celebrate St Andrew's Day, and his bill to achieve this was eventually passed as the St. Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007.

Retirement

When he announced his retirement before the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections,^[4] he was the longest serving parliamentarian in the Scottish Parliament, having completed 33 years at Westminster then Holyrood. After this announcement he received an ovation in the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament from other MSPs and was praised by the First Minister Jack McConnell as "an outstanding parliamentarian over a long, long period of time".^[5]

In April 2010, Canavan declared his support for John McNally, the Scottish National Party candidate for Falkirk in the 2010 general election. Falkirk is the successor to Falkirk West, the constituency Canavan represented at Westminster from 1983-2000. ^[6]

He has honorary doctorates from the Universities of Stirling and Strathclyde.

In recognition of his public service, Falkirk Council launched the Dennis Canavan Scholarship to encourage young people to go on to further or higher education and to use their talents to help others.

Autobiograhy

His autobiography, Let the People Decide, was published by Birlinn in September 2009 (ISBN 978-1-84158839-1).

References

1. ^ Reid, Harry, The Final Whistle?, Birlinn, 52, ISBN 1-84158-362-6
2. ^ Scots hide Irish heritage
3. ^ Catholic church backing
4. ^ Canavan will not fight election, bbc.co.uk, 23 January 2007
5. ^ Canavan receives Holyrood ovation, bbc.co.uk, 25 January 2007
6. ^ http://politics.caledonianmercury.com/2010/04/25/blow-for-labour-as-canavan-backs-snp-candidate/

1. Reid, Harry, The Final Whistle?, Birlinn, 52, ISBN 1-84158-362-6
2. Catholic church backing
3. Canavan will not fight election, bbc.co.uk, 23 January 2007
4. Canavan receives Holyrood ovation, bbc.co.uk, 25 January 2007
5. http://politics.caledonianmercury.com/2010/04/25/blow-for-labour-as-canavan-backs-snp-candidate/

External links

• Dennis Canavan MSP Biography at the Scottish Parliament website
• Dennis Canavan MSP Biography at personal website
• The colourful MSP calls it a day BBC profile

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by William Baxter	Member of Parliament for West Stirlingshire Oct. 1974–1983	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Falkirk West 1983–2000	Succeeded by Eric Joyce
Scottish Parliament
New constituency	Member of the Scottish Parliament for Falkirk West 1999–2007	Succeeded by Michael Matheson

Persondata
Name	Canavan, Dennis
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	8 August 1942
Place of birth	Cowdenbeath
Date of death
Place of death