Tavish Scott

Infobox MSP
honorific-prefix =
name = Tavish Scott
honorific-suffix = MSP

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imagesize = 200px
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office=Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
term_start=26 August 2008
term_end=
predecessor=Nicol Stephen
successor=
office2 = Minister for Transport and Telecommunications
term_start2 = 23 June 2005
term_end2 = 17 May 2007
firstminister2 = Jack McConnell
predecessor2 = Nicol Stephen
successor2 = Stewart Stevenson
constituency_MP3 = Shetland
parliament3 = Scottish
majority3 = 4,409 (50.1%)
term_start3 = 6 May 1999
term_end3 =
predecessor3 =
successor3 =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1966|5|6|df=yes
birth_place =
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nationality =
party = Scottish Liberal Democrats
spouse =
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = Napier College, Edinburgh
occupation =
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website =
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Tavish Scott (born 6 May 1966) is a Scottish politician and Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, having been elected on 26 August 2008 with 59% (1,450) of the votes. [http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/breaking-news/Tavish-Scott-wins-Liberal-Democrat.4426642.jp]

Background

Tavish Scott attended Anderson High School, Lerwick, Shetland and holds a BA from Napier College, Edinburgh (now Napier University). After graduating, he worked as a parliamentary assistant to Jim Wallace, then Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland, and then as a Press Officer for the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He then returned to Shetland and became a farmer and also a councillor on Shetland Islands Council and Chairman of the Lerwick Harbour Trust.

cottish Parliament

Scott was elected the first Member of the Scottish Parliament for Shetland in May 1999. He was also the first parliamentarian for the Shetland Islands as a distinct entity; up to that point there had only been a single UK parliamentary constituency for both Orkney and Shetland.

He served as a Deputy Minister for Parliament in the Scottish Executive from 2000 to 2001 in succession to his colleague Iain Smith, but resigned after refusing to support the Executive in a vote in the Parliament on a tie-up scheme for fishing. In 2003 he returned to the Scottish Executive as Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Services. During his time there his department piloted the Local Governance (Scotland) Act, which changed the elections for local authorities in Scotland to a proportional representation system. Following Nicol Stephen's election as party leader and succession as Deputy First Minister of Scotland in 2005, Scott was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Transport.

He was re-elected with an increased majority in May 2007, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2007/scottish_parliment/html/661.stm] and held the largest margin by percentage, 50.1%, of any MSP over their closest challenger.

Leadership candidate

After the resignation of his friend and former Ministerial colleague Nicol Stephen, Scott declared his candidacy for the leadership of the Scottish Liberal Democrats on 7 July 2008 at Lerwick harbour, surrounded by a group of Shetland Vikings. [ [http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/news_07_2008/Tavish%20stands%20to%20lead%20LibDems.htm Shetland News, 7 July 2008] ] On 26 August 2008, he was announced the winner of the leadership contest with 59% of the votes.

References

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External links

* [http://www.tavishscott.com/ Tavish Scott MSP] official site
* [http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/membersPages/tavish_scott/ Tavish Scott MSP] official biography at the Scottish Parliament website
* [http://www.scotlibdems.org.uk/people/holyrood/tavish-scott Tavish Scott MSP] profile at the site of Scottish Liberal Democrats
* [http://www.scotland.gov.uk/ Scottish Executive]