Tavish Scott

Tavish Scott
Tavish Scott
	Scott in 2006
Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
	In office; 26 August 2008 – 7 May 2011
Deputy	Michael Moore; Jo Swinson
Leader	Nick Clegg
Preceded by	Nicol Stephen
Succeeded by	Willie Rennie
Minister for Transport and Telecommunications
	In office; 23 June 2005 – 17 May 2007
First Minister	Jack McConnell
Preceded by	Nicol Stephen
Succeeded by	Stewart Stevenson
Member of the Scottish Parliament ; for Shetland
	In office; 6 May 1999 – 15 July 2019
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	Beatrice Wishart
Majority	4,895
Personal details
Born	6 May 1966 (age 58); Inverness, Scotland
Political party	Scottish Liberal Democrats
Alma mater	Napier College, Edinburgh
Website	Tavish Scott

Tavish Hamilton Scott (born 6 May 1966) is a former Scottish politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Shetland from 1999 to 2019, and Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2008 to 2011. He stepped down as Leader after the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, in which the Liberal Democrats were reduced to five seats, down from 16 in the previous parliament.^[2]

Background, education and early career

Scott was born on 6 May 1966 in Inverness, Scotland. He attended Anderson High School in Lerwick, Shetland, and holds a BA (Hons) in Business Studies from Napier College in Edinburgh. After graduating, he worked as a parliamentary assistant to Jim Wallace, then as Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, and later as a Press Officer for the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He then returned to Shetland and became a farmer and also a councillor on the Shetland Islands Council and Chairman of the Lerwick Harbour Trust.^[3]

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Scott was elected as the first Member of the Scottish Parliament for Shetland in May 1999.^[4] He was also the first politician to represent Shetland individually, as Orkney and Shetland have always been represented by a single MP at Westminster. 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 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,^[5] and held the largest margin by percentage, 50.1%, of any MSP over their closest challenger.

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 men dressed as Vikings.^[6] On 26 August 2008, he was announced the winner of the leadership contest with 59% (1,450) of the votes.^[7]

Following what he described as a "disastrous" set of results for the Scottish Liberal Democrats in the Scottish elections in May 2011, Scott offered his resignation as leader (remaining a Member of the Scottish Parliament).^[8] He claimed the poor showings were in part due to the coalition deal which saw the Liberal Democrats form a government with the Conservatives after the 2010 United Kingdom general election.

In the run-up to the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum, Scott was a keen advocate of a "No" vote and also called for recognition of "the Northern Isles' right to determine their own future."^[9] At the Liberal Democrat party conference in 2013, he put forward a motion with fellow MSP Liam McArthur to recognise the islands had a "separate right to self-determination".^[10] Scott said that his preferred outcome was for Shetland to become a crown dependency of the United Kingdom with its own parliament^[10] and was backed by the cross-party Wir Shetland movement, which campaigns for crown dependency status.^[11]

Scott announced in June 2019 that he would be resigning from the Scottish Parliament to take a position with the Scottish Rugby Union.^[12]

Career timeline

1986–1989: Napier College
1989–1990: Parliamentary researcher to Jim Wallace MP for Orkney and Shetland, House of Commons
1990–1992: Press Officer, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Edinburgh
1992–1999: Farmer, Shetland family farm
1994–1999: Chairman and Trustee, Lerwick Harbour Trust
1994–1999: Councillor for Lerwick Harbour and Bressay ward on Shetland Islands Council
- Vice-chairman of the Roads and Transport Committee
1997–1999: Director, Shetland Islands Tourism
1999–2019: Member of the Scottish Parliament for Shetland
2000–2001: Deputy Minister for Scottish Parliament
2003–2005: Deputy Minister for Finance, Public Services and Parliamentary Business
2005–2007: Minister for Transport
2007–2008: Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth
- Convenor of the Scottish Parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee
2008–2011: Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
2011–2019: Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesman for business and the economy

References

^ "Home". Tavish Scott. 10 October 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
^ Black, Andrew (7 May 2011). "BBC News – Scots Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott quits post". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
^ "Bio". Tavish Scott MSP. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
^ "Previous MSPs: Session 1 (1999–2003): Tavish Scott MSP". Scottish Parliament. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
^ "Election 2007 | Scottish Parliament | Election Result: Shetland". BBC News. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
^ Shetland News, 7 July 2008 Archived 8 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Tavish Scott wins Liberal Democrat leadership race". Edinburgh Evening News. 26 August 2008. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
^ "Disastrous election performance provokes Scott to stand down as party leader". Shetland Times. 7 May 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
^ "SNP admits Shetland and Orkney could opt out of independent Scotland". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Scottish independence: Northern Isles devolution bid". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
^ "Councillor quits Wir Shetland in wake of Tavish endorsement". 6 April 2016.
^ "Former Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott to quit Holyrood". BBC News. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.

External links

Scottish Parliament profiles of MSPs: Tavish Scott
Tavish Scott MSP profile at the site of Scottish Liberal Democrats

Scottish Parliament
New constituency	Member of the Scottish Parliament for Shetland 1999–2019	Succeeded by Beatrice Wishart
Political offices
Preceded by Iain Smith	Deputy Minister for Parliamentary Business 2000–2001	Succeeded by Euan Robson
Preceded by Peter Peacock	Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform 2003–2005	Succeeded by George Lyon
Preceded by Nicol Stephen	Minister for Transport and Telecommunications 2005–2007	Succeeded by Stewart Stevenson as Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change
Party political offices
Preceded by Nicol Stephen	Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats 2008–2011	Succeeded by Willie Rennie