Chris Law | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| SNP Spokesperson for International Development in theHouse of Commons | |
| In office 20 June 2017 – 8 December 2022 | |
| Leader | Ian Blackford |
| Preceded by | Alex Salmond |
| Succeeded by | Brendan O'Hara |
| Member of Parliament forDundee Central Dundee West (2015–2024) | |
| Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Jim McGovern |
| Majority | 675 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Christopher Murray Alexander Law (1969-10-21)21 October 1969 (age 56) Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Party | Scottish National Party |
| Alma mater | University of St Andrews |
| Website | Official website |
Christopher Murray Alexander Law (born 21 October 1969) is aScottish National Party (SNP) politician serving as theMember of Parliament (MP) forDundee Central, formerlyDundee West, since 2015. He was first elected at the2015 general election,[1][2] winning a seat that had been held byLabour for the previous 65 years.[3] He served as SNP Spokesperson for International Development from 2017 to 2022, resigning from his position afterthe election ofStephen Flynn.[4] Following his re-election in 2024, he returned to the SNP's frontbench as SNP Spokesperson for Business, Trade and Development.
Law was born inEdinburgh in 1969 and grew up inFife, where he attended Glenwood High inGlenrothes then laterMadras College inSt Andrews.[5] Law later trained as a Frenchchef, then went to theUniversity of St Andrews where he received a degree in Social Anthropology. He developed a love ofIndia while at university[6] and for ten years operated a business providing tours of theHimalayas on 1950s motorcycles. For a decade after returning to Scotland he operated a business as a financial adviser in Dundee. Law initially joined the SNP in 1999, and rejoined after returning to the UK in 2010.
In March 2018, Law said that he had spent time in social care in his teenage years in St Andrews.[7] In January 2019, he wrote about caring for his mother who had multiple sclerosis and supported a campaign bythei newspaper to raise money forMS Society.[8] Citing his time in respite care, he has been a prominent supporter of the campaign to amend theEquality Act 2010 to make care experience a protected characteristic and helped set-up a cross-party group in Parliament for care-experienced young people.[9]
Law was a prominent Yes Scotland campaigner during the2014 Scottish independence referendum and was the founder of the Spirit of Independence road tour of communities that toured Scotland in a refurbishedGreen Goddess fire engine. The tour was launched by the actorBrian Cox in Dundee in August 2014.[10]
Prominent members of Scottish society interviewed by Law during the tour included Yes Scotland chief executiveBlair Jenkins and politiciansHumza Yousaf,Annabelle Ewing andRichard Lochhead.
Law was selected to contest the Dundee West constituency at the 2015 general election and received 27,684 votes – 61.9% – as he took the seat fromLabour with a majority of 17,092 votes.[11] From 2015 to 2017 he served on theScottish Affairs Committee.[12] At the2017 general election, he retained his seat, receiving 18,045 votes (46.7%), down 15.3% compared to the 2015 general election two years previously. His majority was reduced to 5,262 votes - 13.6%.[13] Following his re-election, Law was appointed SNP Westminster Spokesperson forInternational Development andClimate Justice, and sat as the only non-Labour or Conservative member on theInternational Development Committee from 2017 until 2024.[14]
At the2019 general election, he held his seat, receiving 22,355 votes (53.8%), up 7.1% compared to the 2017 election. His majority was increased to 12,259 - 29.5%.[15] Following his re-election, Law was appointed SNP Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, and continued to serve on the International Development Committee.[16]
At the2024 general election, following the implementation of boundary changes, he contested the new seat ofDundee Central, which retained most of his previous Dundee West seat and added parts of the formerDundee East constituency. He held the seat, receiving 15,544 votes (40.0%), down 16.5% on the notional 2019 election result. His majority was reduced to 675 - 1.7%.[17]
During his first term (2015–17) as the Member of Parliament for Dundee West, Law fought against job losses atHMRC facilities in his constituency.[18] In his second term, he criticised the UK Government over HMRC's decision to close their Sidlaw House facility in Dundee in 2022 and move jobs to a new facility inEdinburgh.[19]
In September 2017, Law signed a joint letter denouncing theSpanish Government's efforts to block the2017 Catalan independence referendum.[20]
Law was a notable critic ofAung San Suu Kyi following theMyanmarRohingya refugee crisis, and repeatedly called for herFreedom of the City of Dundee to be stripped. In March 2018, just days before a visit to the country with the International Development Committee to investigate allegations of human rights abuses, the visas issued to members of the Committee including Law were denied.[21]
On 25 April 2018, Law secured a debate inWestminster Hall on 'Protecting Children in Conflict'.[22] In his speech, he called on the UK Government to do more to protect and prevent violence against children in conflict zones, such asYemen andSouth Sudan.
Law served as the co-chair of theAll-party parliamentary group onVideo Games.[23] In October 2018, Law backedThe Independent Game Developers' Association's calls for a Video Games Investment Fund in the Chancellor's Autumn Budget.
In 2020, Law joined the All Party Parliamentary Group on Whistleblowing which has been subject to criticism by some campaigners on whistleblowing law reform.[24][25]
In a debate with the UK Parliament House of Commons on March 2024, Law recognized theexpulsion of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh asethnic cleansing, noted the erasure and destruction of Armenian churches and crosses, criticized the UK Government for encouraging British business leaders to conduct commercial business in the region, and strongly urged the House to provide more assistance to the Armenian refugees.[26][27]
In 2025, Law posted then hastily deleted a tweet criticisinga state visit byDonald Trump to the UK. Law tweeted, "Sitting at tonight's banquet dinner with President Donald Trump, is conceding that it's acceptable to supportgenocide in Gaza after yesterday's publication of UN's report on Gaza." SNP leader andFirst Minister of ScotlandJohn Swinney also attended the state dinner held atWindsor Castle as part of Donald Trump's visit.Scottish Conservatives MSPJamie Halcro Johnston said, "There will be red faces all round in the SNP after this now deleted tweet from Chris Law. Clearly, he was in such a rush to post a childish tweet that he forgot all about John Swinney being someone attending this dinner."[28]
Law is a member of theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament.[29]
He is a supporter of the right ofself-determination forTibet. In Autumn 2018, he addressed theCentral Tibetan Administration on a visit toDharamshala.[30] As co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet, Law and fellow co-chairTim Loughton called for the EU to adopt an equivalent to the US Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act.[31] In 2025, he was elected as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet.[32]
He has been a supporter of drug reform laws. Following his re-election in 2019, he backed the decriminalisation of drugs and the establishment ofdrug consumption rooms in Dundee.[33]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forDundee West 2015–present | Incumbent |
