Neil Findlay | |
|---|---|
 Findlay in 2011 | |
| Convener of theHealth and Sport Committee | |
| In office 12 May 2016 – 19 December 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Duncan McNeil |
| Succeeded by | Lewis Macdonald |
| Member of the Scottish Parliament forLothian (1 of 7 Regional MSPs) | |
| In office 5 May 2011 – 5 May 2021 | |
| Scottish Labour portfolios | |
| 2013–2014 | Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing |
| 2014–2015 | Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training |
| 2017–2019 | Shadow Minister for Campaigns and Party Engagement |
| 2017–2019 | Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Brexit and Constitutional Relations |
| 2018–2019 | Shadow Minister for Parliamentary Business |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1969-03-06)6 March 1969 (age 56) Bangour General Hospital,West Lothian, Scotland |
| Party | Independent |
| Other political affiliations | Labour (until 2025) Campaign for Socialism Red Paper Collective |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | University of Strathclyde University of Glasgow |
| Profession | Housing Officer, Teacher |
Neil Findlay (born 6 March 1969) is a Scottish politician who was aMember of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) forLothian from 2011 to 2021. Formerly a member ofScottish Labour, he resigned from the party in March 2025.
He was previously a councillor inWest Lothian from 2003 to 2012.
Findlay was born in 1969 in Bangour General Hospital, nearBroxburn. He was raised inBlackburn, West Lothian and educated at the co-educational, Roman CatholicSt Kentigern's Academy.[1]
After leaving school in 1986, he became an apprenticebricklayer in his father's business, and spent ten years working there. During this time, he also studied at theUniversity of Strathclyde, gaining aBachelor of Arts in Geography and Politics, and going on to become a housing officer in 1996. After working for Almond Housing Association inLivingston for seven years, Findlay completed aPGCE at theUniversity of Glasgow in 2003 and became a teacher inFalkirk for the next eight years.[2][3]
Findlay describes himself as asocialist andtrade unionist, and is on the left of the Labour Party, he's also has a committed Anti-Trident stance and is a member of theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament and has been heavily critical in the past of his own party's position on Nuclear Weapons.
In2003, Findlay was elected ontoWest Lothian Council as aScottish Labour councillor for theFauldhouse andBreich Valley ward. He was re-elected in2007 and stood down in2012.[2]
In 2011, Findlay was elected to theScottish Parliament as one of seven additional members forLothian list.[4]
In 2012, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Skills and Learning.[3] LeaderJohann Lamont appointed him to the frontbench asShadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on 29 May 2013.[5] He has also been a member of the Scottish Parliament's Performance Committee, Local Area Committee and the Services for the Community Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel.[citation needed]
Ahead of the2014 Scottish independence referendum in 2014, Findlay campaigned for a No vote, advocating a "devomax" position, however unlike many of his colleagues within the Scottish Labour, he did not join the officialBetter Together movement and was a strong critic of his party's involvement due to it being a collaboration with theConservatives. Instead, Findlay was part of the Red Paper Collective along with other members of the Scottish Labour Left and theCommunist Party of Britain, which aimed to promote a left-wing, socialist vision for voting No on 18 September 2014.
On 29 October 2014, Findlay declared he would stand in theupcoming Scottish Labour leadership election.[6] Initially, he wantedGordon Brown to stand but Brown ruled himself out. Calling for a "clear red water" between Labour and theScottish National Party, Findlay proposed raising the minimum wage, reintroducing council house building, reducing private sector use in the NHS and allowing councils to set taxes to help reverse job losses within their areas.[7] The trade unionsASLEF,CWU,GMB,Musicians' Union,NUM,RMT,TSSA,UCATT,UNISON andUnite supported his candidature.[8][9][10][11][12] He came second toJim Murphy with 34.99% of the vote.[13] In the aftermath of his leadership bid, Findlay was appointed Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training on 16 December 2014 by Murphy and remained in the post until being reshuffled out by Murphy's successor,Kezia Dugdale in August 2015.[14][15]
Findlay was the Scottish campaign chief forJeremy Corbyn during the2015 Labour leadership election, and is theconvener of Scottish Labour'sCampaign for Socialism, succeedingElaine Smith.[16][17] From 2016 until 2017, he served as convener of the Scottish Parliament'sHealth and Sport Committee.[18] In 2017, he published his bookSocialism and Hope: A journey through turbulent times, co-authored with biographer and journalist Jeff Holmes.[1]
Findlay was appointed Scottish Labour's Brexit spokesperson by new leaderRichard Leonard on 19 November 2017, and then also as Parliamentary Business Manager on 4 October 2018.[19][20] In early May 2019,Edinburgh South MPIan Murray accused him of "bullying and harassment" in a complaint to Scottish Labour's General Secretary Brian Roy. In turn, Findlay issued a counter-complaint over "derogatory" WhatsApp messages in which Murray accused the leadership of being "full of thugs and incompetents".[21]
On 28 May 2019, the day after it was confirmed Scottish Labour had finished fifth in Scotland in theEuropean election and lost both its MEPs, Findlay resigned as Brexit spokesperson and Business Manager. He also intimated he would leave the Scottish Parliament after the2021 election. He indicated he had made this decision in March after months of thought and denied he was resigning due to the election result. He was however critical of "eternal internal fighting within our party and the toxic culture of leaks and briefings that come from some within the Scottish and UK parliamentary groups".[22][23] Following his resignation, he argued Scottish Labour needed to adopt a "clear and easily understood position on the constitution", having previously argued in favour of a federalUnited Kingdom.[22]
On 6 September 2019, a consultation launched by Findlay in the January reported there was overwhelming public support for his proposals for a bill to ban MSPs having second jobs, with some exceptions described as "common sense".[24][25] In the October, formerScottish Conservative leaderRuth Davidson announced she was accepting a public relations role for lobbying firm Tulchan Communications while retaining her job as an MSP and Findlay used her appointment as further justification for his bill, arguing the rules which allowed her to do so were "not fit for purpose".[26][27]
Along withMonica Lennon, Findlay abstained on an SNP government bill in favour of asecond Scottish independence referendum. This was against their party's whip, which was to vote against the bill.[28]
Findlay mocked Richard Leonard's critics in a September 2020 leaked email: "I support Richard 100% - the usual suspects think we just need to wind back to1997 and then wave a union flag with gusto with Ian Murray and [deputy leader]Jackie Baillie leading and all will be well - delusion doesn't come close to it."[29] He also described Leonard's critics in Labour's Scottish Parliament group in theMorning Star as "a kamikaze squad ... determined to destroy what remains of the party".[30]
Findlay nominated Monica Lennon in the2021 Scottish Labour leadership election.[31]
Findlay resigned from the Labour Party in March 2025 in response to the government's changes to the benefits system.[32] He later predicted thatAnas Sarwar would lead Scottish Labour to its worst ever result at Holyrood.[33]
Findlay is married to Fiona Miller, with whom he has one daughter, Chloe.[1] He is a member of the trade unions Unite andEducational Institute of Scotland.[34][1]
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