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 forShetland | |
| In office 6 May 1999 – 15 July 2019[1] | |
| Preceded by | Constituency Created |
| Succeeded by | Beatrice Wishart |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1966-05-06)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 theMember of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) forShetland from 1999 to 2019, and Leader of theScottish Liberal Democrats from 2008 to 2011. He stepped down as Leader after the2011 Scottish Parliament election, in which the Liberal Democrats were reduced to five seats, down from 16 in the previous parliament.[2]
Scott was born on 6 May 1966 inInverness, Scotland. He attendedAnderson High School inLerwick, Shetland, and holds a BA (Hons) in Business Studies fromNapier College in Edinburgh. After graduating, he worked as aparliamentary assistant toJim Wallace, then as Liberal DemocratMP forOrkney and Shetland, and later as aPress Officer for theScottish Liberal Democrats. He then returned to Shetland and became a farmer and also a councillor on theShetland Islands Council and Chairman of the Lerwick Harbour Trust.[3]
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Scott was elected as the firstMember of the Scottish Parliament forShetland inMay 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 theScottish Executive from 2000 to 2001 in succession to his colleagueIain 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 theLocal Governance (Scotland) Act, which changed the elections forlocal authorities in Scotland to aproportional representation system. FollowingNicol Stephen's election as party leader and succession asDeputy First Minister of Scotland in 2005, Scott was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Transport. He was re-elected with an increased majority inMay 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 colleagueNicol Stephen, Scott declared hiscandidacy for the leadership of the Scottish Liberal Democrats on 7 July 2008 atLerwick harbour, surrounded by a group of men dressed asVikings.[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 theScottish 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 theConservatives after the2010 United Kingdom general election.
In the run-up to the2014 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 MSPLiam McArthur to recognise the islands had a "separate right to self-determination".[10] Scott said that his preferred outcome was for Shetland to become acrown dependency of the United Kingdom with its own parliament[10] and was backed by the cross-partyWir 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 theScottish Rugby Union.[12]
| Scottish Parliament | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of the Scottish Parliament forShetland 1999–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Deputy Minister for Parliamentary Business 2000–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform 2003–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Transport and Telecommunications 2005–2007 | Succeeded by Stewart Stevenson as Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats 2008–2011 | Succeeded by |