Aileen McLeod (born 24 August 1971) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She is a former

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for the

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

constituency, having been elected in the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...

. She served as MEP until the 31 January 2020 when the

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

process was completed. She was also formerly a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the South Scotland region 2011−2016 and was the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform 2014−2016.

Early life and education

McLeod was born on 24 August 1971 in

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

, Scotland. She attended Claremont High School going on to study at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, graduating in 1993 with a degree in German and European Community studies. In 2004 she graduated with a PhD from the University of Central Lancashire.

Political career

McLeod joined the SNP in 2004 after leaving her restricted post in the Scottish Parliament. After spending five years living in Brussels and working as Head of Policy for

Alyn Smith Alyn Edward Smith (born 15 September 1973) is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stirling at the 2019 general election. He also served as a Member of the E ...

MEP, McLeod returned to Scotland in 2009 to stand as an SNP candidate in the European Parliamentary elections. From 2009 to 2011 McLeod was Parliamentary Assistant to Michael Russell MSP. In 2011 McLeod was elected to the Scottish Parliament via the South Scotland regional list after losing in the constituency of Galloway and West Dumfries to Alex Fergusson. On 21 November 2014, she was appointed Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, succeeding Paul Wheelhouse who was moved to another ministerial brief. She attended the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. She had looked at issues relating to land ownership, with some efforts made to increase transparency of this. In the 2016 Scottish Parliament election she again stood as a candidate in the Galloway and West Dumfries constituency where she finished second behind

Finlay Carson Finlay Hamilton Carson (born 18 October 1967) is a Scottish Conservative Party politician serving as Convener of the Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee since 2021. He has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) f ...

(who had a majority of 1,514 votes) and was not returned to the Parliament as a result. She was succeeded as Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform by

Roseanna Cunningham Roseanna Cunningham (born 27 July 1951) is a retired Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform from 2016 to 2021. She was previously Cabinet Secretary for Fair Wor ...

European Parliament

McLeod was elected as a

for the

constituency in the

. In September 2019 McLeod was a member of the European Parliament's delegation to the

2019 UN Climate Action Summit The 2019 UN Climate Action Summit was held at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City on 23 September 2019. The UN 2019 Climate Summit convened on the theme, "Climate Action Summit 2019: A Race We Can Win. A Race We Must Win." The ...

She served as MEP until 31 January 2020, when the

process was completed.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McLeod, Aileen 1971 births Living people People from East Kilbride People from Lanark Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Central Lancashire Scottish civil servants Scottish National Party MEPs Scottish National Party MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 MEPs for Scotland 2019–2020 21st-century women MEPs for Scotland Ministers of the Scottish Government Women members of the Scottish Government

Early life and education

Political career

European Parliament

See also

References

External links