David Alexander (born 20 June 1958"The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1997", Times Books, 1997, p. 137.) is a former leader of

Falkirk Council Falkirk (; sco, Fawkirk; gd, An Eaglais Bhreac) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas of Scotland. It was formed on 1 April 1996 by way of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 from the exact boundaries of Falkirk District, one ...

from February 2001 to May 2007 and led the SNP Group on the council for twenty years. He is one of two SNP councillors for Falkirk North Ward. He is a non-executive board member of the

Scottish Ambulance Service The Scottish Ambulance Service ( gd, Seirbheis Ambaileans na h-Alba) is part of NHS Scotland, which serves all of Scotland's population. The Scottish Ambulance Service is governed by a special health board and is funded directly by the Healt ...

Political career

Falkirk Council

Before entering politics, he worked as a support worker with a housing association. He was first elected as councillor in 1988 for the Victoria ward, then elected as a councillor for the former Middlefield Ward in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, then the North Ward. In 2000 he was the best value spokesman for the

Convention of Scottish Local Authorities The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) is the national association of Scottish councils and acts as an employers' association for its 32 member authorities. History Formed in 1975, COSLA exists to promote and protect the intere ...

(COSLA). After gaining a seat in a by-election in February 2001, the SNP formed a new administration with the independents and Alexander became the council leader. Falkirk council then withdrew from COSLA.

Other political activity

He was the SNP candidate for the Falkirk West seat at the 1997 general election, where he finished as runner-up to

Dennis Canavan Dennis Andrew Canavan (born 8 August 1942) is a Scottish politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Falkirk West from 1974 to 2000 (known as West Stirlingshire from 1974 to 1983), first as a member of the Labour Party, and then as an I ...

, winning 8,989 votes (23.43% of votes cast). In 2004 he was appointed by

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...

as the SNP spokesperson on local government, a role he continued in until the elections in May 2007. On 1 December 2007 he was elected to the position of the SNP's first ever Convenor of Local Government, winning 110 of the 150 votes cast by party delegates at the SNP's National Council.

Board roles

He served as a member of the Central Scotland Joint Police Board; the Forth Valley Area Waste Strategy Working Group; the NHS Forth Valley Board until resigning in protest at the board's decision to build the new hospital at Larbert using PFI; and the board of Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley. He was first appointed to the board of the Scottish Ambulance service in 2008.

References

External links

Scottish National Party (SNP) Falkirk District
1958 births Living people Scottish National Party councillors People from Falkirk Leaders of local authorities of Scotland {{Scotland-politician-stub