Deidre Leanne Brock (born 8 December 1961) is an Australian-born

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

(SNP) politician. She was first elected as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for Edinburgh North and Leith in May 2015 — the first SNP representative to hold the seat at either a Westminster or Scottish Parliament level. She has been the SNP House of Commons Business Spokesperson since December 2022.

Early life

Brock was born in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

and grew up in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. Her father emigrated from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in his teens. Hence, she is a dual British and Australian national. She studied English at Curtin University and graduated with a BA, then studied acting at the

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition. WAAPA (commonly pronounced "whopp-a") operates as a part of ECU, located at the ECU campus in ...

. In 1990, while working as an actress she appeared in an episode of the soap opera ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip ...

''. She moved to Scotland in 1996 to live with her partner, having met him when she visited the country on holiday a year earlier.

Political career

Brock worked for

Rob Gibson Robert McKay Gibson (born 10 October 1945) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 2003 until 2016, first as a Highlands and Islands regional member from 2003 until 2011, then repre ...

MSP before being elected as a SNP Councillor on the

City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...

for the Leith Walk ward in 2007 where she topped the poll with 2,550 first preferences. She was re-elected in the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

elections, again topping the poll with 1,735 first preferences, and subsequently became the Deputy Lord Provost of Edinburgh as the SNP and the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...

formed an arrangement to run the council. She was elected as MP for Edinburgh North and Leith in 2015 as part of the SNP landslide receiving 23,742 votes (a 40.9% share), defeating the Labour Party MP,

Mark Lazarowicz Mark Lazarowicz ( ; born Marek Lazarowicz; 8 August 1953) is a British Labour Co-operative politician and lawyer who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh North and Leith from 2001 to 2015. Early life Lazarowicz was born in Romfor ...

, by 5,597 votes and a majority of 9.6%. Brock was one of several SNP MPs who took their parliamentary oaths in both

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

and English. She was re-elected MP for the same constituency in 2017 with 19,243 votes (34% share) and a 1,625 (2.9%) vote majority over the second placed Labour candidate. Brock was elected in the 2019 general election, greatly increasing her majority by over 10,000 votes to 12,808 (21.6%) and receiving 25,925 votes in total giving a vote share of 43.7% - her highest in the seat to date. Brock is currently the Shadow SNP Spokesperson for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. She was previously the Spokesperson for Devolved Government Relations, Northern Ireland and Fair Work and Employment.

Other activities

She has been a board member for the

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially classical music) and the performing arts are i ...

Council, the

Centre for the Moving Image The Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) is a registered charity comprising Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh Filmhouse and, since April 2014, the Belmont Filmhouse, Aberdeen. Its stated aim is to "''provide a national focus for cu ...

, and Creative Edinburgh.

References

External links

profile
on SNP website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brock, Deidre Living people Actresses from Perth, Western Australia Australian emigrants to Scotland Australian people of English descent Australian soap opera actresses Councillors in Edinburgh Curtin University alumni Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies Place of birth missing (living people) Scottish National Party MPs UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present 21st-century Scottish women politicians 21st-century Scottish politicians 1961 births Women councillors in Scotland