Emma Roddick (born 30 July 1997) is a

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 who has been a

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The ad ...

(MSP) for

Highlands and Islands The Highlands and Islands is an area of Scotland broadly covering the Scottish Highlands, plus Orkney, Shetland and Outer Hebrides (Western Isles). The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 ...

since May 2021.

Early life

Roddick was born to Sue, a social worker, and Davy Roddick and lived in Alness from an early age. Both of her parents had died by the time she was elected in May 2021. She formerly worked for 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 Health ...

. Roddick, who has Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

, started a petition in 2017 to improve the available services from Scotland's NHS24 helpline. In 2020 the campaign proved successful, and NHS 24 added option 3 to their service.

Political career

In November 2019 she was elected in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

as a

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

, representing the Inverness Central ward of the

Highland Council The Highland Council (' ), the political body covering the Highland local authority created in 1995, comprises 21 wards, each electing three or four councillors by the single transferable vote system, which creates a form of proportional represe ...

. Shortly after starting her campaign, she started receiving death and rape threats from anonymous sources, and had her home broken into twice. The month before, she refused to sign a petition opposing the Gender Recognition Act reforms, claiming the petition had "transphobic undertones". On 8 May 2021 she was elected as a

(MSP) for

. She was one of the youngest candidates seeking election, and the youngest MSP elected. After her election in 2021, Roddick, who had been homeless in the past, spoke about the financial burdens of running for office which provide barriers to young and working-class people running, and highlighted the initial cost of being an MSP.

Personal life

Roddick plays the fiddle. She lives in

Merkinch Merkinch (Scottish Gaelic: ''Marc-Innis'', meaning "Island of the Horse") is an area of the city of Inverness in the Highland council area of Scotland. One of the oldest neighbourhoods in Inverness, it's situated in the city's north-west flanke ...

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

and identifies as

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

References

External links

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at Highland Council {{DEFAULTSORT:Roddick, Emma 1997 births Living people Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 Scottish National Party MSPs Scottish National Party councillors Councillors in Highland (council area) Female members of the Scottish Parliament People with borderline personality disorder Bisexual politicians LGBT members of the Scottish Parliament Women councillors in Scotland