Helen Stirling Eadie (7 March 1947 – 9 November 2013) was a

Scottish Labour 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 of ...

Co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

politician who served as

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

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 18 ...

, previously Dunfermline East, from

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 shootin ...

until her death in 2013.

Early life

Helen was born in

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...

, near

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

. She attended Larbert Village School,

Larbert High School Larbert High School is a six-year, non-denominational state school in Stenhousemuir, Scotland, United Kingdom (UK). The school is run by Falkirk (council area), Falkirk Council Education Services on behalf of the Scottish Government. In 2005, the ...

and Falkirk Technical College before going on to read trade union studies at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. Eadie was a member of Fife Regional Council before being elected the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

in 1999. At the 1997 general election, she contexted the Roxburgh and Berwickshire constituency as the Labour candidate. She finished in third place, but increased her party's share of the vote to 15% from 8.8% in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

Member of the Scottish Parliament

When Labour was in power in the Scottish Executive, Eadie called for an end to tolls on the

Forth Road Bridge The Forth Road Bridge is a suspension bridge in east central Scotland. The bridge opened in 1964 and at the time was the longest suspension bridge in the world outside the United States. The bridge spans the Firth of Forth, connecting Edinbur ...

. After the May 2003 Scottish parliament election, Eadie strongly opposed the then Labour–Liberal Democrat coalition's agreed deal to introduce the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

(STV)

proportional system Proportionality, proportion or proportional may refer to: Mathematics * Proportionality (mathematics), the property of two variables being in a multiplicative relation to a constant * Ratio, of one quantity to another, especially of a part compare ...

for future local council elections. She said it was an example of "the tail wagging the dog" and "It's about one of the smallest parties in the parliament wanting to use the power that they have to try to force through issues that they want to see steamrollered through." In November 2006, Eadie called for curfews against under-15 youths, after she was surrounded and trapped inside her car by a mob of youngsters who started rocking the car and throwing missiles at it. She was a member of many Scottish Parliament committees, but in June 2007 resigned two of her committee posts in protest at a Tory MSP being given a convener-ship of the

equal opportunities Equal opportunity is a state of fairness in which individuals are treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences, except when particular distinctions can be explicitly justified. The intent is that the important ...

committee. Eadie said at the time, the move was like "putting

Attila the Hun Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. He was also the leader of a tribal empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Bulgars, among others, in Central and Ea ...

in charge of community care".

Personal life

Eadie was married with two daughters. In 2013, it emerged she was being treated for cancer at the

Queen Margaret Hospital Queen Margaret Hospital is a hospital located in the town of Dunfermline in Fife, Scotland. It is managed by NHS Fife. History The hospital was commissioned to replace the Milesmark Hospital, the Dunfermline and West Fife District Hospital ...

, following diagnosis at the end of October. She died on 9 November 2013.

References

External links

* *
Helen Eadie MSP
Biography at Scottish Parliament website
Helen Eadie MSP
Biography at Labour party website

Helen's pages on the Fife Labour website {{DEFAULTSORT:Eadie, Helen 1947 births 2013 deaths People from Stenhousemuir Alumni of the London School of Economics Deaths from cancer in Scotland Scottish Labour parliamentary candidates Labour Co-operative MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Female members of the Scottish Parliament Scottish Labour councillors Councillors in Fife 20th-century Scottish women politicians Women councillors in Scotland