John Gordon Wilson (born 28 November 1956) is a Scottish politician. He was formerly 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 the Central Scotland region from 2007 until 2016. He sat as 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) member and then as an independent after 2014. He stood unsuccessfully as a

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

candidate in the Coatbridge and Chryston constituency at the

2016 Scottish Parliament election The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary electi ...

and then as an independent candidate in the 2017 Scottish local elections.

Education and early career

Wilson was educated at Camelon High School in

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 ...

, then at

Coatbridge College New College Lanarkshire Coatbridge Campus, previously the independent Coatbridge College was Scotland’s oldest further education college, founded in 1865. The College has over 250 staff members and approximately 7,000 students. The College pr ...

and

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. He has an MA in Politics and Economic History. He was a director of the Scottish Low Pay Unit from 2001 until 2007.

Political career

Wilson joined the SNP in 1999. As a member of the SNP, he was elected to 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 ...

to represent Central Scotland at the 2007 election. The following day the results of local election held on the same day were returned- he had also been elected 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 ...

for the Coatbridge North and Glenboig ward of

North Lanarkshire Council North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also ...

. He stood down from the council position to focus on his work at Holyrood, and was replaced by Labour's Peter Sullivan in a by-election on 4 June 2009. He stood as a SNP candidate in the Coatbridge and Chryston constituency at the 2011 election and although he secured 40% of the vote, he came second. He was returned to Parliament by the regional list. Wilson was a member of the Scottish Parliament's Local Government and Regeneration Committee and of the Public Petitions Committee. He was one of the MSPs who challenged the use of external consultants by both the

Climategate The Climatic Research Unit email controversy (also known as "Climategate") began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) by an external attacker, copying thousa ...

review and latterly the

Skills Development Scotland Skills Development Scotland (SDS) is the national skills agency of Scotland. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. History Created on 1 April 2008, SDS is a merger of former organisations and services which ...

(SDS)

quango A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where N ...

. He was Deputy Convener of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee until September 2012 when he became Deputy Convener of the Local Government and Regeneration Committee. Wilson opposed the change in SNP policy to support an independent Scotland becoming a member of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. He became an independent MSP in September 2014 after the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. In December 2014, Wilson announced he had joined the

Scottish Greens The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; gd, Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Green Pairtie) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 20 ...

, but would remain in Parliament sitting as an Independent member. In March 2015, the Greens balloted their members to select candidates for the 2016 election, with Wilson placed second on their regional list for Central Scotland. In October 2015 it was announced that he would contest the constituency of Coatbridge and Chryston. He stood for the newly created Gartcosh, Glenboig and Moodiesburn ward in the 2017 Scottish local elections as an independent candidate, but again was unsuccessful. On 25 March 2021, it was announced that Wilson would be a candidate for

Action for Independence Action for Independence (AFI) was a political party in Scotland. It was set up in July 2020 by former Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Dave Thompson to compete at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Fo ...

at the

2021 Scottish Parliament election The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021, under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The ele ...

. The next day, however, following former First Minister of Scotland,

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 ...

's announcement that had joined the

Alba Party The Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland. The party was founded in February 2021, with Alex Salmond (a former first minister of Scotland) announced as party leader shortly thereafter. Salmond lau ...

and his intention to stand for election, the AFI's National Executive announced that they would be standing down all 42 candidates and would support Alba candidates instead.

References

External links

*
profile
on Scottish Green Party {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, John 1956 births Living people Alumni of the University of Glasgow Independent MSPs Scottish Green Party politicians Scottish National Party MSPs Scottish National Party councillors Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Councillors in North Lanarkshire People from Falkirk