Mark Ballard (born 27 June 1971) is a former
Scottish Green Party
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 ...
politician. He was a
Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the
Lothians region from 2003 to 2007, and co-convener of the Edinburgh
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 ...
from 2007 to 2010. He was
Lord Rector of the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
from 2006 to 2009, and now works for the children's charity
Children 1st
Children 1st, previously known as the Royal Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, is a Scottish charity which aims to give every child in Scotland a safe and secure childhood. Children 1st supports families under stress, protects ...
.
Early life
Ballard was born in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
, England on 27 June 1971. During his childhood he lived in
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
(1973–1975) and
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
(1984–1985).
Education and early career
He attended
Lawnswood
Lawnswood is a small suburb in the north west of the city of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. As such it is north north east of the West Yorkshire Urban Area. The suburb falls within the Adel and Wharefdale Ward of the City of Leeds Council.
...
Comprehensive school in Leeds before going on to the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, where he graduated with an MA (Hons) in Economic and Social History.
He is a life member of the Edinburgh University Union, part of the
Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA).
Between 1994 and 1998 he worked for European Youth Forest Action (now
European Youth For Action European Youth For Action (EYFA) is an environmental youth network in Europe. It is based in Amsterdam and has partner organizations in 18 European countries.
History
EYFA started in 1985 as the European Youth Forest Action; a campaign organised ...
) in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
and
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
. From 1999 until 2001 he worked as editor of the journal ''
Reforesting Scotland
Reforesting Scotland is a membership organisation concerned with the ecological and social regeneration of Scotland. It aims to significantly increase the forested areas of the country.
History
Reforesting Scotland is an environmental charity est ...
'' before setting up an environmental communications consultancy company that ran until 2003.
Political career
He joined the youth wing of the
Labour Party when he was 15 and remained a member until 1991. At this point he became involved in the
Scottish Green Party
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 ...
's student movement. He ran as a candidate for this party in the 1995
council elections, the 1999
Scottish Parliamentary election and a 2001 council by-election. He was first elected in the
2003 Holyrood election, as the second Green MSP in the Lothians.
He was a member of the
Scottish Parliament ''Finance Committee''
and was also substitute member of the Enterprise and Culture Committee.
He committed substantial time to promoting social enterprises and co-operatives, as a Green alternative to the current system. He also used the position to call for sustainable procurement guidelines, support ethical investment campaigns, and make the case for Scottish utilities being in public ownership.
As the Green speaker on Transport, Ballard supported campaigns against the Dalkeith by-pass and the M74, for the trams in Edinburgh and for a better and cheaper public transport system. As a Lothians MSP he helped raise awareness of community initiatives such as the campaign to resist a huge
superstore development in
Portobello
Portobello, Porto Bello, Porto Belo, Portabello, or Portabella may refer to:
Places Brazil
* Porto Belo
Ireland
* Portobello, Dublin
* Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin formerly ''Portobello Barracks''
New Zealand
* Portobello, New Zealand, on Ot ...
, supporting the calls for congestion charging in Edinburgh, assisting universities wanting to make the switch to Fairtrade and opposing tuition fees for students. The latter in particular helped him win support amongst Edinburgh's student community.
Campaigning work
Ballard has also been involved in
direct action campaigning, most notably against British
nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
s on the
River Clyde at
Faslane. He was arrested at
Faslane several times, as part of the
CND
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...
'Big Blockade', and in August 2004 he and three other MSPs were among dozens of protesters arrested. He was involved in a long-running court case over the destruction of a field of
rapeseed
Rapeseed (''Brassica napus ''subsp.'' napus''), also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains a ...
at the
Roslin Institute
The Roslin Institute is an animal sciences research institute at Easter Bush, Midlothian, Scotland, part of the University of Edinburgh, and is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
It is best known for creat ...
near
Dalkeith in 1999. Although initially found guilty of "wilfully and recklessly" destroying plants belonging to
Monsanto Company, all charges were quashed due to a delay in the hearing of the appeal, which Mr Ballard claimed was because the Crown was unable to provide relevant evidence.
Ballard's Parliamentary Register of Interests indicated that he held membership of several organisations, including:
Friends of the Earth,
Sustrans
Sustrans is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network.
Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created of signed cycle routes throughout the United K ...
,
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...
,
Democratic Left Scotland
Democratic Left Scotland ''(na Deamocrataich Chli na Alba)'' is a non-party political organisation, membership of which is open to both those who belong to political parties and those who do not. DLS has members and supporters in the Scottish Gree ...
,
Reforesting Scotland
Reforesting Scotland is a membership organisation concerned with the ecological and social regeneration of Scotland. It aims to significantly increase the forested areas of the country.
History
Reforesting Scotland is an environmental charity est ...
,
Water of Leith Conservation Trust,
Friends of Inverleith Park,
SSPCA,
Advocates for Animals
OneKind is a campaigning animal welfare charity based in Edinburgh and operating in Scotland, UK and as part of the Eurogroup for Animals
Eurogroup for Animals is an animal protection lobby group based in Brussels, Belgium, that seeks to imp ...
and
Scottish Education and Action for Development. Until 2005 he was also an unpaid director of UK charity Seeds for Change, treasurer of the
Scottish Environmental Festivals association and is on the editorial board of the
Scottish Left Review
The ''Scottish Left Review'' is a bi-monthly magazine publication of the Scottish left. It was established in 2000 by several prominent left-wing figures, including Bob Thomson, Henry McCubbin, Jimmy Reid, Roseanna Cunningham, and John McAllion. ...
, a bi-monthly cross-party journal of the Scottish left.
Rector of the University of Edinburgh
In February 2006 he stood for election as
Rector the University of Edinburgh standing against MP for
Henley Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
, pro-
Palestine journalist
John Pilger
John Richard Pilger (; born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist, writer, scholar, and documentary filmmaker. He has been mainly based in Britain since 1962. He was also once visiting professor at Cornell University in New York.
Pilge ...
and former ''
Scotsman
The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded ...
'' editor
Magnus Linklater
Magnus Duncan Linklater, CBE (born 21 February 1942) is a Scottish journalist, writer, and former newspaper editor.
Early life and education
Linklater was born in Orkney, and is the son of Scottish writer Eric Linklater and arts campaigner Marjo ...
. The profile of the
Rectorial election had been raised by Johnson's candidature.
The election took place on 15 and 16 February 2006, with a record turn out of almost 8000.
A system of
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 ...
was used. In the final round Mark Ballard received 3,597 votes against Magnus Linklater's 3,052 and was elected.
He was formally installed on 9 June 2006 in a ceremony in the university's Old College. Present at this ceremony were the Chancellor of the university, HRH
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
, the University Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor
Timothy O'Shea
Sir Timothy Michael Martin O'Shea (born 28 March 1949, Hamburg, Germany) is a British computer scientist and academic. He was the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 2002 to 2018.
Biography
O'Shea grew up in L ...
, and Mark Ballard's predecessor as Rector, Labour MP
Tam Dalyell
Sir Thomas Dalyell, 11th Baronet, , ( ; 9 August 1932 – 26 January 2017), known as Tam Dalyell, was a Scottish Labour Party politician who was a member of the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005. He represented West Lothian from 1962 to 198 ...
. In this capacity he worked on issues of concern to students and university staff, including playing a prominent role in the movement which led to the complete abolishing of student tuition fees in Scotland in 2008.
He was succeeded as Rector in 2009 by journalist
Iain Macwhirter
Iain Macwhirter (born September 1952) is a Scottish political journalist. He is a political commentator for several newspapers, an author and documentary film and radio presenter and a former Rector of Edinburgh University. He has worked at both ...
, whose campaign drew on many of Ballard's supporters.
Career after Parliament
After the 2007 election, Ballard became head of communications at the
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is the national membership body for Scotland’s charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. SCVO works to support people to take voluntary action to help themselves and other ...
, then was assistant director of
Barnardo's
Barnardo's is a British charity founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children. As of 2013, it raised and spent around £200 million each year running around 900 local services, aimed at helping these same group ...
in Scotland for eight years, before becoming Director of Strategy at
Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland. In November 2017, he became Head of
Save the Children
The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...
in Scotland.
He currently works for the children's charity
Children 1st
Children 1st, previously known as the Royal Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, is a Scottish charity which aims to give every child in Scotland a safe and secure childhood. Children 1st supports families under stress, protects ...
.
Personal life
Ballard has two children.
Selected articles by Mark Ballard
* ''Last Word: New Challenges for the Greens in
Holyrood'', in Meikle, Mandy (ed.), ''
Reforesting Scotland
Reforesting Scotland is a membership organisation concerned with the ecological and social regeneration of Scotland. It aims to significantly increase the forested areas of the country.
History
Reforesting Scotland is an environmental charity est ...
'' Issue 30, Autumn 2003, p. 54.
Charities face tough times while businesses get aid The Herald, 24 July 2009
Can Local tax Ever be Fair?Scottish Left Review
The ''Scottish Left Review'' is a bi-monthly magazine publication of the Scottish left. It was established in 2000 by several prominent left-wing figures, including Bob Thomson, Henry McCubbin, Jimmy Reid, Roseanna Cunningham, and John McAllion. ...
Vote for us!"Scottish Left Review"
Books
* Robert McGeachy and Mark Ballard, ''The Public Affairs Guide to Scotland: Influencing Policy and Legislation'', Welsh Academic Press, 2017
References
External links
*
archiveof www.markballard.org.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, Mark
1971 births
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Living people
Scottish pacifists
Rectors of the University of Edinburgh
People from Leeds
Scottish Green Party MSPs
Scottish Quakers
Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007