Michael James Marra is 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 ...

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 North East Scotland since

May 2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Early life

Michael Marra was born in Dundee in 1979. He joined the Labour Party as a teenager. Marra was educated at St John's High School, the

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

and 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 ...

. Before becoming an MSP, Marra worked for

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

and the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Dundee.

Political career

Michael Marra was elected as a councillor in Dundee's Lochee ward in 2017. He stood down at the 2022 Scottish Parliament election. Marra previously worked for Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray as an advisor prior to and during the 2011 Scottish Parliamentary election. In November 2020, Marra was confirmed as a candidate on Labour's regional list for the North East, coinciding with his sister

Jenny Marra Jennifer Margaret Marra (born 6 November 1977) is a Scottish politician who served as convener of the Public Audit Committee. A member of the Scottish Labour Party, she was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the North East Scotlan ...

announcing that she would not seek re-election to the Scottish Parliament. On 8 May 2021 Marra was elected as a

(MSP) for North East Scotland. He had been appointed as Education and Skills spokesperson in Scottish Labour's campaign cabinet just before the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections. He was retained as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills after the election. He has described himself as being part of Labour's "soft left". In 2021 Michael Marra won the Holyrood magazine “One For The Watching” award, a newcomer award judged by a panel made up of senior MSPs, journalists, and Scotland’s two top pollsters. In April 2023 it was announced he would take on the role of Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance

Injury Time campaign

Since 2021, Marra has been campaigning for

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

in footballers to be classed as an industrial disease. A study carried out for the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association in 2019 discovered that there was a five-fold increase in Alzheimer’s disease among the former players. Marra had said: “The Scottish Government must recognise that these injuries are a form of industrial disease and allow these players to access the support they need, and deserve.”

Personal life

Michael Marra is married and has three children. He is a lifelong Dundee United supporter. His uncle is the Dundonian folk singer

Michael Marra Michael Marra (17 February 1952 – 23 October 2012) was a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician from Dundee, Scotland. Known as the Bard of Dundee, Marra was a solo performer who toured the UK and performed in arts centres, theatres, folk clu ...

, who died in 2012. Michael Marra has an interest in the history and writings of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

References

External links

* Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Politicians from Dundee Labour MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 {{MSP-stub