Margaret Jean Burgess (born 7 December 1949) is a former
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. She was the
Minister for Housing and Welfare from 2012 to 2016, and the
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
Cunninghame South constituency from 2011 to 2016.
Early life
Burgess was born on 7 December 1949 in
Ayrshire
Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...
, Scotland.
She worked as a
Citizens Advice
Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this nation ...
manager in East Ayrshire.
Political career
She was elected in the
2011 election.
On 5 September 2012 she was appointed as
Minister for Housing and Welfare, a portfolio intended to reflect the important role of housing in aiding economic recovery and the challenges that face those in poverty. During her time in office, the
Scottish Government remained on course to exceed its affordable homebuilding target and improvements were made to the planning system.
In June 2015, Burgess announced that she would retire from Holyrood at the
2016 election.
She pledged "full support for whoever is selected" as the new SNP candidate for her seat, and said "I look forward to joining the new candidate on the campaign trail.
On 18 May 2016 the housing and welfare junior ministerial briefs were reallocated as part of a Cabinet reshuffle.
References
External links
*
archiveof personal MSP webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, Margaret
1949 births
Living people
People from East Ayrshire
Scottish National Party MSPs
Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016
Ministers of the Scottish Government
Women members of the Scottish Government