Neil Charles Gray (born 16 March 1986) is a Scottish politician who has served as
Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development
The Minister for Europe and International Development is a junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. As a result, the minister does not attend the Scottish Cabinet.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 ...
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 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
, having previously been an
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
, and was educated at
Kirkwall Grammar School
Kirkwall Grammar School is a secondary school in Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland. It was established in . The current school building was opened in 2014.
History
Kirkwall Grammar School was established in 1200 when Bishop Bjarni established a cathed ...
. He graduated from the
University of Stirling
The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built ...
in 2008 with a first-class
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
Honours degree
Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, or ...
in
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
and
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
.
Following his graduation, Gray was employed as a producer and reporter with BBC Radio Orkney from 2003 until 2008.
Political career
Early years
Gray worked as a press and research intern for the SNP parliamentary group at the Scottish Parliament. Grey was also employed by Alex Neil MSP from 2008, being appointed as constituency office manager in 2011.
The selection process for the Airdrie SNP candidacy, which Neil Gray ultimately won, was not without controversy. Former diplomat
Craig Murray
Craig John Murray (born 17 October 1958) is a Scottish author, human rights campaigner, journalist, and former diplomat for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Between 2002 and 2004, he was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan during ...
was nominated as a potential candidate at an Airdrie Branch meeting but did not make the final list as he failed SNP candidate vetting, whereupon he commented that "I think in both Airdrie & Shotts and in Falkirk it's evident who the party hierarchy wants to be the candidate." Former Policeman and SNP Councillor Alan Beveridge resigned from the party in February 2015 after Neil Gray was selected, claiming that there was a "climate of fear, intimidation and false allegations within the party" which were highlighted in the selection process.
Westminster; 2015-2021
In September 2016, Gray as a member of the new
Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster
The Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster was a Joint Select Committee appointed to assess the options contained within an independent assessment report on a proposed major restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster and "make re ...
proposed "the Joint Committee declines to consider a draft Report until it has given full consideration to the possibility of constructing a permanent new Parliamentary building, while finding an alternative future use for the Palace of Westminster; notes that this option was included in the Pre-Feasibility Study and Preliminary Strategic Business Case published in October 2012 but was rejected by the House of Commons Commission and the House of Lords House Committee at that stage; and resolves to apply the same rigorous scrutiny to the possible construction of a new Parliamentary building as it has applied to the other options for delivering the Restoration and Renewal Programme, before making a recommendation about the best option for carrying out the works"; the committee voted 11–1 against this proposal.
In 2017, he held Airdrie and Shotts with a significantly reduced majority of 195 votes, although he did increase that in the 2019 general election to a stronger majority of 5,000 votes over the second-placed Labour candidate.
Gray has campaigned extensively in support of
Roadchef
Roadchef is a company which operates 21 motorway service areas in the United Kingdom. It is the third-largest motorway service area operator in the country, behind Moto and Welcome Break and followed by Extra.
History
Roadchef was founded in J ...
employees, and former employees, who have waited over 20 years for the repayment of money wrongly appropriated by former executive Tim Ingram Hill. On 8 January 2020, he questioned the Prime Minister on the issue, receiving an assurance that the Chancellor would "discuss" the matter with him.
In November 2020, Gray announced that he would be resigning as an MP in order to try and win a seat in the Scottish Parliament 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 ...
. On 23 March 2021, he made his final speech in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
, and was appointed
Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead
The office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead functions as a procedural device to allow a member of Parliament (MP) to resign from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. As members of the House of Commons are forbidden ...
a day later. He is the only SNP member to have held that office. North Lanarkshire Council calculated that his decision to resign as an MP and trigger a by-election cost taxpayers £175,000.
Election to Holyrood
On 7 May 2021, Gray was elected as the MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, finishing ahead of former Scottish Labour leader,
Richard Leonard
Richard Leonard (born January 1962) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), as one of the additional members for the Central Scotland ...
. Following his election, Gray said, as deputy convener of his the SNP's Social Justice and Fairness Commission, that a couple with two children in an independent Scotland could be guaranteed a minimum income of £37,000 annually by the state. He admitted that he had not costed the proposal.
In a ministerial reshuffle on 24 January 2022, Gray was appointed as
Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development
The Minister for Europe and International Development is a junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. As a result, the minister does not attend the Scottish Cabinet.
Parliament of the United Kingdom relocation
Several parties have advocated the relocation of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from its current location at the Palace of Westminster, London, to the English Midlands or Northern England, for economic or other reasons.
A contributing fact ...