Stewart MacDonald is a

Scottish Labour Party 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 o ...

local government councillor. He was elected to the East Kirkintilloch and Twechar Ward of

East Dunbartonshire East Dunbartonshire ( sco, Aest Dunbartanshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north of Glasgow and contains many of the affluent areas to the north of the city, including Bear ...

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

in the 2007 election. He is also a member of

Kirkintilloch Kirkintilloch (; sco, Kirkintulloch; gd, Cair Cheann Tulaich) is a town and former barony burgh in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal and on the south side of Strathkelvin, about northeast of central Glasgow. ...

Community Council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In ...

and the Bridgeton Burns Club, and was a director of the East Dunbartonshire Municipal Bank between 2007 and 2015 and the East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust from 2010 to the present.

Early life

MacDonald was born in Glasgow in 1967 and educated at

Lenzie Academy Lenzie Academy is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school located in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. The catchment area covers Lenzie, Auchinloch and southern parts of Kirkintilloch. Senior management team The school is manage ...

where he was an active member of the School Debating Society, the Pupils' Council, and also worked on the independently funded and published Pupils' Own magazine. He was awarded colours by the school for his work in inter-schools debating competitions. On leaving school, he worked in sales before attending Glasgow Polytechnic in 1989 where he gained an HND in Business Studies. While he was a student, he played drums in a number of rock bands including

Hugh Reed and the Velvet Underpants Hugh Reed and the Velvet Underpants are a cult Glasgow based band who have supported Debbie Harry, Simple Minds, the Fall and John Otway. Biography The band was founded by Hugh O'Hagan, now commonly known as Hugh Reed, c. 1990 from an amalgam ...

. On graduation, he joined

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

as a Management Trainee where he worked in Edinburgh, Sheffield, London and Chatham. He left to join

John Menzies John Menzies plc ( , ) is the holding company of Menzies Aviation plc, an aviation services business providing ground handling, cargo handling, cargo forwarding and into-plane (ITP) fuelling, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History The compa ...

in 1993 during which time he ran the

Alness Alness (, ; gd, Alanais) is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in Ross and Cromarty, Scotland. It lies near the mouth of the River Averon, near the Cromarty Firth, with the town of Invergordon 3 miles (5 km) to the east, an ...

store. In 1995, MacDonald joined Gillespie of

Lenzie Lenzie () is an affluent town by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in the East Dunbartonshire council area of Scotland. It is about north-east of Glasgow city centre and south of Kirkintilloch. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 8,873. ...

, becoming

Motability Motability is a charity in the United Kingdom. It oversees Motability Operations Ltd, which runs the Motability Scheme intended to enable disabled people, their families and their carers to lease a new car, scooter or powered wheelchair, usin ...

Specialist after transferring to the Tomkins branch in Glasgow's East End in 1997. The company was taken over by the

Arnold Clark Sir John Arnold Clark (27 November 1927 – 10 April 2017) was a Scottish billionaire businessman. Clark opened a showroom in Glasgow in 1954 and found some success selling cars. He expanded his business and Arnold Clark Automobiles beca ...

organisation in 2006 As Motability Specialist, MacDonald looked after the needs of vehicle users with disabilities throughout their contracts. This experience led to him becoming a volunteer with the Kirkintilloch Citizens' Advice Bureau from 2004 to 2006 and to study Democracy and Social Policy with the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

where he gained a BSc. with Honours. In July 2009, MacDonald left Arnold Clark to work at Airdrie Citizens' Advice Bureau.

Political life

During his time at Glasgow Polytechnic, MacDonald took part in a number of campaigns and demonstrations organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) against the

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

and the abolition of Student Grants. He became a member of Kirkintilloch

in 2003 and stood as Labour's candidate for the Chapelton Ward of

in 2003 where he was defeated by the

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

candidate, Fiona Callison. He took part in the

February 15, 2003 anti-war protest On 15 February 2003, a coordinated day of protests was held across the world in which people in more than 600 cities expressed opposition to the imminent 2003 invasion of Iraq, Iraq War. It was part of a Protests against the Iraq War, series of p ...

march against the invasion of Iraq organised by the

Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group established on 21 September 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks, to campaign against what it believes are unjust wars. The Coalition has c ...

. In 2005, MacDonald gave a speech on behalf of Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East Constituency Labour Party to the Scottish Labour Party Conference on the minimum wage. He is currently vice-chair of the Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East Constituency Labour Party and is a member of the GMB Trade Union.

East Dunbartonshire Council

In the 2007 Local Government Election, MacDonald was returned as one of three councillors for East Kirkintilloch and Twechar Ward, where he also lives. He was re-elected in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. He sits on a number of committees with

including Housing and Community Services, where he is vice-convenor, and the Housing Appeals Panel where he is convenor. He also represents East Dunbartonshire Council on the Hillhead Housing Association and Antonine Housing Association's Management Committees.

References

2007 Local Government Election ResultsPolice EventBearsden and Milngavie Herald report on public planning meetingEast Dunbartonshire Council WebsiteCouncillor MacDonald's websiteEast Dunbartonshire Municipal Bank entry at Companies HouseEast Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust entry at Companies HouseBoard of East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Stewart 1967 births Living people Scottish Labour councillors Councillors in East Dunbartonshire Alumni of the Open University People educated at Lenzie Academy Politicians from Kirkintilloch