Tommy Brennan

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(20 August 1932 – 27 January 2022) was a Scottish trade unionist and political activist. A member of the Labour Party, Brennan was widely known for being the convenor of shop stewards at

Ravenscraig steelworks The Ravenscraig steelworks, operated by Colvilles and from 1967 by British Steel Corporation, consisted of an integrated iron and steel works and a hot strip steel mill. They were located in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Motherwell ...

. He led the fight to save the Scottish steel industry in the 1980s and 1990s, until he was made redundant in 1991, shortly before Ravenscraig's infamous closure. He worked at the plant for a total of 31 years. Brennan was born in Carfin, Lanarkshire on 20 August 1932, as the middle of three brothers. He received an

in the

1991 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1991 were appointments by Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by people of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. They were published on 28 December 1990 for the United Kingdom, N ...

. When asked in 2013 to comment on the death of Margaret Thatcher, who had been accused of betraying steel workers in government, Brennan said: "I have a simple philosophy in life that if you look at every bad situation you may find a little plus there. The one plus I could find about Thatcher was that she brought salmon back to the Clyde – she closed all the industry on either side of it so they couldn't pollute it." Brennan latterly re-emerged as a proponent of

Scottish independence Scottish independence ( gd, Neo-eisimeileachd na h-Alba; sco, Scots unthirldom) is the idea of Scotland as a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom, and refers to the political movement that is campaigning to bring it about. S ...

, ahead of the country's referendum. Brennan died on 27 January 2022, at the age of 89.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brennan, Tommy 1932 births 2022 deaths Scottish trade unionists Labour Party (UK) politicians People from North Lanarkshire