Fiona O'Donnell (née Kenny; born 27 January 1960) is a Scottish Labour Party politician who served as the

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 o ...

(MP) for East Lothian from 2010 to 2015. She served as the Shadow Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries from 2011 to 2012, and was elected as a Member of

East Lothian Council East Lothian Council is one of the 32 local government councils in Scotland covering the East Lothian area. Since the last boundary changes in 2017, 22 councillors have been elected from 6 wards. History East Lothian District Council had been ...

in 2017.

Early life

Born in Nanaimo,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

but raised in

Fort William, Scotland Fort William ( gd, An Gearasdan ; "The Garrison") formerly ( gd, Baile Mairi) and ( gd, Gearasdan dubh Inbhir-Lochaidh) (Lit. "The Black Garrison of Inverlochy"), ( sco, The Fort), formerly ( sco, Maryburgh) is a town in Lochaber in the Scottish ...

since the age of five, O'Donnell was educated at Lochaber High School and 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 , ...

Political career

At the 2010 general election, O'Donnell succeeded Anne Moffat, who was deselected by the constituency party in January, as the MP for East Lothian with a majority of over 12,000. She briefly served on

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliban ...

's front bench as the Shadow Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries from October 2011 to June 2012. O'Donnell sat on various parliamentary select committees, including the

International Development Committee The International Development Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the Committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the international aid functions of ...

, the Standards and Privileges Committee, the

Committees on Arms Export Controls The Committees on Arms Export Controls (formerly the Quadripartite Committee) is the name for the concurrent meeting of four House of Commons select committees, comprising the International Trade Select Committee, the Defence Select Committee, t ...

and the Scottish Affairs Select Committee. In the final week of the 2010-15 Parliament, she introduced a proposed Bill on improving tax transparency under the

Ten Minute Rule The Ten Minute Rule, also known as Standing Order No. 23, is a procedure in the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the introduction of Private Member's Bills in addition to the 20 per session normally permissible. It is one of the ways in whic ...

. O'Donnell lost her seat at the 2015 general election with a swing of over 20% to the Scottish National Party candidate George Kerevan. She contested the seat of Galloway and West Dumfries at the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, but finished in third-place behind the

Scottish Conservative The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...

and Scottish National Party candidates. O'Donnell was selected as a Labour candidate for Preston, Seton and Gosford on

in November 2016, and won the seat at the May 2017 local elections.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, Fiona 1960 births Alumni of the University of Glasgow Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies People educated at Lochaber High School Living people People from Fort William, Highland People from Nanaimo Scottish Labour MPs UK MPs 2010–2015 21st-century Scottish women politicians 21st-century Scottish politicians Scottish Labour councillors People from East Lothian Women councillors in Scotland