Stuart McMillan (born 6 May 1972) is a Scottish politician serving as

Convener The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee since 2021. A member of the

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 th ...

(SNP), he has been 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 add ...

(MSP) for the Greenock and Inverclyde since

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, having previously represented the West of Scotland region from

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

to 2016.

Early life

Stuart McMillan was born in

Barrow in Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 th ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

, England, on 6 May 1972. He moved to Inverclyde when he was a child, where he attended

Port Glasgow Port Glasgow ( gd, Port Ghlaschu, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most rece ...

High School. After attending Central College of Commerce, Glasgow, he studied at the University of Abertay in Dundee where he graduated with a BA (Hons) in European Business Management with Languages and latterly a MBA. Once graduated he worked for IBM before working for

central office in Westminster. Before being elected in 2007, he was office manager to

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...

Bruce McFee.

Parliamentary career

2007 Scottish Parliament election The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. Local elections in Scotland fe ...

he stood as the SNP candidate for Greenock and Inverclyde constituency, beaten by Labour's

Duncan McNeil Duncan McNeil (born 7 September 1950) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Greenock and Inverclyde constituency from 1999 until 2016. Career Born in Greenock, McNeil worked as a boil ...

but was then elected on the regional list for the West of Scotland region. He contested the seat again in the 2011 election which McNeil won with a majority of 511 and McMillan also returned to parliament through the regional list. Stuart was elected as the MSP for Greenock & Inverclyde on 5 May 2016 with a 53.7% vote share and a majority of 8,230, becoming the first SNP member to win this constituency at the Scottish Parliament. During his time as an MSP, Stuart has led campaigns on a number of issues in Inverclyde including a campaign to reduce the price of fuel in the area, improving the trunk road network, increasing marine tourism and tackling drug misuse. He has also been very vocal in his support for action to be taken against the rise of fixed-odds betting terminals, securing a victory in 2018 when the UK Government finally agreed to limit the maximum stake to £2. In 2014, McMillan led a Members' Debate in the Scottish Parliament calling on the Scottish and Westminster Government's to take action on, what he described as "cash cows" for bookmakers. He has also lobbied the Scottish Government for money to support flood prevention measures in Inverclyde. At McMillan's request, Inverclyde Council agreed to invite former gamblers into secondary schools to speak to pupils about the dangers of gambling. In 2014, McMillan also led a Members' Debate in the Scottish Parliament on the increasing reliance of food banks in Scotland. He was the first MSP to raise the issue in the Scottish Parliament and continues to work with and support the local foodbanks. At present, Stuart is the Deputy Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee and is also a member of the COVID-19 Committee and also Convenes the Cross-Party Groups on Tourism, Visual Impairment and Recreational Boating and Marine Tourism. Stuart is also the Scottish Parliament's Parliamentary Piper and plays the pipes at official functions for the Parliament. In 2017, Stuart toured the country and played the pipes at all 42 senior football grounds in Scotland raising money for charity. Stuart is a lifetime honorary member of Action on Asbestos and is currently taking forward a Member's Bill to recovery the NHS the medical costs relating to industrial disease. On 3 May 2015 he was elected to the board of Moving on Inverclyde, a charity which supports recovery from problematic substance use (drugs and alcohol). In November 2020, McMillan condemned

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

leader

Willie Rennie William Cowan Rennie (born 27 September 1967), commonly known as Willie Rennie, is a Scottish politician who served as the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2011 to 2021. He has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MS ...

for claims of "anti-English rhetoric" by the SNP during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. McMillan, who was born in Cumbria, said: "As an English Scot I'd like to put on record my anger and disgust at the comments from Willie Rennie at the weekend. In his appalling attempt to bring naked constitutional politics into

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

was ill-befitting of any party leader in this chamber. I'm sure that Willie Rennie will not have found the FM or any SNP politician spouting the rubbish that he claimed at the weekend. I quote from Mr Rennie: 'Anti-English rhetoric has reared its ugly head at different points throughout this crisis and there is no place for it.' Just as he is not responsible for the comments of his supporters, there is no party leader in this parliament that is responsible for the people who support them. Similarly, no party leader is responsible for people who are not members of their party in supporting their particular cause."

References

External links

*
Stuart McMillan MSP's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMillan, Stuart 1972 births Living people People from Barrow-in-Furness People from Port Glasgow Alumni of Abertay University Scottish National Party MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026