Fiona O'Donnell (née Kenny; born 27 January 1960) 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 ...

politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

from

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. 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 in 2017.

Early life

Born in

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "H ...

, British Columbia but raised in Fort William, Scotland since the age of five, O'Donnell was educated at Lochaber High School and the University of Glasgow.

Political career

At the 2010 general election, O'Donnell succeeded

Anne Moffat Anne Moffat (born 30 March 1958) is a Scottish Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian from 2001 to 2010. She was deselected by her Constituency Labour Party and replaced by Fiona O'Donnell. Early life ...

, 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'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

Standards and Privileges Committee The Standards and Privileges Committee is a former committee of the United Kingdom House of Commons that existed from 1995 to 2013. The committee was established in 1995 to replace the earlier Committee of Privileges. It consisted of 10 Members of ...

, the Committees on Arms Export Controls and the

Scottish Affairs Select Committee The Scottish Affairs Select Committee is a Select committee (United Kingdom), select committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the e ...

. 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 whi ...

. O'Donnell lost her seat at the 2015 general election with a swing of over 20% to 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 ...

candidate

George Kerevan George Kerevan (born 28 September 1949) is a Scottish journalist, economist, and politician. He was the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian from 2015, until he lost his seat at the snap 2017 general electio ...

. She contested the seat of Galloway and West Dumfries at the

2016 Scottish Parliament election The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary electi ...

, but finished in third-place behind the Scottish Conservative and Scottish National Party candidates. O'Donnell was selected as a Labour candidate for Preston, Seton and Gosford on East Lothian Council 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