Steven Alexander Paterson (born 25 April 1975) is a former

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

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

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

between 2015 and 2017. He was not re-selected by the SNP to contest the Stirling seat at the 2019 general election.

Early life and education

Paterson was born in Stirling Royal Infirmary on 25 April 1975. He is the elder of two children born to Peter Paterson and Janice Paterson (''née'' McGill). His father was an English teacher at St Modan's High School in Stirling as well as a local historian and his mother was a nurse with the local health board. Paterson was educated at Cambusbarron Primary School and

Stirling High School Stirling High School is a state high school for 11- to 18-year-olds run by Stirling Council in Stirling, Scotland. It is one of seven high school#Scotland, high schools in the Stirling district, and has approximately 972 pupils. It is located ...

. He then studied Publishing at

Robert Gordon University Robert Gordon University, commonly called RGU (), is a public university in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It became a university in 1992, and originated from an educational institution founded in the 18th century by Robert Gordon (philanthrop ...

in Aberdeen and History and Politics at Stirling University where he graduated with Honours.

Political career

In 2006, he was appointed as Media and Communications Manager to the SNP MSP

Bruce Crawford Robert Hardie Bruce Crawford (born 16 February 1955) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy from 2011 to 2012, having held the junior ministerial positio ...

. He was elected to Stirling Council in the 2007 Stirling Council election for the Stirling East ward where he topped the poll with 1,821 first preferences. In the 2012 Stirling Council election he was re-elected, again topping the poll, with 1,278 first preferences. In January 2013, Paterson was appointed deputy SNP group leader at Stirling Council. On 15 January 2015, he was chosen as the SNP candidate to contest

constituency at the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

on 7 May. He came first after receiving 23,783 first preference votes with a 45.6% share of the vote to achieve a 10,480 majority over Labour where their incumbent MP, Anne McGuire, retired. On 30 June 2015, he announced his intention to stand down as Councillor for the Stirling East ward. On 1 July 2015, Paterson made his maiden speech in the House of Commons. He was appointed to the SNP Westminster Group's Defence Team which at the time was led by SNP Defence spokesperson

Brendan O'Hara Brendan O'Hara (born 27 April 1963) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He serves as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber since the 2024 United Kingdo ...

. Paterson was defeated at the 2017 General Election by the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

candidate Stephen Kerr who gained the seat by 148 votes.

Controversy

Paterson made national news in late 2016 by claiming expenses of £40 for dog care (This was later found to be an administrative error by one of his staff - Paterson did not own a dog.) and £640 for a chair (later found to be not for 1 chair but for all office furniture including several chairs and desks) and for being the UK's fifth most expensive MP, claiming almost £100,000 in just one year. A local councilor accused Paterson of showing a 'cavalier attitude to taxpayers’ money' whilst others remarked this was more likely to be down to travelling the constituency's vast distances each week to attend surgeries.

References

External links

BBC News Democracy Live

Profile
on SNP website
Public Whip

They Work For You

Westminster profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paterson, Steven 1975 births Living people Alumni of the University of Stirling Alumni of Robert Gordon University Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Stirling constituencies People educated at Stirling High School People from Stirling Scottish National Party councillors Scottish National Party MPs UK MPs 2015–2017