I have been privileged to represent in Parliament the area which has been my home for over 30 years.

Full statement

I was brought up in Coatbridge and studied at Glasgow University where I met Fiona, a medical student from Glenrothes. After we got engaged I moved to Glenrothes in 1983 and the following year we got married. Fiona has now been a GP in the area for over 25 years as well as being one of Fife’s longest serving councillors.

I joined the SNP in 1987 because I believed, as I still do, that Scotland will be a better place for all of us when decisions about Scotland are taken by the people who live here. For 23 years I represented part of my present constituency as a Councillor. I had the privilege to serve as the council’s SNP Group Leader from 2007 until 2015, including five years as Leader of the Council.

​In 2015 I was elected to the UK Parliament as MP for Glenrothes and Central Fife. During my time as an MP I have been a member of the SNP foreign affairs team, as well as sitting on the European Scrutiny Committee and then the Committee for Exiting the European Union.

Before being elected as MP for Glenrothes and Central Fife I worked in public sector finance alongside my work as a local Councillor. I previously trained as a physics teacher before qualifying as an accountant. Although working as your MP has taken up most of my time in the last two years, I enjoy a game of bowls or a night at the local folk club, with or without my fiddle, when I get the chance.