Ross Finnie
Encyclopedia
Ross Finnie is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician and former Member of the Scottish Parliament
. He is a former Minister for the Environment and Rural Development in the Scottish Executive, and Member
of the Scottish Parliament
for the West of Scotland region. He became an MSP in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament
in 1999, and held the same ministerial portfolio until May 2007.
and financial adviser
, he was a councillor
in Inverclyde
from 1977 to 1999. He also previously chaired the Scottish Liberals
, before chairing the Scottish Liberal Democrats
.
at the first elections in 1999. He came second in the Greenock and Inverclyde
constituency, but was elected as an additional member for the West of Scotland region
. He was re-elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2003 and 2007.
Following the 1999 election, the Scottish Liberal Democrats entered into a coalition agreement with the Scottish Labour Party
, gaining two seats in the Scottish Cabinet. Finnie was appointed Minister for Rural Development in the first Scottish cabinet by then First Minister, Donald Dewar
Finnie has retained his position in the Cabinet since 1999 until the Labour-Liberal Democrat government lost power in 2007, making him the longest-serving member of the Scottish cabinet, other than Jack McConnell
who was First Minister.
One of the main events in Finnie's time as Minister for Environment and Rural Affairs was the outbreak of foot and mouth
in the UK during 2001. Scotland was praised for its response and handling of the crisis.
In January 2004, Finnie took a three-month absence from office to undergo heart bypass surgery and returned in April, after deputy minister Allan Wilson
had fulfilled Finnie's ministerial duties.
Finnie was unsuccessful in his bid to be re-elected in the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, losing his seat after 12 years.
, following the resignation of Nicol Stephen
MSP
. On 26 August 2008, he was defeated by Tavish Scott
.
an "English prat".
Later that month, Finnie apologised for giving wrong information to the Scottish Parliament during a debate. He had told Parliament that that sheep were no longer grazing on the banks of Loch Katrine
, which provides Glasgow
with its drinking water (a previous outbreak of the cryptosporidium
bug in the Loch was believed to have been caused by livestock grazing at the Loch's shores). However, Scottish Water
later contacted him to say that the sheep were still there and would not be removed until September 2007. Both the SNP
and the Scottish Conservatives made calls for Finnie to be sacked, although the First Minister, Jack McConnell
gave him his support.
In June 2006, Finnie cancelled a tender for a new fishery protection vessel for the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency
. The tender has been provisionally awarded to English firm Appledore, but Finnie claimed there was a "fatal flaw" in the tendering process which could have left the Executive liable for damages if the tender had proceeded. However, the Scotland on Sunday
reported that a rival bidder, Port Glasgow
based Ferguson's was both in Finnie's constituency, and that he was a lifelong friend of the chief executive.
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
. He is a former Minister for the Environment and Rural Development in the Scottish Executive, and Member
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
of the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
for the West of Scotland region. He became an MSP in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
in 1999, and held the same ministerial portfolio until May 2007.
Background
Previously a self-employed chartered accountantChartered Accountant
Chartered Accountants were the first accountants to form a professional body, initially established in Britain in 1854. The Edinburgh Society of Accountants , the Glasgow Institute of Accountants and Actuaries and the Aberdeen Society of Accountants were each granted a royal charter almost from...
and financial adviser
Financial adviser
A financial adviser, is a professional who renders financial services to individuals, businesses and governments. This can involve investment advice, which may include pension planning, and/or advice on life insurance and other insurances such as income protection insurance, critical illness...
, he was a councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
in Inverclyde
Inverclyde
Inverclyde is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire - which current exists as a registration county and lieutenancy area - located in the west...
from 1977 to 1999. He also previously chaired the Scottish Liberals
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
, before chairing the Scottish Liberal Democrats
Scottish Liberal Democrats
The Scottish Liberal Democrats are one of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats; the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Democrats in England...
.
Member of the Scottish Parliament
He stood for election to the Scottish ParliamentScottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
at the first elections in 1999. He came second in the Greenock and Inverclyde
Greenock and Inverclyde (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Greenock and Inverclyde is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the first past the post method of election...
constituency, but was elected as an additional member for the West of Scotland region
West of Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)
West of Scotland is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament which were created in 1999. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament...
. He was re-elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2003 and 2007.
Following the 1999 election, the Scottish Liberal Democrats entered into a coalition agreement with the Scottish Labour Party
Scottish Labour Party
The Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....
, gaining two seats in the Scottish Cabinet. Finnie was appointed Minister for Rural Development in the first Scottish cabinet by then First Minister, Donald Dewar
Donald Dewar
Donald Campbell Dewar was a British politician who served as a Labour Party Member of Parliament in Scotland from 1966-1970, and then again from 1978 until his death in 2000. He served in Tony Blair's cabinet as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1997-1999 and was instrumental in the creation...
Finnie has retained his position in the Cabinet since 1999 until the Labour-Liberal Democrat government lost power in 2007, making him the longest-serving member of the Scottish cabinet, other than Jack McConnell
Jack McConnell
Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale is a British Labour life peer in the House of Lords. He was third First Minister of Scotland from 2001 to 2007, making him the longest serving First Minister in the history of the Scottish Parliament...
who was First Minister.
One of the main events in Finnie's time as Minister for Environment and Rural Affairs was the outbreak of foot and mouth
2001 UK foot and mouth crisis
The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease in farms in most of the British countryside. Over 10 million sheep and cattle were killed in an eventually successful attempt to...
in the UK during 2001. Scotland was praised for its response and handling of the crisis.
In January 2004, Finnie took a three-month absence from office to undergo heart bypass surgery and returned in April, after deputy minister Allan Wilson
Allan Wilson
Allan Charles Wilson was a pioneer in the use of molecular approaches to understand evolutionary change and reconstruct phylogenies, and a contributor to the study of human evolution. He was one of the most controversial figures in post-war biology; his work attracted a great deal of attention...
had fulfilled Finnie's ministerial duties.
Finnie was unsuccessful in his bid to be re-elected in the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, losing his seat after 12 years.
Leadership contest
On 7 July 2008, Ross Finnie announced his intention to stand in the election for leader of the Scottish Liberal DemocratsScottish Liberal Democrats
The Scottish Liberal Democrats are one of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats; the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Democrats in England...
, following the resignation of Nicol Stephen
Nicol Stephen
Nicol Ross Stephen, Baron Stephen of Lower Deeside in the City of Aberdeen is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Aberdeen South, and was leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2005 to 2008...
MSP
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
. On 26 August 2008, he was defeated by Tavish Scott
Tavish Scott
Tavish Hamilton Scott MSP is a Scottish politician and MSP for Shetland. He was Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2008 to 2011...
.
Controversies
In September 2002, Finnie was forced to apologise for branding the director general of the Confederation of British IndustryConfederation of British Industry
The Confederation of British Industry is a British not for profit organisation incorporated by Royal charter which promotes the interests of its members, some 200,000 British businesses, a figure which includes some 80% of FTSE 100 companies and around 50% of FTSE 350 companies.-Role:The CBI works...
an "English prat".
Later that month, Finnie apologised for giving wrong information to the Scottish Parliament during a debate. He had told Parliament that that sheep were no longer grazing on the banks of Loch Katrine
Loch Katrine
Loch Katrine is a freshwater loch in the district of Stirling, Scotland. It is roughly 8 miles long by 2/3 of a mile wide and runs the length of Strath Gartney...
, which provides Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
with its drinking water (a previous outbreak of the cryptosporidium
Cryptosporidium
Cryptosporidium is a protozoan that can cause gastro-intestinal illness with diarrhea in humans.Cryptosporidium is the organism most commonly isolated in HIV positive patients presenting with diarrhea...
bug in the Loch was believed to have been caused by livestock grazing at the Loch's shores). However, Scottish Water
Scottish Water
Scottish Water is a statutory corporation in Scotland that provides water and sewerage services. Unlike in England and Wales, water and sewerage provision in Scotland continues as a public corporation accountable to the public through the Scottish Government....
later contacted him to say that the sheep were still there and would not be removed until September 2007. Both the SNP
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
and the Scottish Conservatives made calls for Finnie to be sacked, although the First Minister, Jack McConnell
Jack McConnell
Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale is a British Labour life peer in the House of Lords. He was third First Minister of Scotland from 2001 to 2007, making him the longest serving First Minister in the history of the Scottish Parliament...
gave him his support.
In June 2006, Finnie cancelled a tender for a new fishery protection vessel for the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency
Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency
The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency was an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. The SFPA is responsible for both deterring illegal fishing in Scottish waters, as well as monitoring the compliance of the fisheries industry in Scotland with the relevant Scottish and European Union laws...
. The tender has been provisionally awarded to English firm Appledore, but Finnie claimed there was a "fatal flaw" in the tendering process which could have left the Executive liable for damages if the tender had proceeded. However, the Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by The Scotsman Publications Ltd and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate The Scotsman...
reported that a rival bidder, Port Glasgow
Port Glasgow
Port Glasgow is the second largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16617 persons...
based Ferguson's was both in Finnie's constituency, and that he was a lifelong friend of the chief executive.
External links
- Ross Finnie MSP official biography at the Scottish Parliament website
- Ross Finnie MSP Biography at Scottish Liberal Democrats website