Jean Urquhart

She was born on 17 May 1949 in West Lothian,[1] the daughter of an agricultural engineer. She was educated at Lindsay High School, Bathgate.[2]

In 1999, she stood unsuccessfully as the SNP candidate for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.[3] In the 2003 Parliament election she was eighth on the SNP’s regional list, with only two of these getting seats.[4]

In the 2003 election for the Highland Council she became a SNP member for the Lochbroom Ward.[5] In 2007 she was returned as councillor for Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh.[6] She was then named as vice-convener to lead an Independent/ SNP administration.[7] In 2009 the Steering Group of the UK's first ever Housing Fair appointed her as its chair when this event was held near Inverness.[8][9]

In the 2011 Scottish Parliament Election she stood as the SNP candidate for Shetland.[10] She was elected from the regional list, becoming a SNP Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Highlands and Islands.[11] She was a member of the Scottish National Party until October 2012, when she resigned from the party over the change to the party's NATO policy.[12] She continued as an independent.[13] In 2014, after Urquhart intervened, the Post Office Ltd made its mortgage service available to people in Bute, Lewis, Harris, Orkney, Shetland, Arran, Mull and Islay.[14] in 2015 she raised the issue of the safety of sex workers, suggesting that legislation could be introduced that would enable some transformative actions be taken.[15]

In October 2015 it was reported that she would not be seeking re-election to the Scottish Parliament in 2016.[16] The following month, having become a member of RISE – Scotland's Left Alliance, she became involved with drawing up its Highlands and Islands manifesto for this election.[17] In January 2016 RISE announced their candidates, with Urquhart named as their lead for the Highlands and Islands regional list.[18] RISE were not successful in electing any of their candidates in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

She had been awarded a MBE in 1990 for services to the arts and the community, in recognition of the work she and her husband and others put in to establish The Ceilidh Place as a centre for the arts and tourism. She was later offered an OBE but turned it down.[19] In 2015, it was reported that she had decided to hand back her MBE, explaining that the awards system did not recognise the efforts of the many other people that had been involved.[20]

She received an honorary fellowship from the University of the Highlands and Islands in 2006.[21]

Since 1973 she has managed "The Ceilidh Place",[13] a hotel in Ullapool which was named Venue of the Year at the Scots Trad awards in December 2014 for its championing of Scottish culture all year round.[22] She was married to Robert Urquhart, a well-known Scottish actor in British film, stage and television, who died in 1995.

In 2000 she took a Scottish Studies course at Newbattle Abbey College.[23] In 2017 she completed an art course and some of her work was exhibited in Ullapool following this.[24]

• Jean Urquhart's blog
• 2017 interview with Liz Thomson