Tavish Scott

Scott was born on 6 May 1966 in Inverness, Scotland, he attended Anderson High School, Lerwick, Shetland and holds a BA (Hons) Business Studies from Napier College in Edinburgh. After graduating, he worked as a parliamentary assistant to Jim Wallace, then Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetland, and later as a Press Officer for the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He then returned to Shetland and became a farmer and also a councillor on Shetland Islands Council and Chairman of the Lerwick Harbour Trust. He is married with three children.[3]

Scott was elected the first Member of the Scottish Parliament for Shetland in May 1999.[4] He was also the first parliamentarian for the Shetland Islands as a distinct entity; up to that point there had only been a single UK parliamentary constituency for both Orkney and Shetland. He served as a Deputy Minister for Parliament in the Scottish Executive from 2000 to 2001 in succession to his colleague Iain Smith, but resigned after refusing to support the Executive in a vote in the Parliament on a tie-up scheme for fishing.

Tavish Scott as a government minister

In 2003, he returned to the Scottish Executive as Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Services. During his time there his department piloted the Local Governance (Scotland) Act, which changed the elections for local authorities in Scotland to a proportional representation system. Following Nicol Stephen's election as party leader and succession as Deputy First Minister of Scotland in 2005, Scott was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Transport. He was re-elected with an increased majority in May 2007,[5] and held the largest margin by percentage, 50.1%, of any MSP over their closest challenger.

After the resignation of his friend and former ministerial colleague Nicol Stephen, Scott declared his candidacy for the leadership of the Scottish Liberal Democrats on 7 July 2008 at Lerwick harbour, surrounded by a group of men dressed as Vikings which is a tradition in Shetland called Up Helly Aa where Shetlanders celebrate their Viking heritage.[6] On 26 August 2008, he was announced the winner of the leadership contest with 59% (1,450) of the votes.[7]

Following what he described as a "disastrous" set of results for the Scottish Liberal Democrats in the Scottish elections in May 2011, Scott offered his resignation as leader (remaining a Member of the Scottish Parliament).[8] He claimed the poor showings were in part due to the coalition deal which saw the Liberal Democrats form a government with the Conservatives after the 2010 United Kingdom general election.

In the run-up to the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum, Scott was a keen advocate of a "No" vote as well as recognition that whatever the outcome of the referendum there ought to be a recognition of "Northern Isles’ right to determine their own future."[9] At the Liberal Democrat party conference in 2013 put forward a motion with fellow MSP Liam McArthur to recognise the Islands had a "separate right to self-determination"[10] Scott said that his preferred outcome was for Shetland to become a crown dependency of the UK with its own parliament,[10] and was backed by the cross-party Wir Shetland movement that campaigns for crown dependency status.[11]

Scott announced in June 2019 that he would be resigning from the Scottish Parliament to take a position with the Scottish Rugby Union.[12]

• 1986–1989: Napier College
• 1989–1990: Parliamentary researcher to Jim Wallace MP for Orkney and Shetland, House of Commons
• 1990–1992: Press Officer, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Edinburgh
• 1992–1999: Farmer, Shetland family farm
• 1994–1999: Chairman and Trustee, Lerwick Harbour Trust
• 1994–1999: Councillor for Lerwick Harbour and Bressay ward on Shetland Islands Council
  • Vice-chairman of the Roads and Transport Committee
• 1997–1999: Director, Shetland Islands Tourism
• 1999–2019: Member of the Scottish Parliament for Shetland
• 2000–2001: Deputy Minister for Scottish Parliament
• 2003–2005: Deputy Minister for Finance, Public Services and Parliamentary Business
• 2005–2007: Minister for Transport
• 2007–2008: Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth
  • Convenor of the Scottish Parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee
• 2008–2011: Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
• 2011–2019: Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesman for business and the economy

• Tavish Scott MSP official biography at the Scottish Parliament website
• Tavish Scott MSP profile at the site of Scottish Liberal Democrats