Deidre_Brock

Deidre Brock

Deidre Brock

Australian-born Scottish National Party politician

Deidre Leanne Brock (born 8 December 1961)[1] is an Australian-born Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh North and Leith in May 2015 — the first SNP representative to hold the seat at either a Westminster or Scottish Parliament level.[2] She has been the SNP House of Commons Business Spokesperson since December 2022.[3]

Quick Facts MP, SNP Spokesperson for House of Commons Business ...

Early life

Brock was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. Her father had emigrated from England to Australia in his teens.[4] Hence, she is a dual British and Australian national.[4] She studied English at Curtin University and graduated with a BA, then studied acting at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.[5] In 1990, while working as an actress she appeared in an episode of the soap opera Home and Away. She moved to Scotland in 1996 to live with her partner, having met him when she visited the country on holiday a year earlier.[5]

Political career

Brock worked for Rob Gibson MSP before she was elected to the City of Edinburgh Council as an SNP councillor for the Leith Walk ward in 2007. She topped the poll with 2,550 first preferences. She was re-elected in the 2012 elections, again topping the poll with 1,735 first preferences, and subsequently became the Deputy Lord Provost of Edinburgh as the SNP and Scottish Labour formed an arrangement to run the council.[6]

She was elected MP for Edinburgh North and Leith in 2015 as part of the SNP landslide, receiving 23,742 votes (a 40.9% share) and defeating the Labour Party MP, Mark Lazarowicz, by 5,597 votes and a majority of 9.6%.[7][8] Brock was one of several SNP MPs who took their parliamentary oaths in both Gaelic and English.[9] She was re-elected MP for the same constituency in 2017 with 19,243 votes (34% share) and a 1,625 (2.9%) vote majority over the second-placed Labour candidate.[10] Brock was elected in the 2019 general election, greatly increasing her majority by over 10,000 votes to 12,808 (21.6%) and receiving 25,925 votes in total, giving a vote share of 43.7% – her highest in the seat to date.

Brock is currently the Shadow SNP Spokesperson for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. She was previously the Spokesperson for Devolved Government Relations, Northern Ireland and Fair Work and Employment.[11][12]

Other activities

She has been a board member for the Edinburgh International Festival Council, the Centre for the Moving Image, and Creative Edinburgh.[13][14]

References

  1. [1]
    Dale, Iain; Smith, Jacqui (14 November 2019). The Honourable Ladies: Volume II: Profiles of Women MPS 1997–2019. ISBN 9781785904479.
  2. [2]
    "List of Members returned to Parliament at the General Election 2015 Scotland". The Edinburgh Gazette. 15 May 2015. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  3. [3]
    SNP, the (10 December 2022). "The real opposition: meet your new SNP Westminster Frontbench". Scottish National Party. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  4. [4]
    "Commons people: Meet the Aussie MPs in the British Parliament". Australian Financial Review. 25 January 2019. Archived from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  5. [5]
    Hannan, Martin (29 May 2015). "Meet your new Scottish MPs: #15 Deirdre Brock Edinburgh North and Leith". The National. Archived from the original on 23 August 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  6. [6]
    "Deidre Brock". politics.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  7. [7]
    "Edinburgh North and Leith Parliamentary constituency". BBC. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  8. [8]
    Tufft, Ben (8 May 2015). "Scottish MPs in Westminster: The full list of the SNP parliamentarians". The Independent. Archived from the original on 11 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  9. [9]
    "New SNP MPs swear oath to the crown in Westminster allegiance ceremony". CommonSpace. 20 May 2015. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  10. [10]
    "Edinburgh North & Leith parliamentary constituency - Election 2017". BBC News. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  11. [11]
    "New appointments this week in UK politics, the civil service and public affairs". PoliticsHome.com. 9 July 2018. Archived from the original on 7 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  12. [12]
    "Scottish National Party Spokespersons". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  13. [13]
    "An Australian MP in Scotland". Australian Times. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  14. [14]
    "Five SNP MPs to watch". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
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