Douglas Lumsden

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Douglas Lumsden
MSP
Douglas Lumsden 2021.jpg
Douglas Lumsden swearing his oath in the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament
for North East Scotland
(1 of 7 Regional MSPs)
Incumbent
Assumed office
8 May 2021
Personal details
Born (1971-08-31) 31 August 1971 (age 53)
Aberdeen, Scotland
Political party Scottish Conservatives

Douglas Aaron Lumsden [1] (born 31 August 1971) is a Scottish Conservative Party politician. [2] He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the North East Scotland region since the election in May 2021. [3] He was previously the co-leader of Aberdeen City Council. [3] In February 2025 he was at the centre of a scandal regarding almost a thousand frivolous questions asked of the Scottish government, at an estimated cost of £100,000. [4]

Contents

Early life and education

Douglas was born in Aberdeen on 31 August 1971, to Douglas and June Lumsden. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and Robert Gordon University, where he studied Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

Career

Lumsden worked in the IT industry from 1993 to 2017. It was in 2017 that he was first elected to Aberdeen City Council, as one of three councillors representing the Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee ward. [5] [6] He was co-leader of the council from 2017 until 2021. Lumsden contested the Aberdeen South seat at the 2019 United Kingdom general election and came second. [5]

In December 2020, Lumsden planned to ask the UK government to fund Aberdeen Council directly, bypassing the Scottish government. He was criticised by the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats for disrespecting Scottish devolution; [7] however, the Liberal Democrats also criticised the Scottish government for giving Aberdeen "a horrible and unfair deal on funding". Lumsden claimed that his concern was that "lobbying the Scottish Government and COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) for a fairer funding settlement" has not been taken seriously. [8]

At the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, Lumsden was selected as a list MSP to represent North East Scotland. [2]

On 12 January 2022, Lumsden called for Boris Johnson to resign as party leader and Prime Minister over the Westminster lockdown parties controversy, along with a majority of Scottish Conservative MSPs. [9]

Lumsden remained a councillor and continued to draw both salaries after his election to Holyrood in order to avoid the expense of a by-election. [10] He did not stand at the 2022 Aberdeen City Council election. [11]

Parliamentary Questions Scandal

On Saturday, 8 February 2025, John Boothman, political correspondent for The Sunday Times, reported that Lumsden had submitted nearly 1,000 written questions to the Scottish government in the month of January 2025 alone. [12] It was speculated that AI was used to generate the questions including ones on flagpoles, lightbulbs, deckchairs, jars of honey in the gift shop, and the cost of electric hand dryers. Mr Lumsden denied using AI to generate questions but added that he "would look at any new tools to hold the government to account." [13]

According to The Daily Record, the 987 questions made up more than half of the total questions submitted by all 129 MSPs. [14] Dealing with the questions was estimated to have cost the Scottish Government and taxpayer approximately £100,000.

In his defense, Lumsden said that “It’s legitimate to submit questions to scrutinise the SNP government and Scottish parliament, but I will speak with my team about the volume and if a written question is needed in every instance.” [15] Lumsden claimed "I will continue to ask questions to hold this rotten government to account and won't be silenced when it comes to standing up for the northeast." His holding the rotten government to account included queries about the number of salt and pepper sachets at Holyrood and how it is verified that the beeswax used for the Great Seal of Scotland comes from the parliament's bees. [16] Lumsden did not apologise or react to calls for him to pay for the costs his questions caused. [17]

References

  1. ↑ "General election 2019: Who is standing in Scotland?". BBC News. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Lumsden, Douglas Aaron, (born 31 Aug. 1971), Member (C) North East Scotland, Scottish Parliament, since 2021". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u295986 . Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  3. 1 2 Gossip, Alastair (8 May 2021). "Aberdeen city council co-leader to step down as Tories dominate list vote and Alba miss out". The Press and Journal . Aberdeen. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  4. ↑ Matchett, Connor (8 February 2025). "Tory MSP accussed of using AI app to bombard parliament with almost 1,000 questions". The Scottish Sun. News Group Newspapers. Retrieved 18 February 2025.
  5. 1 2 Aiken, Gregor (4 November 2019). "Aberdeen City Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden replaces Ross Thomson as candidate for Aberdeen South". Press and Journal. Aberdeen Journals Ltd. DC Thomson Media. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  6. ↑ Teale, Andrew. "2017 - Aberdeen". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  7. ↑ O'Toole, Emer (8 December 2020). "Backlash as Tory council co-leader wants to bypass SNP to get cash from Westminster". The National. Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  8. ↑ Gossip, Alastair. "Aberdeen City Council looking to bypass SNP to strike funding deal with Westminster". Press and Journal. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  9. ↑ Green, Chris (12 January 2022). "Majority of Scottish Tories' 31 MSPs at Holyrood now openly calling for the Prime Minister to resign". Twitter. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  10. ↑ Hall, Jamie (17 May 2021). "Former Aberdeen City Council co-leader donates salary to local charities". Evening Express. Aberdeen Journals Ltd. DC Thomson Media. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  11. ↑ "Local government election 2022: Results". Aberdeen City Council. 18 May 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  12. ↑ Boothman, John (8 February 2025). "How one Tory MSP's 'AI' questions cost taxpayers £100,000 — in a month". The Times. Times Newspapers. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  13. ↑ Macaskill, Mark (10 February 2025). "Tory MSP bombarded ministers with 987 random questions 'at cost of £100,000 to tax payer'". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 18 February 2025.
  14. ↑ Hutcheon, Paul (9 February 2025). "Tory MSP cost taxpayer £100,000 after submitting over 900 "spurios" questions in a month". The Daily Record. Reach Scotland. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  15. ↑ Pollock, Laura (9 February 2025). "Douglas Lumsden submits 900 parliamentary questions costing £100k". The National. Newsquest Media Group Ltd. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  16. ↑ Hutcheon, Paul (9 February 2025). "Tory MSP denies using AI to bombard Scottish parliament with 'frivolous' questions at a cost of £100,000". Sky News. Retrieved 18 February 2025.
  17. ↑ McCurdy, Rebecca (10 February 2025). "MSP responds to claim AI was used to submit 1,000 questions". The Herald. Newsquest. Retrieved 18 February 2025.


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