Harriet Cross | |
---|---|
![]() Official portrait, 2025 | |
Opposition Assistant Whip | |
Assumed office 18 November 2024 | |
Leader | Kemi Badenoch |
Member of Parliament for Gordon and Buchan | |
Assumed office 4 July 2024 | |
Preceded by | Richard Thomson |
Majority | 878 (2.0%) |
Personal details | |
Born | 1990or1991(age 34–35) Harrogate,North Yorkshire,England |
Political party | Scottish Conservatives |
Alma mater | |
Website | www |
Harriet Iona Cross [1] (born 1990 or 1991) [2] is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Member of Parliament for Gordon and Buchan since the 2024 general election. [3]
Cross was born in Harrogate and grew up in West Cork, Ireland where her mother was from. She attended Bandon Grammar School before the family moved to Aberdeenshire owing to her father; when she was sixteen. [4] [5] She studied zoology at Imperial College London before earning a master's degree in Rural Land and Business Management and from the University of Reading. [5] [6] In 2018, she returned to Aberdeenshire to work as a rural surveyor. [7]
Cross stood as the Conservative candidate for Aberdeen Donside at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, finishing second to Jackie Dunbar with 9,488 votes (26.42%). [2] She was also ninth on the party list for the North East Scotland region. [8]
Cross was elected as the MP for the newly created merged seat of Gordon and Buchan at the 2024 UK general election with a narrow majority of 878 votes. The result was the worst defeat nationwide for the Conservative Party in the history of the UK, eclipsing the 1906 and 1997 landslide defeats for Conservative governments. Prior to 2024, the Gordon seat was held by the Scottish Conservatives and the Banff and Buchan seat held by the SNP. [9] In the 2024 UK Conservative party leadership election she backed Tom Tugendhat. [10]
In September 2024, Cross criticised the Bank of Scotland's proposal to close its Ellon branch, leaving the area without a single bank branch. Despite her opposition to the decision, alongside several members of the community, the sole remaining bank branch in the town permanently closed down on 10 September 2014. [11]
Cross was appointed an Opposition Assistant Whip in November 2024. [12]