Karen Adam | |
---|---|
![]() Official portrait, 2021 | |
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Banffshire and Buchan Coast | |
Assumed office 7 May 2021 | |
Preceded by | Stewart Stevenson |
Personal details | |
Born | Karen Adam 7 June 1975 [1] Aberdeen,Scotland |
Political party | Scottish National Party |
Children | 6 |
Residence(s) | Aberdeenshire,Scotland |
Karen Adam (born 7 June 1975) is a Scottish politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Banffshire and Buchan Coast since 2021. [2] A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP),she was previously a councillor for the Mid-Formartine ward of Aberdeenshire from 2017 until her election as an MSP in May 2021. [3]
Karen Adam was born on 7 June 1975 in Aberdeen. She was raised in a same-sex household,with her mother and her partner. [4] [5] As a child,she learned British Sign Language as a way to communicate with her deaf father. Adam became a mother as a teenager and she volunteered in her community. [6]
Adam joined the Scottish National Party in 2014,with her parents who have been members of the party since the 1960s. She was elected as councillor for the Mid-Formartine ward in the Aberdeenshire Council in the 2017 Scottish local elections. As a councillor,she worked to update the council's plans for the disabled,such as the sign language plan and autism strategy. [7] [1] [8]
In November 2020,she was announced as the SNP's candidate for the Banffshire and Buchan Coast constituency for the 2021 Scottish election,succeeding five-term holder Stewart Stevenson. She was elected to serve as the MSP for the constituency,though the SNP's lead dropped from 23% to 2.3% (772 votes). [9] On the day she was sworn in,Adam was the first ever MSP to take the oath of affirmation in British Sign Language. [10]
In November 2020,Adam became subject to a death threat on social media. On Twitter,she posted an upcoming event that was happening in Aberdeenshire,when she received a reply which said "I want to shoot you in the head. You are not serious." Adam originally thought the reply was made by a bot account,until she found out it was a real person. [11]
Police made a visit to her property and they insisted she installed CCTV in her home. Adam's phone number was placed on the police's log list,meaning if she calls them,she will receive an answer urgently. The account was reported to the police and has been suspended by Twitter. [11]
Adam is a member of the Scottish Parliament's Equalities,Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee and the Rural Affairs,Islands and Natural Environment Committee. [12]
In January 2022,Adam responded to Ghislaine Maxwell's conviction for sexual abuse by tweeting:"Paedophiles and predators are people. Not bogey men under the bed. Not Mac wearing flashers in the street,faceless and nameless. They are our family,friends and colleagues. They are not scary monsters. They are people who abuse. It's uncomfortable to humanise them because we then have to face the horrors in plain sight." Alba Party general secretary Christopher McEleny interpreted this as an attempt to humanise child abusers,which Adam firmly rejected. [13] She was sent death threats and Police Scotland later launched an investigation. [14] She later told The Guardian :"It started to dawn on me that this was not accidental,that people were perhaps purposely misrepresenting my words. [They were] purposely misrepresenting my words for political gain and to support political movements. I've seen this before. The more open I am about my progressive views,the more I am called a pervert,or a predator enabler,for supporting trans rights,for supporting LGBT rights overall." [15]
Adam condemned what she called a "malcious,creepy attempt" to silence her in December 2022 during a GRA reform debate. [16] In April 2023 a police probe found that the incident was the result of an innocent mix-up at an Edinburgh salon. A woman with a similar name to Adam had tried to make a genuine appointment and the MSP got the confirmation email,in what police sources confirmed was an “administrative error". [17]
Adam lives in Aberdeenshire with her five sons. She is grandmother to her oldest and only daughter's children. [4] She is a carer to her deaf father and has six children,some with special needs. [1] She had her first child as a teenager and married the child's father,but later divorced him due to spousal abuse. After the divorce,she became a Mormon for 20 years,but left the church after divorcing her second husband and father of the rest of her children,who was having an affair. [4]
James Alexander Stewart Stevenson is a Scottish former politician who served as Minister for Transport,Infrastructure and Climate Change from 2007 to 2010 and Minister for Environment and Climate Change from 2011 to 2012. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP),he was Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Banffshire and Buchan Coast,formerly Banff and Buchan,from 2001 to 2021.
Banff and Buchan was a constituency of the House of Commons,located in the north-east of Scotland within the Aberdeenshire council area. It elected one Member of Parliament at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting.
Gordon was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster),which elected one member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The constituency was first contested at the 1983 UK general election;and underwent boundary throughout its existence.
Banff and Buchan was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) between 1999 and 2011 when it was substantially succeeded by Banffshire and Buchan Coast. It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also,however,it was one of nine constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to nine constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Hamish Watt was a Scottish politician,farmer and writer. He was the SNP MP for Banffshire from 1974 to 1979,and was later Rector of the University of Aberdeen and a councillor.
Maureen Elizabeth Watt is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician and former Minister for Mental Health in the Scottish Government. She was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) representing the constituency of Aberdeen South and North Kincardine from 2011 to 2021 when she retired,having previously served as a regional member for North East Scotland from 2006 until 2011.
Aberdeen Donside is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the Aberdeen City council area. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is one of ten constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to the ten constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Banffshire and Buchan Coast is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Moray. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is one also of ten constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to ten constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Angus North and Mearns is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering parts of the council areas of Angus and Aberdeenshire. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is one of ten constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to the ten constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Angus South is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Angus. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. In addition,it is one of ten constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to the ten constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Aberdeen South and North Kincardine is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the Aberdeen City council area and Aberdeenshire. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is one of ten constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to the ten constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Aberdeenshire East is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Aberdeenshire. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is also one of ten constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to the ten constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Aberdeenshire West is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Aberdeenshire. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also,however,it is one of ten constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region,which elects seven additional members,in addition to ten constituency MSPs,to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Peter John Chapman MSP is a retired Scottish Conservative and Unionist politician. He served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the North East Scotland region between 2016 and 2021. In the Scottish Parliament,he was the Conservative spokesperson for rural economy and connectivity,until May 2018 when he resigned over a lobbying row.
There was a Scottish National Party leadership election to choose the new Depute leader of the Scottish National Party at the SNP's conference on 14–15 October 2016. The SNP's Westminster Group Leader Angus Robertson MP won the election.
The Aberdeenshire Council election of 2017 was held on 4 May 2017,on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election used the 19 wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004,with each ward electing three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation,with 70 councillors being elected,an increase of one member compared to 2012.
Mid-Formartine is one of the nineteen wards used to elect members of the Aberdeenshire Council. It elects four Councillors. The ward's name refers to the region of Formartine,north of Aberdeen.
Audrey Elizabeth Nicoll is a Scottish politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP),she has represented the Torry/Ferryhill ward in the Aberdeen City Council since 2019
Emma Roddick is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. Emma served as the Minister for Equalities,Migration and Refugees between 2023 and 2024;stepping down when John Swinney was appointed first minister She has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Highlands and Islands since May 2021.
Elections to Aberdeenshire Council took place on Thursday 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections,it was held using single transferable vote (STV) –a form of proportional representation –in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.