Richard Arkless | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Dumfries and Galloway | |
| In office 7 May 2015 –3 May 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Russell Brown |
| Succeeded by | Alister Jack |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 July 1975 Stranraer,Scotland,UK |
| Political party | Scottish National Party |
| Relatives | Nick Arkless (brother) |
| Alma mater | Glasgow Caledonian University University of Strathclyde |
Richard Lambert Thomas Arkless (born 7 July 1975) is a Scottish National Party politician,who was elected as MP for Dumfries and Galloway at the 2015 UK general election. [1] [2] He lost his seat at the following election in 2017.
Arkless was born in Stranraer in 1975. [3] He spent an early part of his childhood living in London. [3] He returned to Stranraer when he was eight years old. [3]
He received a BA in Financial Services from Glasgow Caledonian University and has an LLB from the University of Strathclyde. [4]
Arkless began to advocate Scottish independence after the 2007 Scottish Parliament election in which the SNP were elected as a minority government for the first time. After a year,he said the SNP were "doing a pretty good job". When the SNP won a majority in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election,he said in a May 2015 interview with The National ,"I began to really research the figures –the GDP and tax-take –and I was completely and utterly astonished. I couldn't believe that Scotland had a higher per capita GDP,and much higher per capita tax-take over each of the last thirty-five years. I was flabbergasted and asked myself why I had believed completely the opposite all my life without every trying to make it evidence based." [5]
Standing for the SNP at the 2015 United Kingdom general election,Arkless received 23,440 votes,41.4% of those cast,winning with a majority of 6,514 votes. [2] He defeated Labour's Russell Brown,who had held the Dumfries and Galloway seat since its creation ten years prior in 2005. [6] [7] [8] [9] His wife Anne worked as his personal assistant. [10] Arkless lost his seat in the UK 2017 general election to Conservative MP Alister Jack. He received 16,701 votes,32.4% of those cast. [11]
At the 2019 election,Arkless contested the Dumfries and Galloway seat again as the SNP candidate. He received 20,873 of the votes,40.6% of those cast. He lost out to the Scottish Secretary,Alister Jack for a second time. [12]
Arkless left his job as a solicitor to run an online business. [13] He returned to his career as a solicitor in 2020 following his departure from politics. [14]
