Sarah Boyack

Last updated

(1 of 7 Regional MSPs)
Andrew Walters
​
​
(m. 2000;div. 2003)​
Sarah Boyack
MSP
Sarah Boyack MSP, 2019.jpg
Official portrait, 2019
Minister for Transport and Planning [a]
In office
19 May 1999 –27 November 2001
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded by Wendy Alexander
Incumbent
Assumed office
15 July 2019
Alma mater University of Glasgow
Heriot-Watt University
Profession Town planner
Website www.sarahboyack.com

Sarah Herriot Boyack (born 16 May 1961) is a Scottish Labour politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region since 2019, and previously from 2011 to 2016. She formerly represented the Edinburgh Central constituency from 1999 to 2011.

Contents

Early life and career

Boyack was born in May 1961 in Glasgow and brought up in Edinburgh. [1] [2] Her father, Jim Boyack, was an important figure in the Labour Party and the campaign for Scottish devolution. [3] She was educated at the state comprehensive Royal High School, Edinburgh, where she was one of the first female pupils. [2]

Starting in 1979, Boyack studied Modern History and Politics at the University of Glasgow, graduating with a Scottish MA Honours degree. [4] She became active in the Labour club, where she was a protégé of Margaret Curran. She was chair of the Labour club from 1981 until 1982, and chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students from 1985 until 1986. During her time at Glasgow, she was involved in supporting the twinning with Bir Zeit University in the West Bank. After graduating, she gained a Diploma in Town and Country Planning at Heriot-Watt University. [4]

Boyack worked as a town planner in the London Borough of Brent then as a strategic planner in Central Regional Council in Stirling. [5] She then became a lecturer at the School of Planning and Housing at Heriot-Watt University and was Convener of the Scottish Branch of the Royal Town Planning Institute in 1997. [6]

Political career

Member of the Scottish Parliament: 1999–2016

Boyack was elected to the new Scottish Parliament in the 1999 election for the Edinburgh Central constituency. She was Minister for Transport and the Environment in the Scottish Executive from 1999 until 2000. Then, she was Minister for Transport and Planning from 2000 until 2001, during which time she introduced one of Scottish Labour's flagship policies of free bus travel for people over 60 and disabled people. [2]

Re-elected for her constituency in the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, Boyack was elected by MSPs as Convener of the Scottish Parliament Environment and Rural Development Committee in June 2003. In this role, she received the RSPB Goldcrest Award in November 2004 for the most outstanding contribution to the development of environmental policy in Scotland since devolution. [7] Later, in December 2005, she was named the Scottish Renewables Best Politician. [2] She stood down from the committee in January 2007, when she returned to the Scottish Executive as Deputy Minister for the Environment and Rural Development. [8]

Boyack lost her Edinburgh Central constituency seat in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election to Marco Biagi of the Scottish National Party (SNP). However, she was elected on the Lothian regional list as one of seven additional members. Following a landslide victory by the SNP in the election, Boyack co-chaired a review of the Labour Party in Scotland with Jim Murphy, commissioned by Ed Miliband in May 2011 and which reported back in Autumn of that year. [9] [10]

On 28 October 2014, Boyack declared she would stand in the upcoming election to become the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party. [3] [11] She came third to Jim Murphy and Neil Findlay with 9.24% of the vote. [12]

She served as a member of the Parliament's Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment (RACCE) Committee during its scrutiny of the Land Reform Bill 2015. [13]

Outside the Scottish Parliament: 2016–2019

Boyack again contested the Edinburgh Central seat in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, but was defeated by Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, who stood for the same constituency. Boyack was also placed third on the Lothian regional list of Labour candidates behind Kezia Dugdale and Neil Findlay, but did not return to Holyrood following the election since Labour won only two list seats. [14] [15]

In February 2017, Boyack was appointed as Head of Public Affairs at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, the membership body for social housing providers in Scotland. [16]

Return following Kezia Dugdale's resignation: 2019–present

On 30 April 2019, it was announced Boyack would return to the Scottish Parliament as a list MSP, following Kezia Dugdale's decision to vacate her seat in the summer. As an unsuccessful Labour candidate on the Lothian regional list in 2016, Boyack was the next person on the list if a seat was vacated. [17] She joined the Labour Co-operative group upon her return. [18] In September 2019, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard appointed her as Scottish Labour Spokesperson for Local Government. [19]

Boyack nominated Anas Sarwar in the 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election. [20]

Boyack backed the UK Government's decision to introduce means-testing for the Winter Fuel Payment, voting in the Scottish Parliament against calls to reverse the decision. [21]

Personal life

Boyack married former long-term partner Andrew Walters in December 2000. They had planned to marry in the October but postponed the wedding due to the death of Donald Dewar. The couple divorced in 2003 and they had no children together. [22]

Notes

  1. ↑ Transport and the Environment (1999–2000)
  2. ↑ Normally, regional MSPs do not have individual predecessors and successors. However, Dugdale retired her seat during a sitting parliament so was succeeded by Boyack.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Macintosh</span> Scottish Independent politician

Kenneth Donald Macintosh is a Scottish politician who served as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2016 to 2021. Elected as a member of Scottish Labour, he suspended his party membership on becoming Presiding Officer. Macintosh was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2021, representing the Eastwood constituency from 1999 to 2016, and then the West Scotland region from 2016 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Labour</span> Scottish wing of the UK Labour Party

Scottish Labour, is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 22 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is represented by 262 of the 1,227 local councillors across Scotland. The Scottish Labour party has no separate Chief Whip at Westminster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edinburgh Central (Scottish Parliament constituency)</span> Burgh constituency of the Scottish Parliament

Edinburgh Central is a burgh constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Edinburgh. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is also one of nine constituencies in the Lothian electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elaine Smith (Scottish politician)</span> Scottish Labour politician

Elaine Agnes Smith is a former Scottish Labour politician who served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Central Scotland region from 2016 until she stood down at the 2021 election. She was previously MSP for the Coatbridge and Chryston constituency from 1999 until 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhoda Grant</span> Scottish Labour Co-op politician

Rhoda Grant is a Scottish politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Highlands and Islands region since 2007, having previously represented the same region from 1999 to 2003. A member of the Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party, She is currently the Scottish Labour Spokesperson for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iain Gray</span> Scottish Labour politician

Iain Cumming Gray is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2008 to 2011. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the East Lothian constituency from 2007 to 2021, having previously represented Edinburgh Pentlands from 1999 to 2003. A former aid worker and teacher of mathematics and physics, Gray was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as MSP for the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency, which he lost to Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party David McLetchie in 2003. Gray was returned to Holyrood in 2007 as MSP for East Lothian. Following Wendy Alexander's resignation as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party in 2008, Gray stood at the subsequent leadership election, and was elected with a 57.8% share of the vote in the second round.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lothian (Scottish Parliament electoral region)</span> Scottish Parliament region

Lothian is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Thus it elects a total of 16 MSPs. The region is located in the eastern area of the Central Belt of the Scottish Lowlands and is anchored by capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Baker</span> Scottish Labour politician (born 1971)

Claire Josephine Baker is a Scottish Labour politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Mid Scotland and Fife region since 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opposition Shadow Cabinets of the Scottish Parliament</span>

Unlike in the Parliament at Westminster where there is an Official Opposition to the government of the day, all parties in the Scottish Parliament that are not in government are all technically on the same footing as 'opposition parties'. With the Scottish National Party (SNP) currently in government, the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour each have a shadow cabinet composed of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and prospective parliamentary candidates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alison Johnstone</span> Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament

Alison Johnstone is a Scottish politician who has served as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament since 2021. Elected as a member of the Scottish Greens, she relinquished her party affiliation on becoming Presiding Officer. She has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region since 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Scottish Parliament election</span>

The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary election in Scotland in which 16 and 17 year olds were eligible to vote, under the provisions of the Scottish Elections Act. It was also the first time the three largest parties were led by women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 Scottish Labour leadership election</span> Scottish Labour leadership election

The 2011 Scottish Labour Party leadership election was an internal party election to choose a new leader of the Scottish Labour Party. The election followed the announcement by Iain Gray that he would stand down as leader in the autumn of 2011 following the party's heavy defeat to the Scottish National Party in May's Scottish Parliament general election. Gray won the previous contest in September 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siobhan McMahon</span> British politician (born 1984)

Siobhan Marie McMahon is a Scottish Labour Party politician who served as a regional list Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Central Scotland region from 2011 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Findlay</span> Scottish Labour politician

Neil Findlay is a Scottish politician who was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Lothian from 2011 to 2021. A member of Scottish Labour, he was previously a councillor in West Lothian from 2003 to 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kezia Dugdale</span> Former Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, MSP for Lothian (born 1981)

Kezia Alexandra Ross Dugdale is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2015 to 2017. A former member of the Scottish Labour Party and Co-operative Party, she was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region from 2011 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Rowley</span> Former Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party

Alexander Andrew Penman Rowley is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2015 to 2017 and acting leader of the party from August to November 2017. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 2014, firstly for the Cowdenbeath constituency and the Mid Scotland and Fife region since 2016. He has been described as being on the political left of the party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Scottish Labour leadership election</span> 2014 Scottish Labour Party leadership election

The 2014 Scottish Labour Party leadership election was an internal party election to choose a new leader and deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party, following the resignations of Johann Lamont as leader and Anas Sarwar as deputy. Lamont announced her decision in an interview with the Daily Record on 24 October, saying that she was stepping down effective immediately because the UK Labour Party treated the Scottish party as a "branch office of London". Lamont, who had won the 2011 leadership contest, thus becoming the first Scottish leader to have authority over Labour's Scottish MPs in the House of Commons as well as in the Scottish Parliament, was the second leader of a Scottish political party to resign in the wake of the 2014 independence referendum. Before her resignation, Alex Salmond announced his intention to relinquish the role of Scottish National Party (SNP) leader and First Minister. Sarwar announced his own resignation on 30 October, saying he felt it was right for the party to elect a new leadership team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Johnson (Scottish politician)</span> Scottish Labour politician

Daniel Guy Johnson is a Scottish Labour politician who has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Edinburgh Southern constituency since 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Leonard</span> Former Leader of the Scottish Labour Party

Richard Leonard is a British politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), as one of the additional members for the Central Scotland region, since 2016. He ideologically identifies as a socialist, democrat and internationalist.

References

  1. ↑ "Sarah Herriot BOYACK – Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Christine Richard (22 May 2008). "Sarah Boyack's glass is not just half full – it's positively fizzing!". Lothian Life. Archived from the original on 21 November 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Profile: Sarah Boyack, Scottish Labour leadership candidate". BBC. 4 November 2014. Archived from the original on 10 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Sarah Boyack – Personal Information". Scottish Parliament. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  5. ↑ Kate Shannon (March 2012). "A new brief puts the focus on spending prioities". Holyrood Magazine Supplement. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  6. ↑ "About Sarah | Sarah Boyack". Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "Centenary awards – The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds". Archived from the original on 1 November 2005. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "New Communities Minister". Scotland.gov.uk. 9 January 2007. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  9. ↑ Wintour, Patrick (11 May 2011). "Ed Miliband orders review of Scottish Labour party". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  10. ↑ "Rivals braced for Labour leadership race". The Times. ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  11. ↑ "Scottish Labour leadership: MSP Sarah Boyack is first candidate to stand". BBC. 28 October 2014. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "MP Jim Murphy named Scottish Labour leader". BBC. 13 December 2014. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  13. ↑ Gibson, Rob (2020), Reclaiming Our Land, Highland Heritage Educational Trust, p. 219, ISBN   9781527281813
  14. ↑ McPherson, Gareth (6 May 2016). "Holyrood no more — eight former MSPs who will be looking for new jobs". The Courier. D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  15. ↑ Swanson, Ian (6 May 2016). "Holyrood 2016: Lothian list MSPs in full". Edinburgh Evening News. Johnston Press. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  16. ↑ "Former Labour MSP appointed as head of public affairs at SFHA". Holyrood Magazine. 22 February 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  17. ↑ "Sarah Boyack to return to Holyrood as Labour MSP". BBC News. BBC. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  18. ↑ "Annual Review 2019". Co-operative Party . Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  19. ↑ "Scottish Labour reshuffle as Sarah Boyack returns to frontline politics". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  20. ↑ "Scottish Leadership Election 2021 – Nominations". Scottish Labour. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  21. ↑ "How every MSP voted as Holyrood rejected the UK's Winter Fuel Payment cut". The National. 8 October 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  22. ↑ "Boyack separates from husband". The Scotsman. 21 June 2003. Retrieved 14 March 2020.[ dead link ]
Scottish Parliament
New parliament
 Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh Central
1999–2011 		Succeeded by
Political offices
New office Minister for Transport and the Environment
1999–2000		Office abolished
Minister for Transport and Planning
2000–2001		Succeeded byas Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning
Preceded by Convener of the Scottish Parliament Environment and Rural Development Committee
2003–2007		Succeeded by
Preceded by Deputy Minister for the Environment and Rural Development
2007		Succeeded byas Minister for Environment
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.