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Martin Whitfield

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Not to be confused with Martin Wingfield.

Martin Whitfield
MSP
Official portrait, 2017
Convener of the Standards and Procedures and Public Appointments Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 June 2021
DeputyBob Doris
Preceded byBill Kidd
Member of the Scottish Parliament
for South Scotland
(1 of 7 Regional MSPs)
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2021
Member of Parliament
for East Lothian
In office
8 June 2017 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byGeorge Kerevan
Succeeded byKenny MacAskill
Personal details
Born (1965-08-12) 12 August 1965 (age 59)
Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
Political partyLabour
SpouseRachel Whitfield
Children2
Alma materHuddersfield Polytechnic

Martin David Whitfield[1] (born 12 August 1965)[2] is a Scottish Labour politician and former lawyer and primary school teacher who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the South Scotland region and the Convener of the Standards and Procedures and Public Appointments Committee since 2021.[3]

Whitfield previously served as the Member of Parliament for East Lothian[4] from the 2017 snap general election,[5] when he unseated the sitting MP, George Kerevan of the Scottish National Party,[6] until his defeat at the 2019 general election by the SNP candidate Kenny MacAskill, who later defected to Alba in 2021.

Early life, education and career

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Whitfield was born in Gosforth in Newcastle and achieved a BA (Hons) in Business Law from Huddersfield Polytechnic. He worked as a solicitor between 1989-2001, before leaving the law profession to retrain as a teacher at the University of Edinburgh, achieving a PGCPE pass with merit in teaching in 2002.[7]

Prior to his election, Whitfield worked at Prestonpans Primary School[8] and served as a council member of the General Teaching Council for Scotland as well as a member of the EIS, Scotland's largest trade union.[9] He was also Chair of Prestonpans Community Council and involved in a number of community groups.

Political career

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UK Parliament

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Whitfield was named as the official Labour Party candidate for the East Lothian constituency at the 2017 UK general election,[10][11] where he unseated the sitting Scottish National Party MP, George Kerevan.[9]

Whitfield was an active opponent of Brexit and a strong supporter of a second referendum, referred to as a "People's Vote".[12][13] He supported the official recognition of non-binary people in official government documentation.[14] He was one of 216 general election candidates to pledge support for the Israel Election Pledge.[15] Whitfield attracted controversy in a debate on the abuse of MPs when he claimed that "now is the time to ban anonymous social media accounts". He claimed that he was echoing similar remarks from SNP MEP Alyn Smith.[16]

In June 2018, Whitfield led an adjournment debate on the challenges faced by people with 'hidden' disabilities, particularly in relation to the use of accessible toilets and cited the Grace's Sign campaign run by a young constituent, Grace Warnock.[17] In June 2019, he led a further backbench debate on invisible disabilities and accessibility challenges, including the new Any Disability Sign.[18] Whitfield was a strong critic of the rollout of Universal Credit and was one of the first Labour MPs to call for the new benefit to be replaced entirely.[19] In October 2018, he attracted widespread praise after leading a Commons debate on World Menopause Day.[20]

Following the announcement that the US would impose tariffs on single malt Scotch whisky from 18 October 2019, Whitfield took a leading role in efforts to encourage the UK Government to persuade US counterparts to reconsider the move and co-ordinated a letter to the US Ambassador.[21] Whitfield was a member of several All-Party Parliamentary Groups, including the Timber Industries APPG, which he chaired.[22] He was also a member of the Commons' Science and Technology Select Committee.[23]

Whitfield was the Co-Chair of Anas Sarwar's unsuccessful 2017 Scottish Labour leadership campaign.[24] He supported MP Ian Murray's UK Labour deputy leadership campaign, MSP Jackie Baillie's Scottish Labour deputy leadership campaign, and Anas Sarwar's successful 2021 Scottish Labour leadership campaign.

He lost his seat at the 2019 general election to the SNP candidate, Kenny MacAskill.[25] He later became a supporter and executive committee member for the organisation Scientists for Labour, providing advice and input to Sir Keir Starmer's office on the COVID-19 pandemic.[26]

Scottish Parliament

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Whitfield stood for election to the Scottish Parliament in the East Lothian constituency[27] and the South Scotland regional list at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.[28]

At the election, Whitfield finished in a close second place behind the SNP, with 16,789 votes and a share of 36.6%, but was elected on the South Scotland list vote.[29]

Whitfield is Labour's Parliamentary Business Manager and spokesperson for Children and Young People in the Scottish Parliament.[30]

Whitefield 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.[31]

Personal life

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Whitfield lives in Prestonpans, East Lothian with his family, he is married to Rachel; with two children.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "No. 27885". The Edinburgh Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 1076.
  2. ^ The Times guide to the House of Commons 2017. Ian Brunskill. London. 2017. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-00-826333-1. OCLC 1024165015.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ "Session 6 Standards Procedures and Public Appointments Committee". www.parliament.scot. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  4. ^ "Martin Whitfield MP". UK Parliament.
  5. ^ "East Lothian parliamentary constituency – Election 2017" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  6. ^ "East Lothian". Election 2017. BBC News. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  7. ^ "ABOUT". Martin Whitfield MP. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  8. ^ "Whitfield, Martin". Who's Who. Vol. 2018 (February 2018 online ed.). A & C Black. Retrieved 13 February 2018. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  9. ^ a b c "Labour confirm candidate for General Election". East Lothian Courier. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  10. ^ "Election 2017: Labour eyes battlegrounds". BBC News. 30 April 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  11. ^ Philip, Andy (3 June 2017). "Labour newcomer Martin Whitfield hopes for a polls hat-trick against the odds". Daily Record. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  12. ^ Whitfield, Martin (8 November 2018). "People's Vote is the best way to agree a decisive way forward". Edinburgh News. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  13. ^ Whitfield, Martin (18 October 2019). "Why Boris Johnson's deal is 'gateway to catastrophic hard Brexit'". The Scotsman. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  14. ^ "Scotland's new MPs – June 2017 — Equality Network". www.equality-network.org. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  15. ^ "Pledge – We Believe in Israel". We Believe in Israel. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  16. ^ "UK Elections: Abuse and Intimidation – Hansard Online". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  17. ^ "Accessibility Challenges: Invisible Disabilities – Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  18. ^ "Invisible Disabilities and Accessibility Challenges – Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  19. ^ MP, Martin Whitfield. "Time to replace Universal Credit". Martin Whitfield MP. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  20. ^ "World Menopause Day – Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  21. ^ "Cross-party MSPs wrote to US over whisky tariff increase". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  22. ^ "Martin Whitfield MP elected new Chair of Timber Industries APPG". www.cti-timber.org. Confederation of Timber Industries. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  23. ^ "Science and Technology Committee (Commons)". UK Parliament. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  24. ^ Sarwar, Anas [@AnasSarwar] (4 September 2017). "Thank you for your support & encouragement. Delighted that @MartWhitfieldMP & @pauline4glasgow will be co-chairing my campaign for leaderhttps" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  25. ^ Pooran, Neil (13 February 2019). "SNP win East Lothian from Labour as Kenny MacAskill elected". Edinburgh Live. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  26. ^ "ABOUT SFL". SfL. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  27. ^ Duncan, Emma (12 November 2020). "Labour names former East Lothian MP as its Holyrood 2021 candidate". East Lothian Courier.
  28. ^ Rodgers, Sienna (1 February 2021). "Exclusive: Scottish Labour list selection ballot votes and results revealed". LabourList.
  29. ^ Berkeley, Sam (8 May 2021). "AS IT HAPPENED: SNP fall just short of Scottish Parliament majority after SNP win East Lothian". East Lothian Courier. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  30. ^ "At Holyrood - Scottish Labour". scottishlabour.org.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  31. ^ "How every MSP voted as Holyrood rejected the UK's Winter Fuel Payment cut". The National. 8 October 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for East Lothian
2017–2019 		Succeeded by
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