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Wendy Alexander (born 27 June 1963) is a Scottish Labour politician, who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Paisley North since 1999. She was the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 14 September 2007 until her resignation on 28 June 2008.
[edit] EducationAlexander began by studying medicine at the University of Glasgow, but time spent working in rural medical clinics in Malawi led her to change to study Economic and Modern History, graduating with a First Class Honours degree. She also sat on the University Court as a Student Assessor and chaired the Labour Club. In 1987 she gained a MA in Industrial Relations, graduating with Distinction from the University of Warwick, and then gained an MBA from INSEAD, France. Following the MBA she worked for BAH, a consultancy firm. [edit] Early CareerAfter her MBA Alexander worked in the private, voluntary and public sectors and in the 1990s she worked for Booz & Co., an international management consultancy, undertaking assignments in Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia. She spent 6 months working for Sam Galbraith and George Galloway as a House of Commons researcher before returning to Scotland to edit LEDIS, a publication for economic development professionals. From 1988 to 1992 she was research officer to the Scottish Labour Party, working closely with Donald Dewar. [edit] Adviser to Donald DewarFrom 1997–99 she served as Special Adviser to Donald Dewar when he was Secretary of State for Scotland and was deeply involved in the preparation of the White Paper and the Scotland Act. [edit] Member of Scottish ParliamentWendy Alexander has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since its creation. [edit] Ministerial CareerFrom 1999 to 2002 Wendy Alexander was a minister in the Scottish Executive, first as Minister for Communities, later as Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, and then as Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning. As a minister Alexander set up the Homelessness Task Force [1] [2], brought forward housing legislation, commenced the Central Heating Programme to provide free installation and refurbishment of heating systems for pensioners and set up a voluntary issues unit, the first central fund to tackle violence against women and the McIntosh Commission on the future of local government. Initiatives she instigated or contributed to include PACE (training provision in response to redundancies), an expansion of modern apprenticeships, Smart Successful Scotland, the concessionary travel scheme for pensioners, enterprise in schools, a broadband strategy, the creation of the Global Scot Network and the setting up of the coinvestment fund and Scottish Development International. As Communities Minister, Alexander fought hard to bring about the repeal of Section 2A (the Scottish equivalent of Section 28) in order to contribute to social acceptance and greater equality for the LGBT community by removing a ban on the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities[3] in the face of a sustained campaign by Stagecoach millionaire and SNP donor Brian Souter to keep the legislation. In the end the repeal, contained in the Ethical Standards in Public Life (Scotland) Bill was passed by 99 votes to 17[4]. During the final debate, Alexander said "The bill provides for the repeal of section 2A. That repeal is not, and never has been, about the promotion of homosexuality in our schools. It is not about political correctness or, even less, about marriage. It is about building a tolerant Scotland. We know that teachers are confused about the meaning of section 2A, we know that bullying exists in our schools and elsewhere, and we know that children's organisations overwhelmingly back repeal." [5]. Alexander resigned from ministerial office on 4 May 2002. After her stormy resignation from Jack McConnell's Cabinet she was a visiting professor at the Strathclyde Business School, became a member and subsequently chair of the Finance Committee (from 2003 to 2005) and led the Allander Series of seminars on the Scottish Economy. She also wrote a non-political column for young mums in the The Daily Record and edited a biography of the late First Minister, Donald Dewar. [edit] Leader of Scottish Labour[edit] ElectionAfter the 2007 election, Alexander became Shadow Finance Secretary in Jack McConnell's Shadow Cabinet. On McConnell's resignation on 15 August 2007, she was mentioned as a possible successor and two days later, on 17 August, she formally launched her campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party in Holyrood. Alexander was elected unopposed as leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament on the 14th of September 2007.[6]. [edit] Calman CommissionAlexander made a speech at the University of Edinburgh on St Andrew's Day 2007 in which she set out the case for a wide-ranging review of the devolution settlement, with a view to identifying possible areas for reform. As Labour leader in the Scottish Parliament, she set this in motion by working with the Conservative and LibDem leaders to set up the Commission on Scottish Devolution (aka the Calman Commission) to examine the constitutional arrangements of Scotland within the United Kingdom [7]. The Commission reported back to the Parliament in June 2009 [8]. [edit] Scottish independence referendumDuring a TV interview on 4 May 2008, Wendy Alexander stated she would be willing to support an immediate referendum on Scottish Independence, saying "Bring it on!". During First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament, on the 8th of May, Alexander asked Alex Salmond "Will the First Minister bring forward a referendum bill in next year's legislative programme?". Salmond declined the offer of Labour support for a referendum, preferring to delay by at least a further year, saying "We will stick to what was laid out in pages 8 and 15 of the SNP manifesto" [9]. [edit] ResignationIn 2007, a controversy developed after it emerged that Alexander had accepted a donation of £950 from Paul Green, a property magnate,[10] a matter that was investigated by the Electoral Commission and Strathclyde Police. When it emerged that the donation had come from a personal account, and not a business account, the money was immediately forfeited. The Electoral Commission concluded in February 2008 that Alexander had taken 'significant steps' to comply with funding regulations and decided there was no basis for further action.[11]. In a separate development, a few days earlier in February 2008, the Scottish Parliament standards watchdog reported Alexander to the procurator fiscal for failing to declare as gifts the donations that were made to the fund for her campaign for the Scottish Labour Party leadership. [12] Alexander had been told by the parliamentary authorities that there was no need to declare these donations as gifts (they were not in previous leadership campaigns). Again the subsequent investigation led to a decision by the Crown Office to take no further action [13]. On 28 June 2008, Alexander announced "with deep regret" her resignation as Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland[14], saying it was clear that the media attacks over the alleged breaching of the rules would continue as long as she remained leader and that she could not ask Labour supporters for further forbearance. The resignation was precipitated by the decision of the SNP-led Standards Committee of the Parliament by four votes to three abstentions to propose a one-day ban from the Scottish Parliament[15] as a sanction for not declaring leadership campaign donations as gifts on the Parliament's register of interests. Alexander had followed the advice of parliamentary authorities which stated that there was no need to declare the donations as gifts[16]. Alexander has described the decision of the committee which proposed her day's ban was "partisan". The proposed ban was overwhelmingly rejected by the Parliament in a subsequent vote [17] [18]. In 2007 Alexander received an honorary degree[19] from the University of Strathclyde where she has been a visiting professor since 2002. She currently sits on the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee. [edit] Personal Life and FamilyWendy Alexander is married to Professor Brian Ashcroft and has two children. Alexander's brother Douglas, the Secretary of State for International Development is a Labour Member of Parliament for Paisley and Renfrewshire South. [edit] See also[edit] References
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Categories: 1963 births | Living people | Labour MSPs | Leaders of political parties in Scotland | Scottish columnists | Scottish Labour Party politicians | Consultants | Scottish women in politics | People from Glasgow | Academics of the University of Strathclyde | Alumni of the University of Glasgow | Alumni of the University of Warwick | Alumni of INSEAD | Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999-2003 | Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003-2007 | Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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