1. Jeremy Ross Balfour was born on 11 March 1967 and is a Scottish Conservative politician who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothian region since 2016.
22 Facts About Jeremy Balfour
1. 2.
Jeremy Balfour attended the independent Edinburgh Academy and has spoken about the impact of his disability on his childhood.
3.
Jeremy Balfour came from a family which included several lawyers and decided to pursue a legal career so then studied at the University of Edinburgh.
4.
Around this time Jeremy Balfour worked as a lobbyist for the Evangelical Alliance.
5.
Jeremy Balfour previously stood in Edinburgh East and Musselburgh in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election and Central Fife in the 2001 UK General Election.
6.
Jeremy Balfour was instead elected from the Lothian regional list.
7.
Shortly after being elected, Jeremy Balfour became Scottish Conservative spokesperson for childcare and early years and joined the Equal Opportunities Committee of the Scottish Parliament.
8.
In 2018, Jeremy Balfour came under pressure to resign as the Scottish Conservative's welfare spokesperson for suggesting that terminally-ill people who don't die within three years should be re-assessed for benefits.
9.
Jeremy Balfour refused to apologise for the remarks, but was forced to withdraw the amendment to the Social Security Bill.
10.
Jeremy Balfour currently serves as the Scottish Conservatives' Deputy Social Security, Housing and Equalities Spokesperson.
11.
Jeremy Balfour was awarded 'Speech of the Year' by Holyrood Magazine in June 2019 for a speech on the 70th anniversary of the NHS.
12.
Jeremy Balfour stated his opinion that more needs to be done to help disabled people into work in society.
13.
Jeremy Balfour is the convenor of the Cross-Party Group in the Scottish Parliament on Disability, the CPG on Funerals and Bereavement, and the CPG on Older People, Age and Ageing, and Co-convenes the CPG on Volunteering.
14.
Jeremy Balfour is the member of many other cross-party groups entering on sport, disability, education and on matters relating to equality.
15.
On 12 January 2022, Jeremy Balfour called for Boris Johnson to resign as Conservative party leader and Prime Minister over the Westminster lockdown parties controversy along with a majority of Scottish Conservative MSPs.
16.
From 2004 to 2014, Jeremy Balfour was director of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, a right-wing think tank.
17.
Jeremy Balfour has expressed concern and raised parliamentary questions regarding abortion.
18.
Specifically, Jeremy Balfour is concerned about abortions in cases of disabilities.
19.
Jeremy Balfour expressed fears in 2018 around whether or not women who were potentially going to give birth to disabled children were getting access to all the information and support that they need to make informed decisions.
20.
Jeremy Balfour expressed these fears in relation to limb disabilities like his own and to Down Syndrome.
21.
Jeremy Balfour has a physical disability which left him with no left arm and a right arm that ends at the elbow from which two elongated fingers protrude.
22.
In relation to his disability, Jeremy Balfour has said that thalidomide is not the cause of his disability and it is uncertain what in fact is.