21 Facts About Lesley Laird

Lesley Margaret Laird is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2019.

Lesley Laird was Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2017 to 2019, and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland during the same period.

Lesley Laird Margaret Langan was born on 15 November 1958 in Greenock, Scotland.

Lesley Laird was educated at James Watt College, Caledonian University and then Edinburgh Napier University.

Lesley Laird was first selected by her Constituency Labour Party to contend the 2012 local elections, and was returned alongside her Scottish Labour running mate.

Lesley Laird was appointed spokesperson for economy and planning in February 2013 and one year later was elected by her fellow Labour councillors to the post of deputy leader.

Lesley Laird spoke on behalf of Fife Council at the Barclay Review looking at non-domestic rates across Scotland and called for reform, saying the current scheme favoured out-of-town retailers.

Lesley Laird led the call from Fife Council for a radical overhaul of the Scottish planning system.

Lesley Laird secured regeneration of Fraser Avenue in Inverkeithing, a project which was commended by the Saltire Society.

Lesley Laird sought selection for the Scottish Labour regional list for the Mid Scotland and Fife region in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

Lesley Laird narrowly defeated the sitting MP, Roger Mullin of the SNP, by 259 votes at the 2017 general election, Lesley Laird was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland less than a week later on 14 June 2017.

Lesley Laird's maiden speech at the House of Commons focused on poverty in her constituency and quoted Kirkcaldy-born economist Adam Smith, as well as former PM Winston Churchill:.

Lesley Laird continued to regularly campaign on poverty issues in the constituency, working in partnership with local charities in a bid to overturn the UK government's new flagship welfare policy, Universal Credit.

Lesley Laird held a public meeting with ScotRail director Alex Hynes in Kirkcaldy in February 2019, to discuss franchise operator Abellio's poor performance record in Fife, particularly during that winter, when stop-skipping and train delays were a regular occurrence.

Lesley Laird intervened when local constituents fell victim to automated push payment fraud.

Lesley Laird called for reform to planning law after residents objected to large-scale development in Aberdour, and campaigned for regeneration of Kirkcaldy town centre, holding talks with Columbia Threadneedle, former owners of the Postings, and LaSalle, former owners of the Mercat.

Lesley Laird argued for government intervention for local industry to protect jobs, most notably in the case of Bifab and Babcock at Rosyth shipyard.

In May 2018, Lesley Laird faced criticism for neglecting her duties as a councillor, having only attended two meetings after her election as an MP.

Lesley Laird lost her seat to Neale Hanvey, the SNP candidate at the 2019 general election.

Lesley Laird subsequently resigned as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, criticising members of her party for undermining the leaderships of Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Leonard.

Lesley Laird endorsed Keir Starmer in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.