15 Facts About Mark Lazarowicz

Mark Lazarowicz is a British Labour Co-operative politician and lawyer who was the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh North and Leith from 2001 to 2015.

Mark Lazarowicz graduated from the University of St Andrews, where he had been Chairman of the St Andrews University Labour Club with an MA in Medieval History and Moral Philosophy in 1976, and the University of Edinburgh with an LLB in Law in 1992.

Mark Lazarowicz served as a Labour councillor on the City of Edinburgh District Council from 1980 to 1996, and was Leader of the Council from 1986 to 1993.

Mark Lazarowicz began practising law as an advocate at the Scottish bar in 1996.

Mark Lazarowicz was elected as Member of Parliament for Edinburgh North and Leith in June 2001 and was re-elected in May 2005 and May 2010, for the now expanded Edinburgh North and Leith constituency.

Mark Lazarowicz was a member of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee.

Mark Lazarowicz previously served on the Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, the Scottish Affairs Committee and the Modernisation Committee.

Mark Lazarowicz won the PRASEG Parliamentarian of the Year Award in 2006 for his work in promoting renewable energy.

In 2008, Mark Lazarowicz lodged a further Private Member's Bill to restrict ship-to-ship oil transfers, with the aim of preventing spillages in the Firth of Forth.

In October 2008, Lazarowicz was made the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Global Carbon Markets and his report on the issue, Global Carbon Trading: a framework for reducing emissions was published in July 2009.

Mark Lazarowicz rebelled against the Labour government on the Iraq war vote in 2003.

Mark Lazarowicz opposed the Conservative government's Immigration Bill and retrospective legislation on workfare.

Mark Lazarowicz was defeated at the 2015 general election by the Scottish National Party's Deidre Brock.

Mark Lazarowicz is the joint author of The Scottish Parliament: An Introduction, published in 1999 with new editions in 2000,2003 and 2010.

Mark Lazarowicz has been a supporter of many environmental causes, and in 2015 he was elected as an Honorary Fellow of Scottish Environment Link.