1. Michelle Lorraine Ballantyne is a British property developer, former politician and former nurse who served as Leader of Reform UK Scotland from January 2021 to February 2022.
27 Facts About Michelle Ballantyne
1. 2.
Michelle Ballantyne was a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the South Scotland region from 2017 to 2021, having been elected for the Scottish Conservatives.
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Michelle Ballantyne moved to the Scottish Borders in 1990 and established a manufacturing business there with her husband.
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Michelle Ballantyne was a candidate in the February 2020 leadership election but lost to Jackson Carlaw.
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Michelle Ballantyne resigned from the party in November 2020 in protest at its support for coronavirus lockdown measures.
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Michelle Ballantyne lost her seat in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election and quit as the leader of Reform UK in Scotland in February 2022.
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Michelle Ballantyne studied nursing at Royal London Hospital in East London, beginning her career working as a staff nurse in an intensive care unit before progressing into a finance and management position at South West Thames Regional Health Authority.
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Michelle Ballantyne moved to the Scottish Borders in 1990 to establish a manufacturing business with her husband in Walkerburn.
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Michelle Ballantyne took a position in 2005 as head of an independent local charity providing specialist drug and alcohol support to children, families and offenders.
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Michelle Ballantyne contested the Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale constituency at the 2016 Scottish Parliament election but finished second place behind Christine Grahame.
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Michelle Ballantyne led the Conservative group into the 2017 Scottish Borders Council election.
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In May 2017, Michelle Ballantyne was invited to join the Scottish Parliament on the Scottish Conservative regional list and was sworn in as an MSP on 23 May She replaced Rachael Hamilton, who had resigned her seat to contest the 2017 Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire by-election held on 8 June.
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Shortly after she joined the Scottish Parliament, Michelle Ballantyne was appointed by Ruth Davidson to the Scottish Conservative frontbench in the role of Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Years.
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On 3 May 2018, Michelle Ballantyne was promoted to Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Social Security.
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Michelle Ballantyne's comments sparked heated debate and she accused the SNP of politicising the cap.
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Michelle Ballantyne campaigned to change the law to allow assisted dying for consenting terminally ill people in her role as chair of the end of life choices working group, progressing on previous campaign work by Margo MacDonald.
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Michelle Ballantyne was a candidate in the first Scottish Conservative Party leadership election of 2020.
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Michelle Ballantyne eventually lost the leadership election to Jackson Carlaw.
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Michelle Ballantyne was dropped from Carlaw's Shadow Cabinet in a reshuffle shortly after the election.
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On 24 November 2020, Michelle Ballantyne announced she would leave the Scottish Conservatives to sit as an independent MSP, citing differences on policies and principles with the party and its new leader Douglas Ross, especially with regards to the party's support for coronavirus lockdown measures; she said that she and the party were no longer "a good fit".
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Michelle Ballantyne joined Reform UK in January 2021 and was appointed as Leader of Reform UK Scotland.
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Michelle Ballantyne said the party would advocate low taxes, entrepreneurship and policies reflecting personal choice and local communities.
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Michelle Ballantyne lost her seat in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.
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Michelle Ballantyne received 779 votes of the vote and was not returned to Holyrood.
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Michelle Ballantyne was suspended from and then quit her membership of Reform UK in January 2025 after it was revealed she was the administrator of a Facebook page that featured racist and far-right posts.
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The eldest of four siblings, Michelle Ballantyne has been married to her husband Neil since December 1983 and together they have six children.
27.
Michelle Ballantyne is managing trustee of The Haining, a patron of a food bank in Penicuik and a council member of Friends at the End.