1. James Neale Hanvey was born on 28 December 1964 and is a Scottish nationalist politician who served as the Leader of the Alba Party in the House of Commons from 2021 to 2024, and the Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2019 to 2024.
Neale Hanvey was the SNP member and spokesperson for the Health and Social Care Select Committee and he was briefly SNP Spokesperson on the Covid Vaccine Deployment.
James Hanvey was born in Belfast, the son of James Hanvey and Mary Hanvey.
Neale Hanvey was educated at Glenrothes High School before starting a twenty-five year career in the National Health Service.
Neale Hanvey has been a contributing author to medical textbooks.
In November 2019, Neale Hanvey was suspended from the party following allegations that he made antisemitic social media posts in 2016, in which he compared Israel's treatment of the Palestinians to the treatment of Jews during the Second World War and shared an article from Sputnik that included an image of George Soros as a puppet master controlling US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Neale Hanvey sat as an independent MP upon his election.
Neale Hanvey appeared before the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities to apologise in person and thank them for their "generosity of spirit and willingness to help" during this time.
In March 2020, the SNP's conduct committee agreed that Neale Hanvey should be readmitted to the party in May 2020.
On 2 July 2020 it was announced that Neale Hanvey had been appointed as the SNP member and spokesperson for the Westminster Health and Social Care Select Committee.
In November 2020, a year after his suspension, Neale Hanvey was elected to the SNP's Member Conduct Committee.
In February 2021, Neale Hanvey lost his role as the SNP's vaccine spokesperson after refusing to apologise for publicly backing a crowdfunding campaign for a defamation case against several individuals, including SNP MP Kirsty Blackman.
In March 2021, Neale Hanvey left the SNP to join the newly formed Alba Party and then stood as a candidate in the Mid Scotland and Fife region in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.
Neale Hanvey stood for the renamed Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy constituency at the 2024 general election, after boundary changes, which saw the constituency absorb parts of West Fife.
Neale Hanvey was defeated by Labour's Melanie Ward, coming second to last with 1,132 votes.
On 26 March 2025, Neale Hanvey was elected deputy leader in the Alba Party leadership election.
Neale Hanvey has signed the Women's Pledge, which originated amongst members of the SNP.
Neale Hanvey later claimed he was personally targeted for doing so.
Neale Hanvey has called for an end to arms sales to Saudi Arabia from Scottish weapons manufacturers due to the Saudi atrocities in Yemen.
Neale Hanvey has repeatedly raised the issue of deaths relating to the Covid-19 vaccines in parliament and questioned ministers on the number of adverse reactions and fatalities linked to the vaccines.