1. Sarah Herriot Boyack was born on 16 May 1961 and is a Scottish Labour politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothian region since 2019, and previously from 2011 to 2016.
22 Facts About Sarah Boyack
1. 2.
Sarah Boyack formerly represented the Edinburgh Central constituency from 1999 to 2011.
3.
Sarah Boyack's father, Jim Boyack, was an important figure in the Labour Party and the campaign for Scottish devolution.
4.
Sarah Boyack was educated at the state comprehensive Royal High School, Edinburgh, where she was one of the first female pupils.
5.
Sarah Boyack became active in the Labour club, where she was a protege of Margaret Curran.
6.
Sarah Boyack was chair of the Labour club from 1981 until 1982, and chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students from 1985 until 1986.
7.
Sarah Boyack worked as a town planner in the London Borough of Brent then as a strategic planner in Central Regional Council in Stirling.
8.
Sarah Boyack then became a lecturer at the School of Planning and Housing at Heriot-Watt University and was Convener of the Scottish Branch of the Royal Town Planning Institute in 1997.
9.
Sarah Boyack was elected to the new Scottish Parliament in the 1999 election for the Edinburgh Central constituency.
10.
Sarah Boyack was Minister for Transport and the Environment in the Scottish Executive from 1999 until 2000.
11.
Re-elected for her constituency in the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, Sarah Boyack was elected by MSPs as Convener of the Scottish Parliament Environment and Rural Development Committee in June 2003.
12.
Sarah Boyack stood down from the committee in January 2007, when she returned to the Scottish Executive as Deputy Minister for the Environment and Rural Development.
13.
Sarah Boyack lost her Edinburgh Central constituency seat in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election to Marco Biagi of the Scottish National Party.
14.
On 28 October 2014, Sarah Boyack declared she would stand in the upcoming election to become the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party.
15.
Sarah Boyack served as a member of the Parliament's Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee during its scrutiny of the Land Reform Bill 2015.
16.
Sarah Boyack again contested the Edinburgh Central seat in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, but was defeated by Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, who stood for the same constituency.
17.
Sarah Boyack was placed third on the Lothian regional list of Labour candidates behind Kezia Dugdale and Neil Findlay, but did not return to Holyrood following the election since Labour won only two list seats.
18.
In February 2017, Sarah Boyack was appointed as Head of Public Affairs at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, the membership body for social housing providers in Scotland.
19.
Sarah Boyack joined the Labour Co-operative group upon her return.
20.
Sarah Boyack nominated Anas Sarwar in the 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election.
21.
Sarah Boyack backed the UK Government's decision to introduce means-testing for the Winter Fuel Payment, voting in the Scottish Parliament against calls to reverse the decision.
22.
Sarah Boyack married former long-term partner Andrew Walters in December 2000.