Nicol Stephen

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Nicol Stephen
Image:Nicol stephen1.jpg
2nd Deputy First Minister of Scotland
Incumbent
Assumed office  23rd June, 2005
Preceded by	Jim Wallace
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	June 30 1960 (age 48) Aberdeen
Constituency	Aberdeen South
Political party	Liberal Democrats

Nicol Ross Stephen (born 23 March 1960) is the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for Aberdeen South.

Stephen became an MSP in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, later holding Deputy Minister positions for: Enterprise and Lifelong Learning; Education, Europe and External Affairs; and Education and Young, followed by a cabinet position as Minister for Transport in the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition. He became Deputy First Minister upon the resignation of his predecessor Jim Wallace in 2005, and will lead his party in the 2007 election.

Contents 1 Background and family life 2 Early politcal career 3 Scottish Parliament 3.1 Minister and Deputy Minister roles 3.2 Deputy First Minister 4 References 5 External links

Background and family life

Born in Aberdeen^[1], he was educated at Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen and at the University of Aberdeen, where he obtained an LLB in 1980. He then took his Diploma in Legal Practice at Edinburgh University and worked for a number of years as a solicitor before moving into corporate finance as a senior manager with Deloitte & Touche.

He was a former Chair of CREATE (a group campaigning for rail electrification between Aberdeen and Edinburgh); a chairperson of STAR (Save Tor-na-Dee Hospital and Roxburghe House); and the founder and director of Grampian Enterprise.

He is married with 3 children.^[2]

Early politcal career

He was elected to Grampian Regional Council in 1982 (as Scotland's youngest councillor) and was Chair of Grampian's Economic and Planning Committee from 1986 to 1991.

He was briefly a Member of Parliament for the Kincardine and Deeside constituency, elected in the November 1991 by-election following the death of Conservative and Unionist Alick Buchanan-Smith. He was a member of the Liberal Democrat treasury team and spokesperson on small business during his time in the House of Commons. The seat returned to the Conservative and Unionists at the 1992 general election, when it was won by George Kynoch.

He later stood for the Aberdeen South constituency in the 1997 election for Aberdeen South, but was defeated by the Scottish Labour candidate.^[3]

Scottish Parliament

Minister and Deputy Minister roles

Stephen was elected as MSP for Aberdeen South in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament. He later helped negotiate the Partnership Agreements for the coalition government with the Labour Party.^[4]

He later served in the Scottish Executive as Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning^[5] (1999 to 2000), then as Deputy Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs (2000 to 2001)^[6], and as Deputy Minister for Education and Young People (2001 - 2003).

Following the 2003 election, he was appointed Minister for Transport. During his time in this post, he was responsbile for approving the controversial M74 extension.^[7].

Deputy First Minister

Following the resignation of Jim Wallace in May 2005 as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Stephen announced his intention to stand for the leadership.^[8] He defeated rival candidate, Mike Rumbles, who advocated ending the coalition agreement with the Scottish Labour Party, winning 76.6%, becoming the Deputy First Minister on June 23, 2005.^[9] Following his leadership victory, a mini reshuffle of the Scottish cabinet, saw him take on the role of Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning.^[10]

References

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