Scott Arthur

British politician

Scott Arthur
MP
Official portrait, 2024
Member of Parliament
for Edinburgh South West
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 July 2024
Preceded byJoanna Cherry
Majority6,217 (13.6%)
Personal details
Political partyLabour

Scott Arthur is a British academic and Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South West since 2024.

Academic career

In July 2024, Arthur was a professor in the Institute for Infrastructure & Environment at Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University.[1]

Arthur has been a co-editor of multiple books covering the International Conference on Advances in Civil Engineering.[2][3]

Political career

Councillor

Arthur was elected councillor for the Colinton/Fairmilehead at the 2017 City of Edinburgh Council election as a member of the Labour Party.[4]

In May 2022, Arthur was appointed the transport and environment convener in the Labour Party's minority administration of the City of Edinburgh Council. He said at the time that the position would be interim and he would be standing down in October of that year following a council reshuffle.[5]

As Transport and Environment Convenor in the Council, Arthur was instrumental in advocating a new north-south route for the tram, linking Granton in the North West of the city to the BioQuarter in the South East [6]. A public consultation, originally due in Spring 2024 but since delayed, was promised on two proposed options for the route to Granton. One along what is currently the Roseburn path, and the other along a vehicular route known as ‘Orchard Brae’. Arthur was a strong proponent of the Roseburn option, stating it would link up the tram with the Western General Hospital, along with other congestion-based benefits [7]. The Roseburn option was met with some controversy, with opponents saying the thousands of cyclists who currently use the path would be displaced, and biodiversity benefits to residents and the city’s climate plan would be lost [8].

Member of Parliament

In July 2024, Arthur was elected Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South West. Beating the incumbent Scottish National Party candidate Joanna Cherry by 6,217 votes.[9][10]

References

  1. ^ "Institute for Infrastructure & Environment". Heriot-Watt Research Portal. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  2. ^ Advances in Civil Engineering. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering. Vol. 184. 2022. doi:10.1007/978-981-16-5547-0. ISBN 978-981-16-5546-3. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  3. ^ Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Advances in Civil Engineering. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering. Vol. 368. 2024. doi:10.1007/978-981-99-3826-1. ISBN 978-981-99-3825-4. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Local Government Election results 2017". The City of Edinburgh Council. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  5. ^ Johnstone, Neil (27 May 2022). "Edinburgh council: Interim transport convener Scott Arthur of Labour vows to deliver where previous administration failed". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Recommended route for Granton to BioQuarter tram". The City of Edinburgh Council. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Roseburn Path: The battle over whether an old Edinburgh rail line should become a tram route". The Scotsman. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Campaigners fight to save Roseburn Path from Edinburgh tram plan". The Herald. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  9. ^ Brown, Angie (5 July 2024). "Joanna Cherry loses seat as SNP suffers Edinburgh defeats". BBC News. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Meet Edinburgh's new MPs: Scott Arthur, Labour MP for Edinburgh South West". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Joanna Cherry
Member of Parliament
for Edinburgh South West

2024–present
Incumbent
Authority control databases: People Edit this at Wikidata
  • UK Parliament
  • v
  • t
  • e
Labour Party members of Parliament
  • Labour Party
  • Parliamentary Labour Party
  • List of Labour Party MPs
North East England
North West England
Yorkshire and the Humber
East Midlands
West Midlands
East of England
London
South East England
South West England
Wales
Scotland
  • v
  • t
  • e
Scottish Labour
Leaders
Deputy leaders
General secretaries
Current MSPs
Current MPs
Organisation
Scottish governments
Leadership elections
Deputy leadership elections


Labour MP stub icon

This article about a Labour Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

  • v
  • t
  • e