George Reid (Scottish Politician) - The Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament

In 1995 ish Reid re-entered Scottish politics by delivering the annual Donaldson Lecture at the SNP conference, drawing on his knowledge of continental European politics to argue a case for why a party like the SNP could be expected to prosper if a Scottish Parliament was established. Labour Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland George Robertson's contrary claim that devolution would "kill the SNP stone dead" was dismissed by Reid by saying "Ho, ho, ho".

He stood in the Ochil constituency, which covered approximately the same area as his old seat, at Westminster in the UK general election 1997, coming in second. When the new Labour administration moved forward with proposals for a Scottish Parliament, Reid first served on the pre-establishment Consultative Steering Group, and then was elected in the first election in 1999 to represent Mid Scotland and Fife.

At the opening of the Parliament Reid was defeated 82 votes to 44 by Sir David Steel (a Liberal Democrat, the last-ever leader of the British Liberal Party) for the position of Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament and was instead elected a Deputy Presiding Officer.

At the 2003 Scottish Parliament Election Reid succeeded in winning the Ochil constituency first past the post. He was then elected by his fellow MSPs to succeed David Steel as Presiding Officer. As the office is non-partisan, he took voluntary suspension from his political party, the SNP.

As the Presiding Officer has a role in advising The Queen, Reid was appointed a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 2004. At the official opening of the controversial new Scottish Parliament building that year, he made a keynote speech in which he paid tribute to the construction as an architectural achievement, and urged parliamentarians to "listen to the building" to inspire them in their future endeavours.

As Presiding Officer he also led the creation of a Scottish Futures Forum, to promote cross-party strategic thinking. He was appointed President of the Royal Commonwealth Society Scotland, and became Patron of the Scottish Disability Equality Forum. During his time as Presiding Officer he won the Herald newspaper's Scottish Politician of the Year award in 2003 and 2005, making him the only person so far to have won the award on two occasions.