Nanette Milne, Scottish Conservative MSP for the North East enjoyed a retirement lunch at the Marcliffe Hotel, Aberdeen on (Friday 11thMarch).
The Aberdeen MSP announced that she will stand down as an MSP at the next Scottish Parliament election in May 2016.
Nanette was elected to serve as an MSP for North East Scotland in 2003 and again at the 2007 and 2011 Scottish Parliament elections.
Nanette is a well-known face around the North East. She was educated at Aberdeen High School for Girls, and qualified as a doctor at Aberdeen University in 1965. She trained initially in Anaesthetics, gaining her fellowship in 1969. She took a few years out in the early ‘70’s to bring up her two young children, and thereafter worked part-time in cancer related research.
She joined the Conservative Party in 1974, moving from grass roots activist and branch committee member to constituency chairman and president, and then was vice-chairman of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party from 1989-1993.
She served for 10 years on Cults, Bieldside, and Miltimber community council, following which she was the Aberdeen City Councillor for Cults ward between 1988-1999, during which time she gained experience of the planning process as a member of the Councils planning committee. She was a founder trustee of the Aberdeen Countryside Project and is an enthusiastic trustee and “Friend” of the Aberdeen International Youth Festival. She also became a trustee of the Aberdeen-Gomel Trust, formed after the Chernobyl disaster, and is still an active member of the Friends of Gomel.
Nanette Milne, Scottish Conservative MSP for the North East said:
“It has been an honour and a privilege to represent my fellow North East citizens in the Scottish Parliament.
“As an MSP over the last twelve years, I am most proud of my behind the scenes work which I have undertaken as an MSP on behalf of my constituents. This work has helped secure funding to deliver a new Inverurie Health Centre and Community Maternity Unit, and my campaigns to secure the re-opening of Kintore Station as well as a solution to the Inveramsay Bridge and the future dualling of the A96 are at last bearing fruit.
“In recent years I have worked to champion fairer funding for North East Councils and NHS Grampian as well as securing a cap on the payments which Aberdeen City and Shire Councils had to pay towards the AWPR. I recently also pressed the Scottish Government to bring forward changes to responsible dog ownership and bring forward microchipping of dogs in legislation.
“As the Conservative spokesman on Public Health and a Member of the Parliament’s Health & Sport Committee I have spent a significant part of my time focused on health issues, which as a former medic I have found very rewarding. My work on a number of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Groups has helped to keep me in touch with many diverse and important issues in the health and energy sectors.
“Looking to the future and the next Scottish Parliament. It is vital that Scotland has a strong opposition to the SNP and that other political voices are heard in the Scottish Parliament.
“I have been concerned for some time that central belt bias is emerging as dominant within the Scottish Parliament. For example, in all my years serving on the Scottish Parliament’s Oil and Gas Cross Party group it has only been North East MSPs who have taken an active role in that group. For people in Aberdeen and the North East, I fear the Scottish Parliament is rapidly becoming remote from our local issues and concerns.
“I would like to thank all those who have helped me over the years during my time as an MSP.
“My love for the North East and its people has been what has driven me as an MSP and as I now look towards my retirement I can look forward to having time to do the many other things I enjoy - from spending more time with my grandchildren to enjoying my beloved Deeside and keeping my house and garden in shape !.”