Mike Pringle

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This article is about the Member of the Scottish Parliament. For the Canadian Football League running back, see Mike Pringle (football player).

Mike Pringle (b. December 25, 1945) is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh South.

He was educated at Edinburgh Academy.

From 1992 to 2003 he was a member of Edinburgh City Council. In the 1997 general election he ran unsuccessfully as a candidate in Edinburgh South (UK Parliament constituency), and in the same constituency in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election. In the latter he came third out of the five candidates, with 22% of the vote; less than five hundred votes behind Margo MacDonald. He was also a candidate for the Lothians, but was not elected through the list system.

He ran again in the 2003 Scottish Parliamentary election for the same seat, winning it from Angus MacKay by half a percent of the votes - a majority of 158.

He is currently the Liberal Democrat member of the Justice 1 Committee of the Scottish Parliament.

He is a keen follower of Heart of Midlothian F.C. and was a strong supporter of the campaign to prevent the sale of the club's Tynecastle stadium in 2004.

He is a strong supporter of the Free Tibet Campaign and has introduced a Bill into the Scottish Parliament to introduce a levy on plastic bags in Scotland similar to the successful Irish plastic bag tax. He is also an Honorary Vice-President of English-Speaking Union Scotland