Mark Griffin (politician)

Mark Griffin
MSP
Member of the Scottish Parliament
for Central Scotland
Incumbent
Assumed office
5 May 2011
Personal details
Born Mark Griffin
19 October 1985
Political party Scottish Labour Party
Spouse(s) Stephanie Griffin
Residence Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire
Alma mater University of Strathclyde

Mark Griffin (born 19 October 1985) is a Scottish Labour Party Member of the Scottish Parliament, representing the Central Scotland region.[1] He is the youngest person ever to be elected to the Scottish Parliament.

In May 2012, he was appointed the Scottish Labour Spokesman for Sport. He held the role until July 2013, when he become Shadow Minister for Transport and Veterans. When Jim Murphy was elected Scottish Labour Party leader in December 2014, Mark was appointed as Shadow Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's Languages, covering school education, qualifications, science, HM Inspectorate of Education, the Scottish Qualifications Authority and languages.

Mark Griffin was also a North Lanarkshire Councillor from 2008 until 2012.[2]

Upon his election at the age of 25, he became not only the youngest MSP of the 2011-2016 Scottish Parliament, but the youngest in its history.[3]

He sits on the Scottish Parliament's Education and Culture Committee and is a member of a number of Cross-Party Parliamentary Groups, including the Cross Party Groups on Deafness, Sport and Industrial Communities.

Through his work with the CPG on Deafness, he is in the process of putting a British Sign Language (BSL) (Scotland) Bill through Parliament. He became one of the first MSPs elected in 2011 to put forward plans for a Members Bill. The Bill was supported in principle by the Scottish Government in late 2014. [4]

Mark is a trained Mechanical Engineer and prior to his election to North Lanarkshire Council in 2008, he was a serving soldier in the British Territorial Army (TA).

In January 2014, Mark Griffin was chosen as the Scottish Labour Party candidate for the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Scottish Parliament seat at the 2016 election

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