Dr William Laurence Wilson (born 11 December 1963) is a former

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

(SNP) politician. He was a regional list

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...

(MSP) for the West of Scotland region from 2007 to 2011. He left the SNP in 2017 and now serves as co-convener of the Edinburgh Branch of the

Scottish Green Party The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; ) are a green party, green List of political parties in Scotland, political party in Scotland. The party has 7 MSPs of 129 in the Scottish Parliament, the party holds 35 of the 1226 ...

Early life

Wilson was born in Paisley in 1963 and attended Shawlands Academy, the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

, and

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. While living in

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, employed in conservation by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust and the

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, he became politically involved with the Labour Party. Upon returning to his native

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he became convinced of the case for

Scottish independence Scottish independence (; ) is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaignin ...

and that the Labour Party's commitment to social justice was waning. In 1989 he joined the Scottish National Party (SNP).

Candidature and leadership challenge

He stood unsuccessfully as an SNP candidate for the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in the Glasgow Anniesland constituency in the 1997 General Election before standing in the Glasgow Maryhill constituency in both the

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

and

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Scottish Parliamentary elections. Wilson was also elected chair of the SNP's Glasgow Regional Association in 2001. In the aftermath of the SNP's poor election performance in 2003, Wilson became convinced that a change of direction was needed by the SNP leadership. After discussing this with various SNP members, he was persuaded to contest the leadership himself and launched a challenge against the SNP leader,

John Swinney John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party, leader of the Scottish National ...

. His campaign focused on the issue of centralising the control of the party away from the branches and activists, and what he argued was the trend of placing the SNP ideologically in the centre ground of politics, away from the party's traditional position on the left-of-centre. In the leadership contest that ensued at the SNP's 2003 Conference Swinney received 577 votes from those delegates voting to Wilson's 111 to remain leader. There were 17 "positive abstentions" (delegates present who voted in other ballots that day) and 60 non-voters. However, the following year Swinney resigned after sustained media speculation that he was unsuitable for the role. The immediate catalyst for Swinney's resignation was the SNP's poor performance in the elections to the

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, although many spectators commented that Wilson's challenge also contributed to his resignation. Shortly after the leadership contest he stood down as convenor of the SNP Glasgow Regional Association and was replaced in that position by his leadership campaign manager. Wilson stood as the SNP candidate for the

Paisley and Renfrewshire North Paisley and Renfrewshire North is a constituency of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom represented since 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024 by Elaine Stewart (politician) ...

constituency for the 2005 UK general election. He finished in second place behind James Sheridan of the Labour Party.

As an MSP

At the

2007 Scottish Parliament election The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. 2007 Scottish local elections, ...

, Wilson stood in the West Renfrewshire constituency and also on the party list for the West of Scotland region. In West Renfrewshire he came third, the SNP dropping behind the Conservatives who took second place to Labour. He was elected on the regional list and sworn in as a Member of the Scottish Parliament.
Wilson's maiden speech
to the Scottish Parliament, delivered on 6 June 2007, underlined his belief in the links between crime and deprivation and his commitment to social justice. His campaigns have included awareness of the negative health impact of

depleted uranium Depleted uranium (DU), also referred to in the past as Q-metal, depletalloy, or D-38, is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope Uranium-235, 235U than natural uranium. The less radioactive and non-fissile Uranium-238, 238U is the m ...

on service personnel and civilians, equity fines for corporate crimes, as well as promotion of Scots language.

Joining the Scottish Greens

Following the 2017 General Election campaign Wilson left the SNP and subsequently joined the

. On 28 June 2018 he was elected Co-Convener of the Edinburgh Branch of the Scottish Greens, standing down in 2019. In the

2021 Scottish Parliament election The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021 under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. It was the sixth Scottish Parliament election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. 129 Member of the Scottish Parliament, ...

he stood on the Lothian List for the Scottish Green Party as the 10th of 12 candidates. The party won two seats in the region.

References

External links

*
Bill Wilson former MSP
on TheyWorkForYou.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Bill 1963 births Living people Politicians from Glasgow Scottish National Party MSPs Labour Party (UK) people Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 People educated at Shawlands Academy Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Politicians from Paisley, Renfrewshire Scottish republicans Scottish Green politicians