David Martin (born 26 August 1954) is a Scottish politician who has served as co-convener of the Citizens' Assembly of Scotland since 2019. A member of the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is repres ...

, he was a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) from

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, having first represented the

Lothians Lothian (; ; ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, while other signific ...

constituency until

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 then for the

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

constituency. He was the United Kingdom's longest serving MEP and the second longest serving MEP in the whole European Parliament.

Early life

David Martin was born and educated in Edinburgh, where he attended

Liberton High School Liberton High School is a secondary school in Liberton, Scotland, Liberton, in the south of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is located on Gilmerton Road. The school roll for the 2022–23 academic year was 846. Liberton High School has had certain g ...

then

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a stockbroker's assistant, and also as an animal rights campaigner.

Political career

Martin was first elected as a councillor in 1982.

European Parliament

Martin won the

seat in the

1984 European Parliament election The 1984 European Parliament election was the first since the inaugural election of 1979 and the 1981 enlargement of the European Community to include Greece. It was also the last before the accession of Spain and Portugal in 1986. Results sh ...

. He retained his seat, and following a reform of the electoral system, was in

elected to represent the whole of Scotland along with other members. He was elected in 1987 as the youngest ever leader of the British Labour delegation of MEPs. He was Vice-President of the European Parliament from 1989 to 2004, the longest period anyone has served in that position. In 2002 he was the defeated Socialist candidate for President of the Parliament. He was the European Parliament's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

on the

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Treaties. Martin supported

Owen Smith Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970) is a British lobbyist and former Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. Smith was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontypridd (UK Parliament constituency), Pontypridd from 2 ...

in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election. Martin was first on the Scottish Labour party list for the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 23 and 26 May 2019. It was the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) we ...

. The result for Scotland was declared on 17 May 2019. Scottish Labour lost both its seats, receiving 9.3% of the vote. He did not attend the declaration, leaving

Edinburgh City Chambers Edinburgh City Chambers in Edinburgh, Scotland, is the meeting place of the City of Edinburgh Council and its predecessors, Edinburgh Corporation and Edinburgh District Council. It is a Category A listed building. History The current building ...

the night before.

Trade Committee

Martin was a co-ordinator and spokesperson for the Socialists and Democrats Group on the International Trade (INTA) committee. As well as this role, he was the rapporteur for the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and standing rapporteur for the

ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...

-5 countries. Martin stepped in as the rapporteur for the ACTA treaty after the original rapporteur, Kader Arif, resigned in protest. In April 2012, Martin recommended that the European Parliament reject ACTA, on the grounds that civil liberties were not adequately protected. His recommendation was adopted by the Parliament in the biggest ever defeat of a legislative proposal from the European Commission – 478 MEPs voted against ACTA, 39 in favour, and 165 abstained. In 2013, Martin was voted MEP of the year in the international trade category by ''

The Parliament Magazine ''The Parliament Magazine'' is a monthly EU politics, policy and culture magazine. Its website, www.theparliamentmagazine.eu, is a forum for discussion on the latest developments in EU politics and policy, featuring regular contributions from pr ...

''. Martin was the rapporteur for the UN Arms Trade Treaty, encouraging member states to ratify the treaty and pushing for the EU to lead strict global implementation of new rules for greater transparency and responsibility in the arms industry.

Animal Welfare

Martin is Honorary Vice-President of the Animal Welfare Intergroup, a cross-party group of MEPs striving for animal rights. He was instrumental in th
2009 Seal Regulation
which bans the sale of seal products in the European Union. It has been estimated by the

Humane Society International Humane World for Animals, formerly called Humane Society International (HSI) was founded in 1991 as the international division of The Humane Society of the United States. HSI expanded the HSUS's activities into Central and South America, Afr ...

that in Canada around 250,000 seals have been saved per year as a result of this ruling. This was reinforced by a landmark WTO ruling following a challenge to the EU legislation by the Norwegian and Canadian governments.

Scottish politics

Following the

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

vote of 23 June 2016, Martin was invited to join the

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

'
Standing Council on Europe
a cross-party body which offers advice to the Scottish government on how best to protect Scotland's relationship with the European Union. In contrast to England and Wales, Scotland voted firmly in favour of EU membership by 62% to 38%. In a video he explained, "she irst Minister Nicola Sturgeonassured me this would be an all-party and no-party, a pro-independence and an anti-independence grouping, that there would be no bias one way or the other. Our job is simply to look at what would be best for Scotland in the new situation that we face". In January 2024, Martin became President of the European Movement in Scotland.

Citizens' Assembly

Since losing his seat in 2019, Martin has been appointed as co-convener of the Citizens' Assembly of Scotland. He took office on 6 August 2019 with co-convener Kate Wimpress. In July 2019, Joanna Cherry, Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South West, suggested the Assembly would be used to promote

Scottish nationalism Scottish nationalism promotes the idea that the Scottish people form a cohesive nation and Scottish national identity, national identity. Scottish nationalism began to shape from 1853 with the National Association for the Vindication of Scottis ...

. Martin, a unionist, refused to endorse a boycott of the Assembly encouraged by

Scotland in Union Scotland in Union (SIU) is a pro-UK campaign group, based in Scotland, which launched in March 2015 to help keep Scotland within the United Kingdom. Its supporters include members of pro-UK political parties and people with no party affiliation ...

, the

Scottish Conservatives The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party (), known as Scottish Tories, is part of the UK Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party active in Scotland. It currently holds 5 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Ki ...

and the

Scottish Liberal Democrats The Scottish Liberal Democrats () is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, part of UK Liberal Democrats. The party holds 5 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, 6 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons and 86 of 1 ...

. He insisted the running of the Assembly would be impartial and expressed his disappointment at the going ahead of the boycott.

Personal life

Martin is married to Lorraine Davidson, with two children; he also has two children from a previous marriage to his first wife Margaret.

References

External links

Profile at European Parliament websiteFacebook pageTwitter profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, David 1954 births Living people Politicians from Edinburgh Scottish Labour MEPs MEPs for Scotland 1984–1989 MEPs for Scotland 1989–1994 MEPs for Scotland 1994–1999 MEPs for Scotland 1999–2004 MEPs for Scotland 2004–2009 MEPs for Scotland 2009–2014 MEPs for Scotland 2014–2019 People educated at Liberton High School Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Alumni of the University of Leicester