Douglas Lumsden

Douglas Aaron Lumsden (born 31 August 1971) is a Scottish Conservative Party politician. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the North East Scotland region since the election in May 2021. He was previously the co-leader of Aberdeen City Council.

Early life and education

Douglas was born in Aberdeen on 31 August 1971, to Douglas and June Lumsden. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and Robert Gordon University, where he studied Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

Career

Lumsden worked in the IT industry from 1993 to 2017. It was in 2017 that he was first elected to Aberdeen City Council, as one of three councillors representing the Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee ward. He was co-leader of the council from 2017 until 2021. Lumsden contested the Aberdeen South seat at the 2019 United Kingdom general election and came second.

In December 2020, Lumsden planned to ask the UK government to fund Aberdeen Council directly, bypassing the Scottish government. He was criticised by the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats for disrespecting Scottish devolution; however, the Liberal Democrats also criticised the Scottish government for giving Aberdeen "a horrible and unfair deal on funding". Lumsden claimed that his concern was that "lobbying the Scottish Government and COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) for a fairer funding settlement" has not been taken seriously.

At the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, Lumsden was selected as a list MSP to represent North East Scotland.

On 12 January 2022, Lumsden called for Boris Johnson to resign as party leader and Prime Minister over the Westminster lockdown parties controversy, along with a majority of Scottish Conservative MSPs.

Lumsden remained a councillor and continued to draw both salaries after his election to Holyrood in order to avoid the expense of a by-election. He did not stand at the 2022 Aberdeen City Council election.

Parliamentary Questions Scandal

On 8 February 2025, John Boothman, political correspondent for ''The Sunday Times'', reported that Lumsden had submitted nearly 1,000 written questions to the Scottish government in the month of January 2025 alone. It was speculated that AI was used to generate the questions including ones on flagpoles, lightbulbs, deckchairs, jars of honey in the gift shop, and the cost of electric hand dryers. Mr Lumsden denied using AI to generate questions but added that he "would look at any new tools to hold the government to account."

According to the '' Daily Record'', the 987 questions made up more than half of the total questions submitted by all 129 MSPs. Dealing with the questions was estimated to have cost the Scottish Government and taxpayer approximately £100,000.

In his defense, Lumsden said that "It's legitimate to submit questions to scrutinise the SNP government and Scottish parliament, but I will speak with my team about the volume and if a written question is needed in every instance." Lumsden claimed, "I will continue to ask questions to hold this rotten government to account and won't be silenced when it comes to standing up for the northeast." His holding the rotten government to account included queries about the number of salt and pepper sachets at Holyrood and how it is verified that the beeswax used for the Great Seal of Scotland comes from the parliament's bees. Lumsden did not apologise or react to calls for him to pay for the costs his questions caused.

References

External links

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1971 births
Living people
Conservative MSPs
Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026
Scottish Conservative councillors
Councillors in Aberdeen
Scottish Conservative parliamentary candidates

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