Henry Bell McCubbin (15 July 1942 – 13 November 2023) was a Scottish politician. After a career as a film cameraman for television companies, he served one term in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

for the Labour Party.

Early career

McCubbin was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and educated at

Allan Glen's School Allan Glen's School was, for most of its existence, a State school, local authority, selective Secondary education, secondary school for boys in Glasgow, Scotland, charging nominal fees for tuition. It was founded by the Allan Glen's Endowment ...

. He joined the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

as a film cameraman, moving to Grampian TV in 1977. He studied at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

where he obtained an honours degree.

European Parliament

At the 1989 European elections, McCubbin was elected as

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 ...

for North East Scotland. He had only 30.6% of the vote, and a lead of only 2,613 over the next candidate. McCubbin concentrated on the fishing industry, which employed many constituents and was profoundly affected by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Common Fisheries Policy The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the fishery, fisheries policy of the European Union (EU). It sets quotas for which Member state of the European Union, member states are allowed to catch each type of fish, as well as encouraging the fishin ...

. He highlighted the relatively poor deal that Britain received under CFP allocations. In December 1993, McCubbin wrote a pamphlet together with fellow MEP and veteran pamphleteer Ken Coates which argued that deregulation had harmed the economy, and called for a shorter working week. An analysis of European Parliament attendance records showed him as one of the most diligent of British MEPs. He introduced legislation to improve safety on offshore installations, another key constituency concern. At the 1994 election, McCubbin campaigned on a pledge to reduce unemployment, but was defeated by

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, ...

candidate

Allan Macartney William John Allan Macartney (17 February 1941 – 25 August 1998) was a Scottish politician who served as a Scottish National Party MEP for the North East Scotland constituency between the 1994 European Parliament election and his sudden dea ...

Further political career

He kept up contact with the European institutions. He was nominated unsuccessfully for the role of European Ombudsman in late 1994, and in 1996 was appointed as Head of the European Office of the Association of

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

Authorities. He resigned in 1999 to seek selection as a Labour candidate for the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

, and also attempted to return to Europe when Allan Macartney died and a byelection was held. By this time, McCubbin's left-wing beliefs were regarded with concern and he was ruled out of the selection and placed at the bottom of the party list for the European Parliament.

Disillusion with Labour

McCubbin then resigned from the list completely. He attacked the government of

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

in letters to Scottish newspapers, and in March 1999 confirmed that he had left the Labour Party over the bombing of Iraq. In the 2000 Ayr by-election, he and fellow former MEP Alex Smith appeared at a press conference in support of the

Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an Scottish independence, independent Socialism, socialist Scottish Scottish republicanism, republic. The party was fou ...

candidate, although he said he had not joined the party. Later that year McCubbin helped to launch '' Scottish Left Review'', a bi-monthly journal of left-wing politics; he was a member of its Editorial Committee. He subsequently became a member of the Scottish Green Party.

References

*"Who's Who", A&C Black * "After the Cash Grab" – on why the case against PFI was always overwhelming http://www.slrp.co.uk/test1/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=145&Itemid=1 {{DEFAULTSORT:McCubbin, Henry 1942 births 2023 deaths Independent politicians in Scotland Alumni of the Open University People educated at Allan Glen's School Scottish Labour MEPs MEPs for Scotland 1989–1994 Politicians from Glasgow