Martyn Day (born 26 March 1971) is a

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, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Linlithgow and East Falkirk from 2015 until 2024. He served as SNP Spokesperson for Health from December 2021 to September 2023.

Early life and education

Born in

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

, Martyn Day was brought up in

Linlithgow Linlithgow ( ; ; ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a historic route between Edi ...

and attended Linlithgow Academy. Prior to his political career, he worked for the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial bank, commercial and clearing (finance), clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank was established by the Par ...

as a personal banking manager.

Political career

He was first elected to

West Lothian Council West Lothian Council is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for West Lothian, West Lothian council area. History West Lothian District Council Local government across Scotland was reorganised in 1975 under the Local ...

at the

1999 Scottish local elections Local elections were held in Scotland on 6 May 1999, the same day as First Scottish Parliament elections. It was the second election for all 32 Scottish councils and the first after a major review into all wards. Boundary changes A Major revi ...

representing the Linlithgow ward. From

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

–12 the SNP led the administration of West Lothian Council and Day held the portfolio of Development and Transport on the Council Executive, and served on over 40 committees and outside bodies. After the

2012 Scottish local elections The 2012 Scottish local elections were held on 3 May 2012 in all 32 local authorities. The Scottish National Party (SNP) overtook Labour to win the highest share of the vote, and retained and strengthened its position as the party with most cou ...

, the SNP found themselves in opposition in West Lothian and Day took on the post of spokesperson for Development and Transport and group whip. Day was selected to contest the Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency at the 2015 general election, when he defeated the sitting Labour MP, Michael Connarty. He received 32,055 votes and a 52.0% share of the vote. He retained his seat at the 2017 snap election, but with a greatly reduced majority of 2,919 votes. At the 2019 general election, Day was re-elected again, with an increased majority of 11,266 votes, with Charles Kennedy of the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

finishing in second place. At the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

, Day contested the seat of Bathgate and Linlithgow. He was defeated by Kirsteen Sullivan of

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party (UK), Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and Unionism in the United Kingdom, unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Sco ...

, losing by a majority of 8,323, and finished in second place. In the

2026 Scottish Parliament election The next Scottish Parliament election is required to be held no later than Thursday 7 May 2026, to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It will be the seventh general election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. Six partie ...

, he will stand in Falkirk East and Linlithgow.

References

External links

Profile
on SNP website
Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Martyn 1971 births Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies People from Falkirk People educated at Linlithgow Academy Scottish National Party councillors Scottish National Party MPs UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024 Bank of Scotland people