Stewart MacDonald is a

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 ...

local government councillor. He was elected to the East Kirkintilloch and Twechar Ward of

East Dunbartonshire East Dunbartonshire (; , ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders Glasgow City Council Area to the south, North Lanarkshire to the east, Stirling (council area), Stirling to the north, and West Dunbartonshire to the west. East ...

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

in the 2007 election. He is also a member of

Kirkintilloch Kirkintilloch (; ; ) is a town and a Burgh of Barony (The Baron of Kirkintilloch) in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal and on the south side of Strathkelvin, about northeast of central Glasgow. Historically ...

Community Council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...

and the Bridgeton Burns Club, and was a director of the East Dunbartonshire Municipal Bank between 2007 and 2015 and the East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust from 2010 to the present.

Early life

MacDonald was born in Glasgow in 1967 and educated at

Lenzie Academy Lenzie Academy is a Coeducation, co-educational Comprehensive school, comprehensive secondary school located in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. The catchment area covers Lenzie, Auchinloch and the southern parts of Kirkintilloch. Senior ...

where he was an active member of the School Debating Society, the Pupils' Council, and also worked on the independently funded and published Pupils' Own magazine. He was awarded colours by the school for his work in inter-schools debating competitions. On leaving school, he worked in sales before attending Glasgow Polytechnic in 1989 where he gained an HND in Business Studies. While he was a student, he played drums in a number of rock bands including Hugh Reed and the Velvet Underpants. On graduation, he joined

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

as a Management Trainee where he worked in Edinburgh, Sheffield, London and Chatham. He left to join

John Menzies John Menzies Ltd. is an aviation services business providing aircraft ground handling services, through its subsidiary Menzies Aviation Ltd. The company also provides air cargo services through its subsidiary Air Menzies International. The com ...

in 1993 during which time he ran the

Alness Alness (, ; ) is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in Ross and Cromarty, Scotland. It lies near the mouth of the River Averon, near the Cromarty Firth, with the town of Invergordon to the east, and the village of Evanton to ...

store. In 1995, MacDonald joined Gillespie of

Lenzie Lenzie () is a small affluent town by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in the East Dunbartonshire council area and the historic county of Dunbartonshire in Scotland. It is about north-east of Glasgow city centre and south of Kirkintilloch. At ...

, becoming

Motability Motability is a scheme in the United Kingdom intended to enable disabled people, their families and their carers to lease a new car, scooter or powered wheelchair. It is open to recipients of certain disability benefit, who exchange their w ...

Specialist after transferring to the Tomkins branch in Glasgow's East End in 1997. The company was taken over by the Arnold Clark organisation in 2006 As Motability Specialist, MacDonald looked after the needs of vehicle users with disabilities throughout their contracts. This experience led to him becoming a volunteer with the Kirkintilloch Citizens' Advice Bureau from 2004 to 2006 and to study Democracy and Social Policy with 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 gained a BSc. with Honours. In July 2009, MacDonald left Arnold Clark to work at Airdrie Citizens' Advice Bureau.

Political life

During his time at Glasgow Polytechnic, MacDonald took part in a number of campaigns and demonstrations organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) against the

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. ''Poll'' is an archaic term for "head" or "top of the head". The sen ...

and the abolition of Student Grants. He became a member of Kirkintilloch

in 2003 and stood as Labour's candidate for the Chapelton Ward of

in 2003 where he was defeated by the

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

candidate, Fiona Callison. He took part in the

February 15, 2003 anti-war protest On 15 February 2003, a coordinated day of protests was held across the world in which people in more than 600 cities expressed opposition to the imminent Iraq War. It was part of a series of protests and political events that had begun in 2002 a ...

march against the invasion of Iraq organised by the

Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group that campaigns against the United Kingdom's involvement in military conflicts. It was established on 21 September 2001 to campaign against the impe ...

. In 2005, MacDonald gave a speech on behalf of Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East Constituency Labour Party to the Scottish Labour Party Conference on the minimum wage. He is currently vice-chair of the Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East Constituency Labour Party and is a member of the GMB Trade Union.

East Dunbartonshire Council

In the 2007 Local Government Election, MacDonald was returned as one of three councillors for East Kirkintilloch and Twechar Ward, where he also lives. He was re-elected in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. He sits on a number of committees with

including Housing and Community Services, where he is vice-convenor, and the Housing Appeals Panel where he is convenor. He also represents East Dunbartonshire Council on the Hillhead Housing Association and Antonine Housing Association's Management Committees.

References

2007 Local Government Election ResultsPolice EventBearsden and Milngavie Herald report on public planning meetingEast Dunbartonshire Council WebsiteCouncillor MacDonald's websiteEast Dunbartonshire Municipal Bank entry at Companies HouseEast Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust entry at Companies HouseBoard of East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Stewart 1967 births Living people Scottish Labour councillors Councillors in East Dunbartonshire Alumni of the Open University People educated at Lenzie Academy Politicians from Kirkintilloch