In 2005, following the resignation of his predecessor Jim Wallace, Stephen was elected leader of the party and also became deputy first minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning. He led his party into the 2007 election, where it won 16 seats (down one on 2003). He resigned as party leader on 2 July 2008, triggering a leadership election. In 2011 he joined the House of Lords. He became a patron of The Aberdeen Law Project in 2011.
He was a former Chair of CREATE (a group campaigning for rail electrification between Aberdeen and Edinburgh); a chairperson of STAR (Save Tor-na-Dee Hospital and Roxburghe House); and the founder and director of Grampian Enterprise.
He was elected to Grampian Regional Council in 1982 (as Scotland's youngest councillor) and was Chair of Grampian's Economic Development and Planning Committee from 1986 to 1991.
He later served in the Scottish Executive as Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning[5] (1999 to 2000), then as Deputy Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs (2000 to 2001),[6] and as Deputy Minister for Education and Young People (2001 to 2003).
Following the 2003 election, he was appointed Minister for Transport. During his time in this post, he was responsible for approving the controversial M74 extension.[7]
Deputy First Minister
Following the resignation of Jim Wallace in May 2005 as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Nicol Stephen announced his intention to stand for the leadership.[8] He defeated rival candidate, Mike Rumbles, who advocated ending the coalition agreement with the Scottish Labour Party, winning 76.6%, becoming party leader on 23 June 2005. Four days later on 27 June 2005, he was appointed Deputy First Minister of Scotland.[9] Following his leadership victory, a mini-reshuffle of the Scottish Cabinet, saw him take on the role of Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning.[10]
Opposition
Following the 2007 general election, the SNP emerged as the largest party by one seat but short of an overall majority, they held discussions with the Scottish Green Party and also intimated that it would be open to discussions with the Liberal Democrats. However, since the Liberal Democrats had indicated that they would not enter discussions with parties which continued to favour a referendum on independence, no formal talks were held. The SNP became a minority administration and officially entered government on May 17, 2007, Nicol Stephen ceased to be Deputy First Minister and began led his party to the opposition benches.
Despite being out of government, his party worked with the SNP Government on certain issues where they broadly agreed, including replacing the Council Tax with a local income tax to fund a proportion of local government revenue. He developed a reputation among some journalists as an effective and forceful critic of some aspects of the Scottish Government's policy and performance, especially at First Minister's Question Time.[11]
On 2 July 2008, Nicol Stephen announced he was stepping down as party leader with immediate effect because of the pressures of leading a political party while having a young family based in Aberdeen, some distance from Parliament in Edinburgh. Nicol Stephen's resignation took many in Scottish politics by surprise, and came only four days after the resignation of the former leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament, Wendy Alexander. He was succeeded by Tavish Scott.[13]
On 2 February 2011, he was created a life peer as Baron Stephen, of Lower Deeside in the City of Aberdeen,[14] and was introduced in the House of Lords on 7 February 2011,[15] where he sits on the Liberal Democrat benches. He said he would use his new position to help reform the House of Lords.[16]
nicol, stephen, nicol, ross, stephen, baron, stephen, born, march, 1960, scottish, politician, served, deputy, first, minister, scotland, minister, enterprise, lifelong, learning, from, 2005, 2007, member, scottish, liberal, democrats, member, scottish, parlia. Nicol Ross Stephen Baron Stephen born 23 March 1960 is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning from 2005 to 2007 A member of the Scottish Liberal Democrats he was the Member of the Scottish Parliament MSP for Aberdeen South from 1999 to 2011 and was leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2005 to 2008 The Right HonourableThe Lord StephenOfficial portrait 2003Leader of Scottish Liberal DemocratsIn office 23 June 2005 2 July 2008DeputyMichael MooreLeaderCharles KennedyMenzies CampbellVince Cable Acting Nick CleggPresidentMalcolm BrucePreceded byJim WallaceSucceeded byTavish ScottDeputy First Minister of ScotlandIn office 27 June 2005 17 May 2007First MinisterJack McConnellPreceded byJim WallaceSucceeded byNicola SturgeonMinisterial officesMinister for Enterprise and Lifelong LearningIn office 27 June 2005 17 May 2007First MinisterJack McConnellPreceded byJim WallaceSucceeded byPosition abolishedMinister for Transport and TelecommunicationsIn office 21 May 2003 27 June 2005First MinisterJack McConnellPreceded byOffice establishedSucceeded byTavish ScottParliamentary officesMember of the House of LordsLord TemporalLife peerage 7 February 2011Member of the Scottish Parliamentfor Aberdeen SouthIn office 6 May 1999 22 March 2011Preceded byConstituency establishedSucceeded byConstituency abolishedMember of Parliamentfor Kincardine and DeesideIn office 7 November 1991 16 March 1992Preceded byAlick Buchanan SmithSucceeded byGeorge KynochPersonal detailsBorn 1960 03 23 23 March 1960 age 62 Aberdeen ScotlandPolitical partyScottish Liberal DemocratsSpouseCaris Doig Lady Stephen Children4Alma materUniversity of Aberdeen University of EdinburghStephen was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 Following the coalition agreement between the Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish Labour he became Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Later in the same parliamentary term he became Deputy Minister for Education Europe and External Affairs and then for Education and Young People Following the 2003 Scottish Parliament election he joined the Scottish Executive cabinet as Minister for Transport In 2005 following the resignation of his predecessor Jim Wallace Stephen was elected leader of the party and also became deputy first minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning He led his party into the 2007 election where it won 16 seats down one on 2003 He resigned as party leader on 2 July 2008 triggering a leadership election In 2011 he joined the House of Lords He became a patron of The Aberdeen Law Project in 2011 Contents 1 Background and family life 2 Early political career 3 Scottish Parliament 3 1 Minister and Deputy Minister roles 3 2 Deputy First Minister 3 3 Opposition 3 4 Resignation as party leader 4 House of Lords 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksBackground and family life EditBorn in Aberdeen 1 he was educated at Robert Gordon s College in Aberdeen and at the University of Aberdeen where he obtained an LLB in 1980 He then took his Diploma in Legal Practice at the University of Edinburgh School of Law and worked for a number of years as a solicitor before moving into corporate finance as a senior manager with Deloitte amp Touche He was a former Chair of CREATE a group campaigning for rail electrification between Aberdeen and Edinburgh a chairperson of STAR Save Tor na Dee Hospital and Roxburghe House and the founder and director of Grampian Enterprise He is married with 4 children 2 Early political career EditHe was elected to Grampian Regional Council in 1982 as Scotland s youngest councillor and was Chair of Grampian s Economic Development and Planning Committee from 1986 to 1991 He was briefly a Member of Parliament for the Kincardine and Deeside constituency elected in the November 1991 by election following the death of Conservative and Unionist Alick Buchanan Smith He was a member of the Liberal Democrat treasury team and spokesperson on small business during his time in the House of Commons The seat returned to the Conservative and Unionist party at the 1992 general election when it was won by George Kynoch He later stood for the Aberdeen South constituency in the 1997 election for Aberdeen South but was defeated by the Scottish Labour candidate 3 Scottish Parliament EditMinister and Deputy Minister roles Edit Nicol Stephen was elected as MSP for Aberdeen South in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament He later helped negotiate the Partnership Agreement for the coalition government with the Labour Party 4 He later served in the Scottish Executive as Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning 5 1999 to 2000 then as Deputy Minister for Education Europe and External Affairs 2000 to 2001 6 and as Deputy Minister for Education and Young People 2001 to 2003 Following the 2003 election he was appointed Minister for Transport During his time in this post he was responsible for approving the controversial M74 extension 7 Deputy First Minister Edit Following the resignation of Jim Wallace in May 2005 as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats Nicol Stephen announced his intention to stand for the leadership 8 He defeated rival candidate Mike Rumbles who advocated ending the coalition agreement with the Scottish Labour Party winning 76 6 becoming party leader on 23 June 2005 Four days later on 27 June 2005 he was appointed Deputy First Minister of Scotland 9 Following his leadership victory a mini reshuffle of the Scottish Cabinet saw him take on the role of Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning 10 Opposition Edit Following the 2007 general election the SNP emerged as the largest party by one seat but short of an overall majority they held discussions with the Scottish Green Party and also intimated that it would be open to discussions with the Liberal Democrats However since the Liberal Democrats had indicated that they would not enter discussions with parties which continued to favour a referendum on independence no formal talks were held The SNP became a minority administration and officially entered government on May 17 2007 Nicol Stephen ceased to be Deputy First Minister and began led his party to the opposition benches Despite being out of government his party worked with the SNP Government on certain issues where they broadly agreed including replacing the Council Tax with a local income tax to fund a proportion of local government revenue He developed a reputation among some journalists as an effective and forceful critic of some aspects of the Scottish Government s policy and performance especially at First Minister s Question Time 11 Along with Wendy Alexander and Annabel Goldie he took his party into the Commission on Scottish Devolution chaired by Sir Kenneth Calman but was opposed to any suggestion that this would result in powers of the Parliament being returned to Westminster 12 Resignation as party leader Edit On 2 July 2008 Nicol Stephen announced he was stepping down as party leader with immediate effect because of the pressures of leading a political party while having a young family based in Aberdeen some distance from Parliament in Edinburgh Nicol Stephen s resignation took many in Scottish politics by surprise and came only four days after the resignation of the former leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament Wendy Alexander He was succeeded by Tavish Scott 13 On 24 September 2010 Nicol Stephen announced he would not be standing again at the Scottish elections in May 2011 House of Lords EditOn 2 February 2011 he was created a life peer as Baron Stephen of Lower Deeside in the City of Aberdeen 14 and was introduced in the House of Lords on 7 February 2011 15 where he sits on the Liberal Democrat benches He said he would use his new position to help reform the House of Lords 16 See also EditList of United Kingdom MPs with the shortest serviceReferences Edit Nicol Stephen Scottish Liberal Democrat Party candidate Aberdeen South 2003 gdl cdlr strath ac uk Nicol Stephen Scottish Liberal Democrats Archived from the original on 5 February 2012 Retrieved 12 September 2007 Nicol Stephen guardian co uk Archived from the original on 6 July 2008 Retrieved 4 April 2007 Scotland gov uk Deputy First Minister Scottish junior ministers named BBC News 18 May 1999 Cabinet reshuffle the full line up BBC News 29 October 2000 Macmahon Peter McAuley Chris M74 link driven past green lobby The Scotsman Archived from the original on 27 October 2006 Retrieved 5 April 2007 Stephen to stand for leadership BBC News 10 May 2005 Lib Dems choose Stephen as leader BBC News 23 June 2005 BBC News Reshuffle reveals cabinet line up Brian Taylor s blog Blether with Brian 5 June 2008 Holyrood won t give back powers BBC News 29 February 2008 Scots Lib Dem leader quits post BBC News 2 July 2008 No 59691 The London Gazette 7 February 2011 p 2053 House of Lords Minute of Proceedings for 7 February 2011 MSP takes seat in the House of Lords The Press and Journal Aberdeen 8 February 2011 Archived from the original on 27 May 2012 External links EditHansard 1803 2005 contributions in Parliament by Nicol Stephen Scottish Parliament profiles of MSPs Nicol Stephen Nicol Stephen MSP profile at the site of Scottish Liberal DemocratsParliament of the United KingdomPreceded byAlick Buchanan Smith Member of Parliament for Kincardine and Deeside1991 1992 Succeeded byGeorge KynochScottish ParliamentNew constituency Member of the Scottish Parliament for Aberdeen South1999 2011 Constituency AbolishedPolitical officesPreceded byJim Wallace Deputy First Minister of Scotland2005 2007 Succeeded byNicola SturgeonPreceded byJim Wallace Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning2005 2007 Office AbolishedNew office Minister for Transport2003 2005 Succeeded byTavish ScottNew office Deputy Minister for Education and Young People2001 2003 Succeeded byEuan RobsonPreceded byPeter Peacock Deputy Minister for Education Europe and External Affairs2000 2001 Office AbolishedNew office Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning1999 2000 Succeeded byAlasdair MorrisonParty political officesPreceded byJim Wallace Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats2005 2008 Succeeded byTavish ScottOrders of precedence in the United KingdomPreceded byThe Lord Storey GentlemenBaron Stephen Followed byThe Lord Glasman Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Nicol Stephen amp oldid 1131262042, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
