Biography

Alex Neil is currently a member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Scotland and Minister for Housing and Communities in the Scottish Government. He was elected at the 1999 parliamentary election at the head of the SNP list for the Central Scotland region, and has since been re-elected at the top of the SNP list in 2003 and 2007.

Born in Patna, Ayrshire in 1951, he began political life as a member of the Labour Party. He joined the Labour Party at the age of 16 and became the head of their student wing whilst studying economics at Dundee University. Upon graduation he became the Labour Party’s Scottish researcher, until in 1976 he left Labour to help form the Scottish Labour Party.

After the 1979 general election he worked in America before returning to Scotland and forming his own economic consultancy business. In 1985 he joined the SNP and stood as their candidate in the 1989 Glasgow Central by-election, also rising to senior office within the party.

After election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 he became firstly SNP spokesperson for social justice before chairing the Parliament’s Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee from 2000-2003 and again 2004 till 2007. From 2007 Alex was vice-Convenor of the European and External Relations Committee and member of the Finance Committee. He was also co-Convenor of the Cross-Party Group on the Scottish Economy and on the Council of Europe’s Local and Regional Authorities Association. Since February 2009 he has held the position of Scottish Government Minister for Housing and Communities.

Alex is married with one son, and lives in Ayr.

For further details please visit Alex's page on the Scottish Parliament website.