Kirsty Blackman

Kirsty Blackman is a British politician and a Member of Parliament (MP) from Aberdeen North constituency. She is a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP) that had emerged as the third largest party in 2019 UK general election. SNP had won a total of 48 seats.

Kirsty Blackman has been winning the Aberdeen North constituency since 2015. In her first win, she defeated Richard Baker of Labour party by a margin of more than 13k votes. In 2017, she won against Orr Vinegold of Labour party by a margin of more than 4k votes. In 2019, she defeated Ryan Houghton of Conservative party by a margin of more than 12k votes.

Early life and education

Kirsty Blackman was born in Aberdeen, Scotland on March 20, 1986. She received education at Robert Gordon’s College. She was a bright student, as she had got admission to her college by winning a scholarship. Later, she enrolled for a course in Medicine at University of Aberdeen, but had to abandon it due to some reasons. She is married to Luke Blackman and has two children.

Political career

Kirsty Blackman started her political career in 2007 by participating in Aberdeen City Council election. She represented the Hilton/Stockethill ward located in Aberdeen North constituency. She won the election and was appointed an SNP councilor to Aberdeen City Council. Her brother John West was also in politics and the same year, he won from the Hazlehead/Ashley/Queens Cross ward. Kirsty Blackman contested the Aberdeen City Council election in 2012 also and was placed second in her ward. At that time, she was appointed as the Convener of the SNP party in Aberdeen City Council.

Kirsty Blackman’s big break came in 2015 when she won the Aberdeen North MP seat. She continued to win this seat in 2017 and 2019. In these years, she has also held various other posts such SNP Spokesperson on the House of Lords, member of Scottish Affairs Committee, Deputy Leader of the SNP Westminster Group, SNP Westminster Spokesperson on the Economy and SNP Spokesperson for the Constitution at Westminster.

Kirsty Blackman has voiced her opinions on various topics such as equal number of electors for each parliamentary constituency, developing a new nuclear weapons system to replace Trident, a wholly elected House of Lords, more EU integration, and removal of hereditary peers from the House of Lords.

Personal pursuits

Kirsty Blackman remains committed to the needs of her family, her constituency and Scotland. She had openly talked about her mental health issues and encourages others to do the same.