Michael Marra (politician)
Scottish Labour politician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael James Marra is a Scottish Labour politician who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North East Scotland since May 2021.
Michael Marra | |
|---|---|
Swearing in, 2021 | |
| Member of the Scottish Parliament for North East Scotland (1 of 7 Regional MSPs) | |
| Assumed office 6 May 2021 | |
| Scottish Labour Portfolios | |
| May 2021 – April 2023 | Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills |
| April 2023 – May 2026 | Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michael James Marra |
| Party | Scottish Labour |
Early life
Michael Marra was born in Dundee in 1979. He joined the Labour Party as a teenager.[1]
Marra was educated at St John's High School, the University of Glasgow and the London School of Economics.[1]
Before becoming an MSP, Marra worked for Oxfam and the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Dundee.[2]
Political career
Michael Marra was elected as a councillor in Dundee's Lochee ward in 2017.[3] He stood down at the 2022 Scottish local elections.
Marra previously worked for Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray as an adviser prior to and during the 2011 Scottish Parliamentary election.[2]
In the 2015 United Kingdom general election, he contested Dundee West but lost to Chris Law from the SNP.
In November 2020, Marra was confirmed as a candidate on Labour's regional list for the North East, coinciding with his sister Jenny Marra announcing that she would not seek re-election to the Scottish Parliament.[4]
On 8 May 2021 Marra was elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North East Scotland.[5] He had been appointed as Education and Skills spokesperson in Scottish Labour's campaign cabinet just before the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections.[6] He was retained as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills after the election.[7]
He has described himself as being part of Labour's "soft left".[8]
In 2021 Michael Marra won the Holyrood magazine “One For The Watching” award, a newcomer award judged by a panel made up of senior MSPs, journalists, and Scotland’s two top pollsters.[8]
In April 2023 it was announced he would take on the role of Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance.[9]
Marra backed the UK Government’s decision to introduce means-testing for the Winter Fuel Payment, voting in the Scottish Parliament against calls to reverse the decision.[10]
He is a member of the Fabian Society's executive committee.[11]
2026 Scottish Parliament election
Marra was selected as the Scottish Labour candidate for the Dundee City West constituency at the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, having led the party's policy development work and written its 2026 manifesto.[12] At the election on 8 May 2026, he received 6,365 votes (24.56%) in Dundee City West, placing second behind the SNP's Heather Anderson, who received 12,722 votes (49.10%).[13] Marra was subsequently re-elected as a regional list MSP for North East Scotland.[14]
Injury Time campaign
Since 2021, Marra has been campaigning for Alzheimer's disease in footballers to be classed as an industrial disease. A study carried out for the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association in 2019 discovered that there was a five-fold increase in Alzheimer’s disease among the former players.[15]
Marra had said: “The Scottish Government must recognise that these injuries are a form of industrial disease and allow these players to access the support they need, and deserve.”
Personal life
Michael Marra is married and has three children.[1] His sister is the former Scottish Labour MSP Jenny Marra, and his uncle is the Dundonian folk singer Michael Marra,[8] who died in 2012.
He is a lifelong Dundee United supporter.[16]