Rosemary Byrne
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Solidarity (2006–2021)
Rosemary Byrne | |
|---|---|
| Convenor of Solidarity | |
| In office 3 September 2006 – 17 November 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Tommy Sheridan |
| Member of the Scottish Parliament for South of Scotland | |
| In office 1 May 2003 – 2 April 2007 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 March 1948 Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland |
| Party | SSP (until 2006) Solidarity (2006–2021) |
Rosemary Byrne (born 3 March 1948, Irvine, North Ayrshire) is a Scottish politician who served as co-convenor of Solidarity from 2006 to 2019.
Byrne was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the South of Scotland region from 2003 to 2007. She was elected as a Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) MSP but in September 2006, together with Tommy Sheridan, she left that party to form Solidarity.
Byrne lives in Irvine, and was a teacher and a trade union activist for several years. At one time she was president of Irvine Trades Council.
She stood unsuccessfully in the 2001 United Kingdom general election as the Scottish Socialist Party candidate for Cunninghame South (UK Parliament constituency).[1]
In the 2003 Scottish Parliament election Byrne stood as the Scottish Socialist Party candidate for the Cunninghame South constituency to the Scottish Parliament, where she received 2,677 votes and came third.[2] She was elected to a regional seat from the SSP's list.[3]
The SSP returned six MSPs at the 2003 election. Byrne was the only one of the six who was not already a member of the SSP executive, she was arguably the least prominent. She was elected to the executive in early 2004, and at the February 2005 conference she was elected as one of the SSP's co-chairs. However she did not stand for re-election to this post or the executive committee at its conference in March 2006, stating that she was standing down for personal reasons.
On 3 September Sheridan and Byrne launched a new political party, naming it Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement.[4]
