London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Kirsty Blackman is a Scottish party politician. She is serving as the Member of Parliament for Aberdeen North since 2015. Interestingly, she was re-elected two times and currently serving as the SNP spokesperson for the Cabinet office. She has been the SNP spokesperson for Treasury and served diligently from 2017 to 2019. Apart from that she has become the SNP Deputy Westminster Leader SNP Spokesperson for Work and Pensions since 2022. Kirsty was first elected to the Aberdeen City Council when she was only 21 years old. As she is the Depute Leader of the SNP at Westminster she leads the group on Economy.
Bio & Early Life
Kirsty Ann Blackman was born on March 20th, 1986 in Scotland. She got her education from Robert Gordon’s College after winning a scholarship. Being a bright student she always managed to get good scores. After her college, she matriculated at the University of Aberdeen and got admission to study medicine.
However, due to some reasons, she decided to drop out. At the age of 21, she got a good position in politics. As she entered the Aberdeen North constituency in 2007, she topped almost all the polls with 1,761 first preferences. Moreover, her brother John West was elected for the Hazlehead/Ashley/Queens Cross ward.
They both participated in the same elections but she got a lot of votes in her favor. In 2012, she was once again elected to the Aberdeen City Council election. This time she got 823 first preferences and took a seat in the ward. This helped her become the Convener of the SNP group in Aberdeen City Council. Kirsty is 36 years old currently.
Success In Parliamentary Career
During the 2015 general election, Kirsty became a member of the Parliament. She was leading the Aberdeen North with a huge number of votes. This time she got the chance to beat Frank Doran, of the Labour Party. He announced becoming a part of the next general election. Kirsty got the seat by winning 24,793 votes. While these 13,396 votes were much more than the Labor Party candidate Richard Baker. Moreover, she became the spokesperson for the House of Lords.
In 2016 her statements on refugee children got a lot of attention during the Commons debate. Therefore she got elected to the Scottish Affairs Committee in 2015. In July 2016 she emphasized making the parliamentary more friendly. Due to her liberal political views, she retained her seat in the 2017 general elections.
After a year she became Deputy Leader of the SNP Westminster Group and SNP Westminster Spokesperson on the Economy. All these achievements made her the first-ever woman to lead the economy. As this position was for a major party in the House of Commons, she made many heads turn.
Winning a seat At the 2019 General Elections
Kirsty Blackman won an important seat in the 2019 general election. Here she could win 33.9% of the votes which is one of the largest percentage majority in Scotland. In 2019, she became the SNP Spokesperson for the Constitution at Westminster. This is how she played a strategic role and led the constitution with great success. Moreover, she prepared for the independence referendum during these years. In 2020, she stepped down as the deputy leader of the SNP Westminster Group. She had the following statements to make:
“Like many others, I’ve struggled with the impact that lockdown has had on my mental health. To prioritize my constituency and my family, I have made the difficult personal decision to step down from my Leadership role’’.
Personal Life & Lifestyle
Kirsty got married to Luke Blackman. The couple is blessed with two kids who are 4 and 6 years old. In 2020, she talked about suffering from depression. She believes that each person should talk about these things openly.
There have been a lot of times when she was criticized for her political views. However, it doesn’t mean she didn’t criticize others. The former party leader Alex Salmond was criticized by her. She even labeled him as an ‘awful’ human. She had another clash on Twitter with fellow MP Joanna Cherry while discussing transgender rights.
Read More: What the new week in UK Parliament looks like with the new cabinet
Net Worth
Kirsty is one of the most prominent politicians from Scotland. The major source of income is her political career. Her total net worth of Kirsty happens to be around $5 million. She made all this amount from her primary career in politics and other fields. Many people applaud her for balancing professional and personal life.