Ian Murray was first elected as Labour MP for Edinburgh South in 2010. He was reelected in 2019 with a majority of 11,095. He is currently the party’s only MP in Scotland.
The Edinburgh South constituency contains the suburbs of Liberton, Morningside, Colinton, and Gilmerton in the Scottish capital. This is the wealthiest of the Edinburgh constituencies and was held by the Conservatives at Westminster between 1945 and 1987. Since 1987 the electorate here have always backed Labour. It is the one area of Scotland where the SNP have been unable to unseat Labour. Close to 78% of voters here backed Remain in the 2016 EU referendum, one of the highest figures in the UK.
Murray is the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, a position he also held between 2015 and 2016.
He previously resigned from the Labour frontbench in 2016, soon after the EU referendum result, and was a strong critic of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader.
Ian Murray stood to be Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 2020. Despite the backing of both Gordon Brown and Tony Blair he came fourth.
Murray backed Jess Phillips in the leadership ballot itself in 2020. He is a member of Labour’s Progress group and sits on the right of the Labour Party.
Ian Murray was born in 1976 and grew up in Wester Hailes. He enrolled at Edinburgh University at the age of 16, supporting his studies with a part-time job in a local fish & chip shop, where he then set up and ran a pizza delivery service. He went on to work at the Royal Blind Asylum and then in pensions management after graduating.
Murray then had a career as an entrepreneur. He set-up his own event management business, 100mph Events Ltd. Murray’s event management experience has included organising live music concerts, broadcast over the internet, from various of Edinburgh’s large music venues.
Murray was elected to Edinburgh City Council between 2003 and 2010.
Ian Murray is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on ITV. He is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on the Wood Panel Industry; the East Coast Main Line; and Scotch Whisky.
Email: ian.murray.mp@parliament.uk;
Personal Website: www.ianmurraymp.co.uk
Twitter: twitter.com/ianmurraymp
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/IanMurrayMP
