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Paul Wheelhouse for Berwickshire, Roxburgh Selkirk
Biography:
Paul Wheelhouse was born in Dundonald, near Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1970
- the same hospital as his Lib Dem opponent.
Paul's family moved to Scotland in 1973 and he grew up in the Braehead and East Craigs areas of Edinburgh, attending Daniel
Stewart's and Melville College. Paul's parents divorced when
he was 13 and he and his two sisters were raised
by his mother. While this was a tough time for the family,
every cloud has a silver lining and Paul's father's second marriage
brought him a step-sister.
Between 1988 and 1992, Paul attended the University
of Aberdeen, where he studied economics, accountancy and business
law disciplines before specialising in economics. Paul gained an upper second class honours degree
(2:1) in Economic
Science in 1992. Paul graduated with an MBA from University of
Edinburgh Management School in 1999.
Since 1992, Paul has worked as a professional
economist with two leading UK firms of economic consultants and has
acted as a policy advisor to a very wide range of public, private
and voluntary sector organisations across Scotland and the rest of
the UK. Paul's professional expertise is in areas such as
demography, demand for school, further and higher education,
innovation,
economic impact analysis, and in business planning for major capital
projects - Paul is proud to have been a key part of the team to have
obtained lottery funding for the Museum of Scotland and for the
proposed University of the Highlands and Islands.
Aside from a passion for Scottish history and
tracing his family tree in Scotland, England and Ireland, Paul is a keen rugby fan and recreational
player of the touch rugby format and five-a-side football.
While never setting the heather alight as a player, unlike classmate Doddie Weir, his interest in
rugby has served him well, as Paul met his wife, Lorna, a freelance
web-designer, while playing in a touch rugby league on the back
pitches at Murrayfield, in the autumn of 1999.
Paul and Lorna moved to the wonderful village of Cove near Cockburnspath in
2000 and were married at Dryburgh Abbey in 2002, where he was proud
to wear the Turnbull tartan of his mother's family. Since then,
Paul and Lorna have had a young
son, who was born at the BGH. Paul has served as a community
councillor in Cockburnspath (as secretary from 2001-2004) and
following a move to Ayton, Paul became Treasurer of Ayton Community
Council in 2006. He has previously served as Secretary on the Berwickshire Community Council Forum and Environment Group and
represented Cockburnspath on East
Berwickshire Communities Forum. This activity, aside from allowing
him to meet many other passionate community campaigners and those with a
variety of political views, has also helped
Paul see how far out-of-touch many of our elected politicians are
from those they serve and how
frustrated communities can be when their views are not listened to
by those with the power to help them.
Political Background and Outlook:
Paul has been a member of the SNP since 2003 and is
passionate about Independence. He believes that Scotland would
very much benefit from the repatriation of powers over our economy
and foreign policy to deliver bespoke solutions to Scottish
problems.
Paul believes the Borders has been ill-served by
successive UK governments of all colours and wants to see the area
no longer be taken for granted by any of the UK parties. This
constituency is very much a jewel in the crown of Scotland, but much
of what makes it special is under threat.
As an economist, Paul is acutely aware of weakness
in the local economy, and the low average earnings received by the
hard working people of the area - this did not happen all of a
sudden. After Liberal and Lib Dem representation for more than
40 years in much of the area and Tory and Labour governments
throughout, the area needs to find a new approach and a new champion
after a succession of ineffective representatives.
The next General Election will be Paul's
first election campaign as a candidate, however Paul has been
volunteering in elections since he was 16 years old and is a highly
experienced campaigner.
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