Gray to chair cross-party Holyrood committee

Airdrie MSP Neil Gray has been chosen as the chair of a cross-party committee at Holyrood.

The former MP gave up his seat at Westminster to successfully stand in the Airdrie & Shotts seat in last month’s Scottish Parliament election, which was previously held by party colleague Alex Neil.

The SNP politician has now been selected as convener of the new Social Justice and Social Security Committee.

This follows on from his role as SNP spokesperson on Work and Pensions and the party’s Social Justice lead while serving at Westminster, as well as his work as vice-convener of the Social Justice and Fairness Commission.

Mr Gray said: “This role gives me immense pleasure.

“Social justice and the urge to try to make Scotland a better place to live and work are the main things that have driven me all through my political life and this committee will, hopefully, enable me to do just that.

“My work for six years at

Westminster will help in this important role to scrutinise the transformational policies coming from the Scottish Government and do what I can to find consensus on new ideas.

“I am really pleased to maintain this focus and look forward to working on making a real difference for the people of

Scotland, now and for generations to come.”

The committee consists of eight MSPS, the seven others are, Natalie Don, Emma Roddick, and Marie Mcnair from the SNP; Pam Duncan-glancy and Foysol Choudhury from Labour; and Conservative politicians Miles Briggs and Jeremy Balfour.