The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
MSP from SNP dynasty is standing down from seat
● Former minister was inspired into politics by ‘Madame Ecosse’
“I’d like to get my garden sorted out and perhaps travel”
It was influential SNP politician Winnie Ewing who first inspired Aberdeen South and North Kincardine MSP Maureen Watt to consider a career in politics, in 1974.
Ms Watt, who has announced she will not stand for re-election to Holyrood in 2021, may be the daughter of the late SNP MP Hamish Watt, who represented Banffshire between 1974 and 1979 but it was former SNP president Ms Ewing, nicknamed “Madame Ecosse”, who would persuade the Aberdeen MSP to enter the political fray.
The 69-year-old said: “There was quite a lot of discussion round the tea table but, in actual fact, it was Winnie Ewing who, when I first met her, said: ‘Get involved, Maureen, we need more women’.
“Seeing my dad in Westminster certainly made me realise that the debating we’d learned at Keith Grammar was as important and as good as any debate in the House of Commons.”
Ms Watt, whose son Stuart Donaldson also served as an MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine from 2015 to 2017, said she thinks her family is the only one to have three generations serve as SNP politicians. She added: “I think the Ewings beat us on numbers but in terms of generations it’s us.”
Ms Watt told her constituency association of her decision to stand down earlier this week.
The SNP politician said: “I’m feeling very fit and healthy but just thinking about another five-year stint in your 70s, although it seems to be OK for presidential candidates, it’s not something I thought was a good idea. I didn’t want to be around here when I’m approaching 75.”
The SNP is using all-women shortlists to choose candidates in constituencies where the current SNP MSP is standing down.
The former SNP minister said: “I think women have more than proven their worth and capabilities in this Parliament and it’s important that we see a large number of women from the north-east.”
The MSP was appointed the Scottish Government’s mental health minister in May 2016 for two years – a first for the UK.
Other achievements include serving as minister for public health, where she set up Food Standards Scotland with its headquarters in Aberdeen and launched the Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest strategy, which has seen half a million Scots trained in CPR.
The SNP MSP is “very sad” she will not be in Parliament to perhaps one day see Scotland become independent.
She said: “But we’re so close and it will just take another generation to get us across the line but I’ll be playing my part in other ways.
“I’ll still be very much involved locally and in campaigning. I’d like to get my garden sorted out and perhaps travel.”
And what will the SNP politician miss the most?
“The ability to help people,” she said. “People think that standing up in Parliament and making the great speeches is satisfying but actually helping somebody get their operation on time or get a house or things like that is immensely satisfying.”