David Martin was born and educated in Edinburgh, where he attended Liberton High School then Heriot Watt University. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a stockbroker's assistant, and also as an animal rights campaigner.
Political career
Martin was first elected as a councillor in 1982.
European Parliament
Martin won the Lothians seat in the 1984 European Parliament election. He retained his seat, and following a reform of the electoral system, was in 1999 elected to represent the whole of Scotland along with other members. He was elected in 1987 as the youngest ever leader of the British Labour delegation of MEPs. He was Vice-President of the European Parliament from 1989 to 2004, the longest period anyone has served in that position. In 2002 he was the defeated Socialist candidate for President of the Parliament. He was the European Parliament's rapporteur on the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties. He supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.
Trade Committee
Martin was a coordinator and spokesperson for the Socialists and Democrats Group on the International Trade committee. As well as this role, he was the rapporteur for the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and standing rapporteur for the ASEAN-5 countries. Martin stepped in as the rapporteur for the ACTA treaty after the original rapporteur, Kader Arif, resigned in protest. In April 2012, Martin recommended that the European Parliament reject ACTA, on the grounds that civil liberties were not adequately protected. His recommendation was adopted by the Parliament in the biggest ever defeat of a legislative proposal from the European Commission – 478 MEPs voted against ACTA, 39 in favour, and 165 abstained. In 2013, Martin was voted MEP of the year in the international trade category by The Parliament Magazine. Martin was the rapporteur for the UN Arms Trade Treaty, encouraging member states to ratify the treaty and pushing for the EU to lead strict global implementation of new rules for greater transparency and responsibility in the arms industry.
Animal Welfare
Martin is Honorary Vice-President of the Animal Welfare Intergroup, a cross-party group of MEPs striving for animal rights. He was instrumental in the , which bans the sale of seal products in the European Union. It has been estimated by the Humane Society International that in Canada around 250,000 seals have been saved per year as a result of this ruling. This was reinforced by a landmark WTO ruling following a challenge to the EU legislation by the Norwegian and Canadian governments.
Following the Brexit vote of 23 June 2016, Martin was invited to join the First Minister's , a cross-party body which offers advice to the Scottish government on how best to protect Scotland's relationship with the European Union. In contrast to England and Wales, Scotland voted firmly in favour of EU membership by 62% to 38%. In a video he explained, "she assured me this would be an all-party and no-party, a pro-independence and an anti-independence grouping, that there would be no bias one way or the other. Our job is simply to look at what would be best for Scotland in the new situation that we face".
Citizens' Assembly
Since losing his seat in 2019, Martin has been appointed as co-convener of the Citizens' Assembly of Scotland. He and Kate Wimpress, from a charity and arts background, took office as co-conveners on 6 August 2019. In July 2019, Joanna Cherry, Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South West, suggested the Assembly would be used to promote Scottish nationalism. Martin, a unionist, refused to endorse a boycott of the Assembly encouraged by Scotland in Union, the Scottish Conservatives and the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He insisted the running of the Assembly would be impartial and expressed his disappointment at the going ahead of the boycott.
Personal life
Martin is married to Lorraine Davidson, with two children; he also has two children from a previous marriage to his first wife Margaret.
