George Kerevan


George Kerevan is a Scottish journalist, economist, and Scottish National Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for East Lothian from 2015, until he lost his seat at the snap 2017 general election.

Early life and education

Born in Glasgow, Kerevan was educated at Kingsridge Secondary School in Drumchapel and the University of Glasgow, graduating with a First-class MA degree in political economy.

Career

Kerevan held academic posts at Napier College, including Senior Lecturer in Economics, from 1975–2000, specialising in energy economics. He was associate editor of The Scotsman from 2000 to 2009, and was the chief executive of What If Productions Ltd. He is co-organiser of the Prestwick World Festival of Flight.

Political career

Kerevan was a member of the International Marxist Group, a Trotskyist group, between 1972–83. He later served as a Labour councillor in Edinburgh from 1984–1996. In 1996, he left Labour to join the Scottish National Party. He went on to stand unsuccessfully as the SNP candidate for Edinburgh East at the 2010 UK general election, as well as an SNP candidate in the Lothian region in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.
Kerevan eventually stood successfully as the SNP candidate for East Lothian at the 2015 UK general election. He won 25,104 votes, a majority of 6,803, and unseated the then-incumbent Labour MP Fiona O'Donnell. He was a member of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee. He subsequently lost his seat in the 2017 snap election to Martin Whitfield of the Labour Party, who won with a majority of 3,083 votes over Kerevan.

Selected works

He is the co-author, with Alan Cochrane, of Scottish Independence: Yes or No, published in April 2014.
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