A desire to enjoy more time with his young family and seek fresh challenges in his working life means Tory MSP Oliver Mundell won’t be seeking a seat in Holyrood next year.
Dumfries and Galloway’s youngest parliamentarian, at 35, confirmed this week that having held the Dumfriesshire constituency seat for the Scottish Conservatives since 2016, he has decided not to stand in the forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary elections.
And has also stressed that his “full focus” will remain on serving local constituents right up to the Holyrood election, which is due in spring next year.
He said: “It is a great privilege to represent my home area in the Scottish Parliament and I will continue to focus fully on that until the end of my term of office but I feel that it is only right to be fully upfront about my plans and to give my party time to complete a selection process to appoint a new candidate.”
Oliver, and his wife, Catherine, have two young daughters and he is looking forward to being with them without the pressures of the Scottish Parliament.
During his 10 years service he has held shadow ministerial portfolios for spells during his time at the Scottish Parliament in education and rural affairs, with the creation of South of Scotland Enterprise and its positive effect on the region listed as one of the highlights of his time in office.
He is known for also working closely with his father, David Mundell, who was elected for a sixth time as Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, with an increased majority at the General Election last summer.
Both are known as strong advocates at national level for the issues and concerns of rural areas, particularly the south of Scotland.
Oliver was educated at Moffat Academy and graduated with a first-class Bachelor of Laws from the University of Edinburgh.