A SCOTTISH Labour MEP at the forefront of efforts to stop Brexit is quitting the European Parliament early in an apparent admission of defeat.
Catherine Stihler announced she will stand down from her Brussels job at the end of January, eight weeks before it is due to be abolished by Brexit.
An MEP for 20 years, Ms Stihler will become the new chief executive of Open Knowledge International, a non-profit group that uses data to social issues.
Ms Stihler, 45, is one of a cross-party group of Scottish politicians behind a high-profile legal action to determine if MPs have the power to stop Brexit.
The European Court of Justice is due to hand down a provisional opinion on the revocability of Article 50 next Tuesday.
READ MORE: No-deal Brexit 'would not be a disaster' insists Liam Fox
She is also part of the 'Scotland for a People’s Vote' campaign to rerun the referendum.
However she now appears to accept her position will disappear when the UK leaves the EU and is no longer represented in the European Parliament.
She is the first of Scotland’s six MEPs to announce their future job plans apart from Tory Nosheena Mobarik, who is due to return to the Lords.
Ms Stihler said: “It has been a privilege to represent the Labour Party and serve as an MEP for Scotland for nearly two decades.
“I was the youngest British MEP when first elected at 25 in 1999, and I witnessed the EU expand and reform to bring nations closer together in the interests of cooperation and peace.
“I have seen first-hand the positive and lasting impact that EU membership has had on our economy, workers’ rights, and consumer protection.
“I am now relishing an exciting new challenge and opportunity with Open Knowledge International. Digital skills and data use have always been a personal passion.
READ MORE: Andrew McKie: Time to defeat the deal and hand the next move to the Government
“I am eager to assist groups across the world to create and share open knowledge, and encourage the next generation to understand information is power which can be used to address poverty and other social challenges.”
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: “Catherine has been a longstanding and committed MEP, representing the people of Scotland and working with European socialist parties to improve workers' and consumer rights. She is someone of deep conviction and principle. We wish her every success in her new role."
Tim Hubbard, Chair of the Open Knowledge International board, said: “Catherine has demonstrated an ability to bring people together, building coalitions and trust in a world that really needs it.
“She has translated complicated and technical knowledge around digital skills, copyright and AI to help shape European policy, making a real and lasting difference for hundreds of millions of people.
“Her dynamism, energy and commitment will be invaluable for the open movement as we face the new challenges of the 21st century.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel