BORN and raised in Aberdeen, Ross Thomson was educated at the city’s Balmedie Primary School and Bridge of Don Academy, graduating in 2009 from Aberdeen University with a First Class MA (Hons) in Politics and International Relations.
His official biography on his own website says he “worked in retail and finance” until 2012, when he was elected to represent the Hazlehead/Ashley/Queen’s Cross areas of Aberdeen on the city Council.
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The site says: “During Ross' time as a councillor, he led the way on delivering the Third Don Crossing, thereby taking forward a plan for over 2,000 new affordable homes. He also helped to strengthen Aberdeen’s links with Japan and lobbied to improve broadband across Aberdeen.”
Then in June 2013, he was chosen as the Scottish Conservative and Unionist candidate in the Aberdeen Donside by-election, during which he campaigned “for improved infrastructure and a fairer share of funding for the City of Aberdeen.”
It was in the 2016 Scottish Parliamentary elections in Aberdeen South and North Kincardine that he was elected to the Scottish Parliament via the regional list, with a 19.4% swing.
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And in the summer of 2017, he became the MP for Aberdeen South, beating the incumbent Callum McCaig, with 18,746 votes (42.1%) which was a 19.3% swing and a majority of 4,752. Since his election as MP for Aberdeen South Ross has been elected to the Scottish Affairs Select Committee, is a member of the Knife Crime APPG and the Oil and Gas APPG.
He was also a spokesman for the Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 EU Referendum as one of the few pro-Brexit Members of the Scottish Parliament.
Last year, he spoke out about the abuse he receives on Twitter, saying it could be “personal, vicious and threatening”, as well as homophobic, and added that it had intensified since he was elected to Westminster.
He said: “I have done council, MSP and then MP and you’d think that having been in those positions I’d have been used to abuse.
“But the level of it really changed as of the snap General Election and it became an awful lot more intense and a lot more persistent.
“It’s got to a point now where I don’t see all the notifications as there’s so many and my account gets monitored now.
“When you’re talking about policy like on Europe or independence you would expect other sides to lay on you, and being an elected official it comes with the territory, but what has been eye-opening is how personal, vicious and threatening it gets.”
He added: “People feel emboldened and act in a way you would never do if you were face-to-face with them. It’s become a space where people don’t call it out, why do we allow it to happen?
“It’s fair enough to have rigorous debate but it’s not fair to get personal and nasty.”
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