A FORMER Labour MP is to advise the Tory government on Scottish policy.
Tom Harris has been appointed as the Lead Non-Executive Director for the Scotland office and the office for Advocate General for Scotland by Boris Johnson.
A once leading figure within Scottish Labour and former Glasgow South MP, Mr Harris will advise the UK Government on Scotland-specific issues and “challenge government departments”, with the job lasting three years.
Mr Harris, who was a junior minister under Tony Blair and returned to the front bench as shadow Environment secretary under Ed Miliband, led the Scottish Vote Leave campaign during the Brexit referendum.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: “I am very pleased to welcome Tom Harris as Lead Non-Executive Director for the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Office of the Advocate General for Scotland.
“Tom has extensive experience, as well as an excellent understanding of Scottish public life. He brings to the table a wealth of knowledge and skills in policy, strategy and communications.
“As we emerge from the worst of the pandemic, recovery remains our top priority. I’m very pleased to have Tom on board to further strengthen the UK Government’s capabilities as we build back better for Scotland.”
Mr Harris added: “I’m delighted to have been appointed to this role and I’m looking forward to contributing to the effective work of the UK Government in Scotland. This is an exciting time to be involved in advising and helping ministers deliver for the whole country.”
According to the advert for the role,Mr Harris will beworking between 15 and 20 days per year and will receive £300 per board meeting he attends, with around five taking place every year.
It also states he will be paid "all reasonable expenses including standard rate travel, subsistence and other related expenses... properly and necessarily incurred in respect of [the] appointment."
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