Preceded by Stewart Maxwell Political party Scottish Green Party Occupation campaigner | Nationality Scottish Residence Milngavie, Scotland Party Scottish Green Party | |
 | ||
Born 1 June 1994 (age 22) ( 1994-06-01 ) Other political
affiliations Yes Scotland
(2012–2014) Education University of Strathclyde (2012–2012) | ||
Ross John Greer (born 1 June 1994) is a Scottish Green Party politician who is a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the West Scotland region. Greer is the youngest ever MSP, elected at the 2016 election at the age of 21 years old.
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Early life
Greer was educated at Bearsden Academy, leaving in 2012.
Greer was a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, representing the Clydebank and Milngavie constituency 2011–13. Greer joined the Scottish Green party at age 15 years.
He took part in the Debating Matters competition in 2012, where he reached the National Final.
He began a course of study at the University of Strathclyde, Psychology & Politics, then left in December 2012 to work for Yes Scotland as their Communities Coordinator during the Scottish independence referendum, 2014.
Political career
During the campaign ahead of the referendum he was Yes Scotland’s youth and student coordinator. and was the communities coordinator at the pro-independence campaign Yes Scotland during the independence referendum campaign.
After the referendum, he was employed by the Greens in a role that involved strategy development.
He stood as the Scottish Green candidate in the East Dunbartonshire constituency in the United Kingdom general election, 2015, although he was not successful. He became the Scottish Greens' party spokesman on Europe and external affairs.
In March 2015, the Scottish Greens announced that Greer had been selected as the lead candidate for their West of Scotland regional list, following a ballot of their members.
Ahead of the 2016 elections, Greer was critical that the general level of engagement with 16 and 17 year olds as first time voters had been below what was seen in the referendum.
On the 6 May 2016 the West of Scotland regional list result was declared and Greer was elected at the age of 21 years old, making him Scotland's youngest MSP. Before Greer was elected, the youngest MSP had previously been Labour’s Mark Griffin, who was 25 years old when he was first elected in 2011.