Orkney constituency Labour Party select candidate for the 2016 Holyrood Elections

Members of the Orkney constituency Labour Party have given their backing to Gerry McGarvey as their candidate for next year’s Scottish Parliamentary Elections.

Mr McGarvey is already a familiar face to Orcadians after contesting the Orkney and Shetland seat at the 2015 UK General Election.

He said: “Scottish Labour have always been the party of social justice and in May we have the opportunity to tell the SNP we stand united for a more just world and to the Tories we will no longer live in their impoverished and unfair world.

“I am hugely honoured to have been chosen by my friends and colleagues in the Orkney Constituency Labour Party to take a strong Scottish Labour message onto the streets and communities of these islands and I cannot wait to begin the campaign.”

Born in Falkirk in 1962, Mr McGarvey comes from a strong Labour family — his father was shop steward at the oil refinery in Grangemouth and his great uncle was Danny McGarvey, general secretary of the Boilermakers Union and president of the Trades Union Congress.

After graduating from the University of Kent where he studied philosophy and theology, Mr McGarvey began a long career working with youth and community groups.

He also worked in the office of Stirling MP Dame Ann McGuire until her retirement earlier this year.

Mr McGarvey lives in rural Stirlingshire with his wife Karen, where he is active in community politics.