Tess White | |
Party: | Scottish Conservatives |
Honorific-Suffix: | MSP |
Term Start: | 8 May 2021 |
Office: | Member of the Scottish Parliament for North East Scotland |
Caption: | Swearing in, 2021 |
Tess White is a Scottish Conservative politician, serving as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the North East Scotland Region since being elected in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.[1]
White worked in the oil and gas industry and served as a board director at Shell Renewables, vice president of Shell International and HR director at Centrica.[2]
White unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate for Dundee West at the 2019 United Kingdom general election,[3] where she came in third.[4] She unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate for the Holyrood equivalent Dundee City West in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, coming third, but she was elected on the regional list in North East Scotland.[5]
During a session of First Ministers' Questions on 2 September 2021, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was answering a question about anti-Irish and anti-Catholic discrimination in Scotland. As Sturgeon said "...anybody who chooses to live in Scotland [...] this is their home", White interrupted and shouted across the chamber, "unless you're English".[6] She later apologised and withdrew her remark in the parliamentary chamber.[7]
On 12 January 2022, White called for Boris Johnson to resign as Conservative party leader and Prime Minister over the Westminster lockdown parties controversy along with a majority of Scottish Conservative MSPs.[8]
White is openly gay[9] [10] and has a wife.[11]