Colin Fox (politician)
Scottish socialist

Colin Fox (born 17 June 1959) is a Scottish socialist politician and left-wing activist, serving as national co-spokesperson of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) since 2005. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothians region from 2003 to 2007.
Described in The Herald as "one of Scotland's most prominent socialists", he is a founding member of the SSP and Scotland's longest-serving party leader or spokesperson, having been originally elected as the SSP's convener in February 2005. He was a member of the Yes Scotland Advisory Board.
Personal life
Fox was born in Motherwell. Both of his grandfathers were steelworkers, his mother was a nurse and his father an insurance salesman with the Co-operative Insurance Society. He attended Our Lady's High School before studying Mathematics at Strathclyde University and Accountancy at Bell's College, Hamilton (now part of the University of the West of Scotland). He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Social Sciences from the Open University in 2013.
Colin currently lives in Edinburgh, with his partner and children.
Political career
Fox joined Scottish Labour in Motherwell and Wishaw as a teenager and established Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS) branches throughout Lanarkshire.
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