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Richard Arkless

Richard Arkless
Member of Parliament
for Dumfries and Galloway
In office
7 May 2015 – 3 May 2017
Preceded byRussell Brown
Succeeded byAlister Jack
Personal details
Born (1975-07-07) 7 July 1975 (age 49)
Stranraer, Scotland, UK
Political partyScottish National Party
RelativesNick Arkless (brother)
Alma materGlasgow Caledonian University
University of Strathclyde

Richard Lambert Thomas Arkless (born 7 July 1975) is a Scottish National Party politician, who was elected as MP for Dumfries and Galloway at the 2015 UK general election.[1][2] He lost his seat at the following election in 2017.

Background and education

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Arkless was born in Stranraer in 1975.[3] He spent an early part of his childhood living in London.[3] He returned to Stranraer when he was eight years old.[3]

He received a BA in Financial Services from Glasgow Caledonian University and has an LLB from the University of Strathclyde.[4]

Political career

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Arkless began to advocate Scottish independence after the 2007 Scottish Parliament election in which the SNP were elected as a minority government for the first time. After a year, he said the SNP were "doing a pretty good job". When the SNP won a majority in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, he said in a May 2015 interview with The National, "I began to really research the figures – the GDP and tax-take – and I was completely and utterly astonished. I couldn't believe that Scotland had a higher per capita GDP, and much higher per capita tax-take over each of the last thirty-five years. I was flabbergasted and asked myself why I had believed completely the opposite all my life without every trying to make it evidence based."[5]

Standing for the SNP at the 2015 United Kingdom general election, Arkless received 23,440 votes, 41.4% of those cast, winning with a majority of 6,514 votes.[2] He defeated Labour's Russell Brown, who had held the Dumfries and Galloway seat since its creation ten years prior in 2005.[6][7][8][9] His wife Anne worked as his personal assistant.[10] Arkless lost his seat in the UK 2017 general election to Conservative MP Alister Jack. He received 16,701 votes, 32.4% of those cast.[11]

At the 2019 election, Arkless contested the Dumfries and Galloway seat again as the SNP candidate. He received 20,873 of the votes, 40.6% of those cast. He lost out to the Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack for a second time.[12]

Business career

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Arkless left his job as a solicitor to run an online business.[13] He returned to his career as a solicitor in 2020 following his retirement from politics.[14]

References

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  1. ^ "List of Members returned to Parliament at the General Election 2015 Scotland". The Edinburgh Gazette. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  2. ^ a b Haswell, Alex (8 May 2015). "UK Parliamentary Elections Results 2015 for the Dumfries and Galloway County". dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  3. ^ a b c "Your MP elect: Richard Arkless". itv News. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  4. ^ "My CV". richardarkless.scot. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  5. ^ Burns, Janice (30 May 2015). "Meet Your New Scottish MPs: #16 Richard Arkless Dumfries and Galloway". The National.
  6. ^ Jones, Philip N. (5 May 2005). "General Election–Dumfries and Galloway County Constituency–May 2005". dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  7. ^ "Election 2005: Result: Dumfries and Galloway". BBC News. 6 May 2005. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  8. ^ Haswell, Alex (7 May 2010). "General Election – Dumfries and Galloway Constituency – May 2010". dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  9. ^ "Election 2010: Dumfries & Galloway". BBC News. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  10. ^ Michael Wilkinson, Christopher Hope (29 June 2015). "One in five MPs employs a family member: the full list revealed". Daily Telegraph.
  11. ^ "Dumfries & Galloway parliamentary constituency - Election 2017". Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  12. ^ Gillespie, Stuart (13 December 2019). "Jack re-elected Dumfries and Galloway MP". Daily Record. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  13. ^ "Richard Arkless, Author at Business for Scotland". Business for Scotland.
  14. ^ "Richard Arkless, Solicitor". Williamson and Henry.
[edit]
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Dumfries and Galloway
2015–2017 		Succeeded by