Nigel Griffiths

Nigel Griffiths is the first ever Labour MP for Edinburgh South.

From 1997 until 1998 he was the Minister for Competition and Consumer Affairs at the Department of Trade and Industry, responsible for establishing the new Competition Commission.

He is now a member of the Public Accounts Committee, one of the most powerful committees of the House of Commons, and an elected member of the Labour Party's National Policy Forum which produces Labour's policy programme.

Since April 1999, Nigel has chaired the Scottish Charities Kosovo Appeal which brings together six NGOs. The charity has raised over £1 million and currently has 12 aid workers in Kosovo providing aid to rebuild 10 villages in the Mitrovice region. SCKA's work is highly regarded by the United Nations who now fund some of the projects.

He also chairs the Home Energy Action Team, an energy conservation pilot project which combines New Deal job training with energy efficiency surveys carried out on behalf of local authorities, private landlords, home owners and housing associations.

Nigel is a Trustee of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh and of Edinburgh's Royal Dick Veterinary College - where Tristan Farnon, James Herriot's vet colleague took his degree!

Before entering Parliament, Nigel worked for an NGO providing community services for people with learning disabilities, on whose management committee he now serves. In the 1980s he chaired the Housing Committee of the Edinburgh City Council and set up the Wester Hailes Citizens Advice Bureau. He helped to found the Big Issue in Scotland for homeless people and also helped found Scottish Education and Action for Development [SEAD], a third world NGO. He is a member of Friends of the Earth and Amnesty International.

Nigel is a keen supporter of the arts and was a member of the Council of the Edinburgh International Arts Festival.