Richard Baker MSP (North East Scotland) – Interview with SCPO
November 2014
“Christian communities in Scotland must be able to recognise diversity among themselves as we must
recognise diversity in the rest of society.”
Richard Baker is an Edinburgh born Scottish Labour politician, and
an MSP for the North East Scotland region. He was first elected in
the 2003 general election, when he was the youngest sitting MSP.
He is a former member of Labour's Shadow Cabinet in the Scottish
Parliament having served as the Shadow Cabinet Secretary for
Justice and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance. From 1998-2000,
he was president of the National Union of Students (NUS) at the
time when the Scottish Parliament first came into being.
In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his daughter and
singing in the St Andrew’s Cathedral choir in Aberdeen.
Richard’s interest in politics began at an early age and on going to university, he decided to join the
university’s Labour society. His subsequent membership of the Labour party is rooted in his belief in
“creating a more equal and just society with equality of income and opportunity. It seemed to me
then as it does today that the Labour Party can create the change that we need.”
During the Scottish Referendum campaign, Richard was a director of the Better Together campaign.
Naturally he is pleased with the result to remain in the UK, stating that “a strong Labour movement
across the whole of the UK, and not divided up via boundaries” was an important thing for him to
preserve.
As with any campaign, there are positives and negatives with hindsight. For Richard, it was great to
see such a high voter turnout and level of engagement in political debate. However he feels it is easy
for many to lose sight of how emotional the campaign was for No voters as well as Yes voters. It was
for them, he said, not about their individual incomes, but about how much staying in the UK meant
to them culturally as opposed to economically. He also feels that the strength of views on both sides
has affected friendships and relationships in communities throughout Scotland.
“There have been big pluses for the referendum but big minuses as well. I think it’s important that we
weigh up all those different issues as we look to at what point in the future we should re-visit that
issue.”
On the Smith Commission, Richard hopes that income tax will be devolved to Holyrood as well as
having greater powers over welfare spending. Having more control over welfare provision would
mean having the ability to widen access to jobs in Scotland. He hopes the process will not become a
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conversation just between ‘Holyrood and Westminster’ and where power lies, but that it should be
about Local Authorities and Local Communities.
Richard is a member of the Scottish Episcopal Church. On being a Christian in Politics, Mr Baker said:
“…no matter which moral compass you follow, you will always have difficult decisions to make in
politics and you do factor your beliefs into those”. However on every decision and vote made,
Richard acknowledges he will not be in agreement with every other Christian in Scotland, or indeed
of his own church community. He states he is proud to be a Scottish Episcopalian and has spent his
whole life in the church, but for example on the issue of same-sex marriage, it caused him no issue
to vote in favour of same-sex marriage legislation. “Christian communities in Scotland must be able
to recognise diversity among themselves as we must recognise diversity in the rest of society”.
When asked for his views on how the Churches in Scotland ‘do politics’, Richard felt that some
methods of campaigning may be better that others. “Dogmatic campaigns which state that a
Christian should vote a particular way or hold a particular stance impoverishes debate in Scotland
and can be viewed as aggressive”. He feels where the churches have been most effective is when
they have engaged in dialogue and conversation with public and political figures and have respected
different groups and points of view. He also feels it is important not just to come with opinions, but
to come with evidence and data such as the work Churches have done on food banks, the bedroom
tax and rural schooling.
In the early part of this year Richard was selected to stand as the MP for Aberdeen North in the 2015
General Election, after current MP Frank Doran announced he will be retiring. He chose to stand in
Westminster as he feels “the debates we have been having in Scotland over the past few years show
that there is a need for strong advocates for devolution in Westminster. Do get more devolution you
need the agreement of both parliaments”. On a personal level, he would enjoy representing
Aberdeen North and taking on a new challenge of influencing reserved matters that he has been
involved in at a policy level as an MSP in Holyrood.
Richard is frustrated that politics has become more gladiatorial and presidential in format, on all
sides of the chamber. He feels this seriously impoverishes debate around policies. There needs to be
more of a focus on policy and back away from viewing everything through the prism of the
constitution. HE also feels frustrated that there are still too many people living in poverty in
Scotland.
The new Scottish Labour Leader will be announced on 13th December 2014. Richard hopes “that the
new leader will be someone who can reach out and work with parties across the chamber and with
the Scottish Government to tackle poverty in Scotland, reduce the educational attainment gap, long
term unemployment and gender inequality. However it must also be someone who can send out a
message to people on the left of how policies can make the changes Scotland needs”.