Labour MSP Sarah Boyack to stand down at election

Labour’s Sarah Boyack has said she will stand down at next year’s Holyrood election.

Boyack, who was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and was a member of Donald Dewar’s first cabinet, said it had been the “honour of my life” to serve as an MSP.

Currently her party’s spokesperson on net zero, Lothian MSP Boyack left parliament in 2016 after failing to get re-elected but returned in 2019 to take former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale’s seat after she quit Holyrood.

Boyack said: “It has been the honour of my life to serve as an MSP in the Scottish Parliament.

 “I am proud of what I have achieved, both in my time in government and in my local campaigns for issues that matter to my constituents. 

“I will also continue to support causes close to my heart from Edinburgh’s housing crisis to the battle to ensure we remain one of the cultural capitals of the world.”

A longtime campaigner on public transport and the environment, Boyack won the Green Giant award at last year’s Holyrood Garden Party and Political Awards.

More than 30 MSPs have so far signalled their intention not to contest next year’s election. Boyack’s Labour colleagues Alex Rowley and former leader Richard Leonard are among those stepping down.