Angus MacNeil was first elected as the SNP MP for Na H-Eileanan An Iar in 2005, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 2,438.
Anguls MacNeil was expelled from the SNP in August 2023. He has stated his intention to stand as an independent at the next general election.
The constituency of Na h-Eileanan an Iar covers the Western Isles of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides. This constituency has the smallest electorate of anywhere in the UK at just over twenty thousand. A quarter of the population here is retired. Traditionally a Labour-SNP marginal seat which was held by Labour between 1987 and 2005, the SNP gained this seat in 2005, and have held it, albeit with slim majorities ever since. The seat has the highest proportion of Gaelic speakers in Scotland.
MacNeil is Chair of the Commons Select Committee on International Trade.
He was an SNP spokesman on the Environment between 2005 and 2010 and 2017-18; and on International Trade between 2018-19.
Born in 1970, Angus MacNeil is a native Gaelic speaker from the island of Barra. He went to school in Barra and the Nicholson Institute in Stornoway. He then studied Civil Engineering at Strathclyde University and then worked as a reporter at the BBC in Inverness for two years before becoming a primary school teacher.
MacNeil is an active crofter and lists earnings as a tenant crofter on the Island of Barra in the Register of Members Interests.
In 2022, Mr MacNeil was found guilty of dangerous driving at Lochmaddy Sheriff Court in the Outer Hebrides. This followed a crash in late 2020 in which a motorcyclist sustained a broken leg. Mr MacNeil was disqualified from driving for three months and fined £1,500 by Sherriff Gordon Lamont at the court in North Uist.
MacNeil is married with three children and enjoys fishing and football.
Angus MacNeil is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on the Faroe Islands; and Iceland. He is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Rowing; Space; UK Islands; Zoos and Aquariums; the Caribbean; the Channel Islands; Chile; Cuba; Denmark; Finland; the Isle of Man; Montserrat; Norfolk Island; Pacific Islands; the Philippines; the Pitcairn Islands; San Marino; Slovenia; Switzerland; Sweden; Fisheries; and Flags and Heraldry.
Email: macneila@parliament.uk
Personal Website: https://angusmacneilsnp.com/
Twitter: @AngusMacNeilSNP
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AngusBMacNeil
