Ged Killen

 
Gerard Killen (born 1 May 1986), known as Ged Killen, is a Scottish Labour and Co-operative politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutherglen and Hamilton West from 2017 to 2019.
Early life.
Killen was born in Glasgow, living in the Gorbals before moving to Blantyre where he spent most of his youth. He attended Trinity High School in Rutherglen.
Political career.
Killen joined the Labour Party in 2007. He was a candidate at the 2012 South Lanarkshire Council election. Following the death of Cllr Anne Higgins, he contested the 2013 Rutherglen South ward by-election and was elected to South Lanarkshire Council aged 26.
Killen retained his council seat at the 2017 UK local elections, this time in the Rutherglen Central and North ward.
Killen won the Rutherglen and Hamilton West at the 2017 general election, achieving a narrow majority of 265 votes over the sitting Scottish National Party MP, Margaret Ferrier. He made his maiden speech on 27 June 2017.
On 13 June 2018, Killen and five other Labour MPs resigned their roles as frontbenchers for the Labour Party in protest at Labour's position on Brexit. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn had instructed his MPs to abstain in a vote which the UK would remain in the single market by joining the European Economic Area (EEA). The MPs resigned and voted in favour of the EEA.
At the 2019 general election, Ferrier regained the seat from Killen with a majority of 5,230 votes. During his short time as an MP, Killen was an active campaigner for LGBT rights issues, men's mental health and banking reform.
In September 2020, Killen called for Richard Leonard to resign as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party despite nominating him in the 2017 leadership election, saying he had since changed from supporting Leonard's leadership due to deep worries of grassroots members.
Personal life.
Killen is gay, and married his husband Peter when they eloped in 2013. They hope to retire to Peter's hometown in Northern Ireland, which has influenced Killen's campaigning to equalise same-sex marriage laws between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Killen is a Roman Catholic.