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Election 2010:     Donald John Macsween,  Scottish Labour  

Candidate profile

Donald John Macsween  lives in Lower Bayble, Point, Lewis with his wife marine. The couple have one child, Peigi.

He was born and brought up in Point - a community, he says, that shaped his political beliefs. It had a Christian and socialist ethos there with a strong regard for both the Church and Labour. The local Gaelic heritage was also a vital part of his development.

He attended Aird Primary school and went on to the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway. Later he spent three years training in psychiatric nursing with Greater Glasgow Health Board.

He returned to Lewis  working for five years in the Department of Health and Social Security. He took up a post with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and stay there for 16 years - firstly in Consumer Protection and then in Environmental Health in the Housing Improvement and Repair Grants section. For 10 years he was also Chair of the local government union NALGO, then Unison - he has been an active trade unionist all his working life.

He moved on to An Comunn Gaidhealach and was its Chief Executive for 10 years. Currently he is now  the director of Western Isles Foyer which looks after the needs of the young homeless in the Western Isles. Though that role he became involved in a key position in the recently-completed £ 4.5 million Bridge Centre project in Bayhead, Stornoway.

Since the mid-70s, he has been active in the Labour Party and has been an elected councillor on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar as well as being involved in a number of community projects.

Mr Macsween says that in all his posts, service to the community was always the key and standing in this election follows the same pattern.

E-mail:  info@djmacsween.co.uk

General Election  2010