Tim McKay, Candidate for East Lothian Coastal & Lammermuirs

Tim graduated in Pure Maths & Theoretical Physics from St Andrews University in 1980, then qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC), and later as an Investment Analyst with the WM Company.

He worked for 11 years in a variety of Edinburgh based Financial Services companies and thereafter taught at Napier University. As his academic career developed Tim travelled extensively, teaching in Poland, Singapore, Australia, the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong and mainland China. Eventually he became Head of Accounting and Finance at Napier. 

Tim retired early in 2006 and in 2007 was elected as a councillor in the Inverleith ward in the City of Edinburgh. He was a senior member of the Lib Dem/SNP coalition that ran Edinburgh council from 2007 till 2012.

Since then he has been a member of various public bodies including the Legal Aid Board, the NHS Pension Board (as Chair) and the Accounts Commission (as Deputy Chair). 

His hobbies include tennis, cycling, running and bridge.

 During his political career Tim has fought four general elections, Hamilton for the Scottish Liberal Party in 1987, East Lothian for the Lib Dem Alliance in 1992 Edinburgh South West for the Lib Dems in 2010 and Falkirk for the Lib Dems in 2024.

Welcome to the East Lothian Lib Dem website!

The Scottish Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.

We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full. We aim to disperse power, to foster diversity and to nurture creativity.

We trust local people to make decisions about their lives and their communities. People should have the power, flexibility and resources to change things for the better.

We believe federalism is the best future for Scotland and will continue to campaign for that.

The Liberal Democrats are the most pro-European party in British politics. We truly believe that we are stronger together, and internationalism will always be one of our core values.

We are internationalists because some goals are too big for nation-states to achieve on their own. Climate change and a healthy environment are two.