Alex Wood

Who is Alex Wood?

Alex Wood is a former Labour leader of Edinburgh City Council in Scotland. He was educated at Paisley Grammar School, the New University of Ulster, Moray House College of Education, Edinburgh University and Stirling University.

He was a member of the Labour Party from 1969 until 1987. He was a member of the National Committee of the Labour Party Young Socialists from 1973 to 1975. In the early 1970s Wood was a leading figure in the entryist Militant tendency in Scotland who left that party after it decided to support the creation of a devolved Scottish Assembly. Subsequently, he became a trenchant critic of Militant.

He subsequently became a leading figure in the Labour Co-ordinating Committee in Scotland and wrote its pamphlet on Labour and Ireland. He was Labour Parliamentary candidate for Dumfries in 1979, and for West Edinburgh in 1983 and in May 1984 became leader of the first ever majority Labour administration in the city.

Members of the Labour group of councillors felt however that his politics were further left than theirs and in May 1986 voted they had no confidence in his leadership. He was replaced as council leader with Mark Lazarowicz.