Cat Boyd

Cat Boyd (born 15 March 1985) is a Scottish trade union activist who was a co-founder of the Radical Independence Campaign and the Scottish Left Project. She was a prominent figure during the Scottish independence referendum, 2014. Following the referendum, she is one of the people credited with bringing together RISE - Scotland's Left Alliance, a new coalition of leftists and progressive nationalists. She will stand as a RISE candidate for the 2016 Scottish Parliament election on the Glasgow regional list. She writes a weekly column for the The National newspaper.

Background

She studied International Politics at the University of Strathclyde, and is a member of the Public and Commercial Services Union. She was a member of the International Socialist Group (Scotland), although unlike many people in that group she did not come from a background in the Socialist Workers Party. Her mother, Isabelle Boyd, has a CBE.

Activist

It was during the campaign ahead of the Scottish independence referendum that Boyd emerged as a prominent activist. In November 2012 she co-founded the Radical Independence Campaign, which supported a left-wing vision of an independent Scotland. Boyd also sat on the editorial board of the Scottish Left Review.

While the outcome of the referendum was "No" to independence, analysis of voting patterns suggested that this new coalition in Scottish politics had led to a significant change in political opinion in many of Scotland's more deprived communities. In the months that followed, a new coalition was forming, called the Scottish Left Project. Boyd described the project not as a party but a way to link up with other socialists, community activists, trade unions, social justice campaigners and activists.

RISE

Boyd was seen as a spokesperson as speculation grew around a party being formed for the Scottish Parliament election, 2016. Boyd was involved with protests against austerity. She appeared at The Left Field at the 2015 Glastonbury Festival, speaking alongside people from other grass-roots movements. She had cited the need for a new left wing force on the basis that she considered the Labour party to have collapsed. She also spoke against involving figures like Tommy Sheridan who had been seen as divisive. She was hopeful about momentum of the project in reviving a socialist movement in Scotland. After the party launched at the end of August, Boyd said she thought the party would appeal to ex-Labour voters.

In January 2016, RISE announced that they had selected Boyd as a candidate for the Scottish Parliament election in 2016 and that she would top their regional list for Glasgow.

Writer

Boyd co-wrote Scottish Independence: A Feminist Response with Jenny Morrison, a book published in 2014, exploring the contemporary relevance of Scottish feminist history. On the 2015 International Women's Day she spoke about women and the referendum at a meeting at Sinn Féin's Ard Fheis.

She has also been an advocate of social justice and internationalism.

Boyd writes a weekly column that is published in The National, a Scottish daily compact newspaper.

External links

• Cat Boyd for Glasgow
• interview