About Michael Connarty
Michael Connarty (born 3 September 1947) is a British Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for Linlithgow and East Falkirk from 2005 until 2015, and Falkirk East (1992–2005). == Parliamentary career == He unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary constituency of Stirling at the 1983 general election but finished 5,133 votes behind the future Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Forsyth. Connarty ran against Forsyth again at Stirling at the 1987 general election, although Forsyth won by a narrow margin of 548 votes. Connarty was selected as the Labour candidate for Falkirk East at the 1992 general election following the retirement of the sitting MP, Harry Ewing. Connarty was elected with a majority of 7,969 votes. He used his maiden speech on 13 May 1992 to raise concerns about the fragility of the petro-chemical industry at Grangemouth, the largest town in Falkirk East. Following the 1997 general election he became the parliamentary private secretary to the Minister of Film and Tourism Tom Clarke but this appointment lasted only until 1998 when Clarke was sacked from the government. Connarty spent his parliamentary career as a backbencher. In 1998, he became a member of the European Scrutiny Select committee, which is the committee responsible for scrutinising the legislation set by the European Parliament. He was appointed as the Chair of the committee from 2006 to 2010.
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