Holyrood, made browsable

Balfour, Jeremy

Everything we have on one MSP — voting record, motions, questions, committee work, allowances, Hansard contributions, registered interests and career history — pulled together on a single page.

Balfour, Jeremy
MSP profile

Balfour, Jeremy

Former (left at end of session) Independent Lothian

Politically, you're most like Briggs, Miles Con — similarity 83.3/100.

Compare with… Speeches Motions & Q+A
Divisions voted in
1,826
last on 24 Mar 2026
Party alignment
96.4%
3.6% rebellion
Attendance
90.3%
196 "Not Voted" of 2,022 divisions present
Motions lodged
524
489 questions · 0 unanswered
Hansard contributions
3,400
1,280 chamber · 2,120 committee
Allowances claimed
£156,276
1,483 transactions
Most-discussed topics in Hansard
bill ·267 stage ·222 dying ·95 assisted ·94 terminally ·94 adults ·94 care ·79 children ·48 2026-27 ·43 scrutiny ·42 services ·39 experience ·38
Recent motions & questions
Recent rebellions

Divisions where they voted against their party's majority position.

Motion success

Of the motions they've lodged that went to a vote, how often did the chamber agree.

Lodged
524
Carried
0
Defeated
6
Not divided
518

Of the 6 motions that went to a vote, 0.0% were carried.

Closest voting allies

MSPs who voted the same way most often across shared divisions.

Furthest apart on votes

MSPs they vote against most often.

MSPs like this one

Composite of voting agreement, sponsorship overlap, and Hansard topic affinity. Weighted 50 / 25 / 25.

Voice fingerprint

Words and phrases this MSP uses far more often than the chamber average (TF-IDF over their Hansard contributions).

pip disability commissioner adp changing places dwp disabled community disability community dla receipt pip morning team places toilets people disability
Voting drift across sessions

Rebellion rate (vs party majority) per session.

0.5%
S5 · Con
32.6%
S6 · Ind
0.7%
S6 · Con
Career arc

Unified timeline: party joinings, seat changes, committee appointments, ministerial roles.

  1. ☷
    Left Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
    08 Apr 2026
  2. ☷
    Left Social Justice and Social Security Committee
    08 Apr 2026
  3. ⌂
    Stood down from Lothian (Dissolution)
    08 Apr 2026
  4. –
    Left Independent
    08 Apr 2026
  5. +
    Joined Independent
    22 Aug 2025
  6. –
    Left Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
    22 Aug 2025
  7. ☷
    Joined Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee as Member
    29 May 2024
  8. ☷
    Left Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
    21 Mar 2024
  9. ☷
    Joined Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee as Member
    25 May 2022
  10. ☷
    Left Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
    25 May 2022
  11. ☷
    Joined Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee as Substitute Member
    08 Sep 2021
  12. ☷
    Joined Social Justice and Social Security Committee as Member
    17 Jun 2021
  13. ⌂
    Started representing Lothian
    06 May 2021
  14. +
    Joined Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
    06 May 2021
  15. ☷
    Left Local Government and Communities Committee
    04 May 2021
  16. ☷
    Left Social Security Committee
    04 May 2021
  17. ⌂
    Stood down from Lothian (Dissolution)
    04 May 2021
  18. –
    Left Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
    04 May 2021
  19. ☷
    Joined Local Government and Communities Committee as Substitute Member
    20 Aug 2020
  20. ☷
    Left Local Government and Communities Committee
    20 Aug 2020
  21. ☷
    Joined Local Government and Communities Committee as Member
    25 Feb 2020
  22. ☷
    Left Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
    25 Feb 2020
  23. ☷
    Joined Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee as Member
    10 Sep 2019
  24. ☷
    Joined Social Security Committee as Member
    29 Jun 2017
  25. ☷
    Left Equalities and Human Rights Committee
    29 Jun 2017
  26. ☷
    Joined Equalities and Human Rights Committee as Member
    29 Sep 2016
  27. ☷
    Left Equal Opportunities Committee
    29 Sep 2016
  28. ☷
    Joined Equal Opportunities Committee as Member
    08 Jun 2016
  29. ⌂
    Started representing Lothian
    05 May 2016
  30. +
    Joined Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
    05 May 2016
Who backs their motions most
Whose motions they back most
Recent contributions to the Official Report
  • Portfolio Question Time Chamber
    25 Mar 2026
    Does the cabinet secretary agree that ADP helps people to get into and stay in employment? If ADP is cut, more people in Scotland will have to claim other bene…
  • Adoption Support for Families Chamber
    24 Mar 2026
    I, too, thank Fulton MacGregor not only for only bringing the debate to the chamber but for all the work that he has done as the convener of the cross-party gr…
  • Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill Chamber
    19 Mar 2026
    I thank the former First Minister for her words. I am not sure that there are lots of things that we agree on politically, but I think that her advice to her y…
  • General Question Time Chamber
    19 Mar 2026
    The number of pupils who are identified as having additional support needs has risen by about 97 per cent since 2013, with about 43 per cent of pupils now reco…
  • General Question Time Chamber
    19 Mar 2026
    To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of whether the current levels of pupil support assistant staffing in schools to support pupils with …
Committee & government roles

Committee

Allowance — vs. party average (2025)

Per-category claim total for this MSP compared to the average per-MSP total inside their party for the same year. Positive = above party average.

Category MSP Party avg Difference
Engagement costs £17,821 £6,283 +£11,538
Additional expenses £585 £585 +£0
Office costs £3,129 £6,915 −£3,785
Registered interests

152 total · showing most recent.

  • Overseas visits · 01 Jun 2021
    From 4 July to 8 July 2022 I visited Munich and Berlin, Germany, as part of a cross-Party delegation from the Scottish Parliament, meeting Parliamentarians, public officials and business representati…
  • Overseas visits · 01 Jun 2021
    From 9 t o 13 October 2017, I participated in a cross-party visit to the Republic of China (Taiwan), at the<br /> invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan). The trip w…
  • Overseas visits · 01 Jun 2021
    From 20 to 30 August 2018 I was part of a Tearfund delegation travelling to Rwanda to learn how projects in relation to genocide reconciliation and new business projects are transforming lives. The c…
  • Overseas visits · 01 Jun 2021
    From 21 to 23 August 2019 I travelled to Stockholm on a fact finding visit. The costs of the visit, for flights, were £223.38 and were met by UK Feminista (a charitable organisation which promotes eq…
  • Overseas visits · 01 Jun 2021
    From 9 t o 13 October 2017, I participated in a cross-party visit to the Republic of China (Taiwan), at the<br /> invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan). The trip w…
  • Overseas visits · 01 Jun 2021
    From 20 to 30 August 2018 I was part of a Tearfund delegation travelling to Rwanda to learn how projects in relation to genocide reconciliation and new business projects are transforming lives. The c…
  • Overseas visits · 01 Jun 2021
    From 21 to 23 August 2019 I travelled to Stockholm on a fact finding visit. The costs of the visit, for flights, were £223.38 and were met by UK Feminista (a charitable organisation which promotes eq…
  • Controlled transactions · 01 Jun 2021
    No registrable interests
Career timeline

Party

Seats

  • Lothian · 06 May 2021 — 08 Apr 2026 (Dissolution)
  • Lothian · 05 May 2016 — 04 May 2021 (Dissolution)