Aileen McLeod

Aileen McLeod (born 24 August 1971) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She is a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Scotland constituency, having been elected in the 2019 European Parliament election. She served as MEP until the 31 January 2020 when the Brexit process was completed.

She was also formerly a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the South Scotland region 2011−2016 and was the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform 2014−2016.

Early life and education McLeod was born on 24 August 1971 in East Kilbride, Scotland. She attended Claremont High School going on to study at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1993 with a degree in German and European Community studies. In 2004 she graduated with a PhD from the University of Central Lancashire.

Political career McLeod joined the SNP in 2004 after leaving her restricted post in the Scottish Parliament. After spending five years living in Brussels and working as Head of Policy for Alyn Smith MEP, She attended the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. She had looked at issues relating to land ownership, with some efforts made to increase transparency of this.

In the 2016 Scottish Parliament election she again stood as a candidate in the Galloway and West Dumfries constituency where she finished second behind Finlay Carson (who had a majority of 1,514 votes) and was not returned to the Parliament as a result. She was succeeded as Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform by Roseanna Cunningham.

European Parliament McLeod was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for the Scotland constituency in the 2019 European Parliament election. She served as MEP until 31 January 2020, when the Brexit process was completed.

Post Brexit In 2021 she and Ricardo Borges de Castro joined the European Policy Centre. She was to work for Fabian Zuleeg looking particularly at health. ropean Policy Centre as associate directors.

In 2024 she took a temporary job leading a charity called Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland for six months replacing Jimmy Paul. In August 2025 she was still with that charity.