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Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid

MP Confounds Members

3rd April 2017

This week in the press it was reported that a Scottish MP’s native language is confounding English members of parliament. Alan Brown MP, who was elected SNP member for the Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency in 2015, is a native of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, and has always been proud of his language. In an interview with the Press Association, Brown revealed that when he rises to speak at Westminster, ministers noticeably sink back into their benches and stick their ears close to the sound speaker because they have such difficulty with his Ayrshire Scots. Brown also revealed that some ministers would often reply “I didn’t catch what the member said” and that they would write to Brown instead, though he laughed “but my inbox hasn’t been inundated with letters.” In the interview it was revealed that several Tory MPS had confessed they just could not understand Brown. Brown said that his language remained important to him because it helped keep him close to his roots.