Funeral to be held for Labour MSP Helen Eadie

MSP Helen Eadie died earlier this month, days after it emerged she was being treated for cancer. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, other leading figures from the Labour Party and First Minister Alex Salmond are expected to attend the service this afternoon.

Mrs Eadie, who had been a member of the Scottish Parliament since it was established in 1999, died earlier this month. Her death came just days after it emerged she was being treated for cancer.

Parliamentary business at Holyrood has been suspended for the afternoon to allow MSPs from all parties to attend the funeral, which is being held in Dalgety Bay Parish Church in Fife.

Mrs Eadie was initially elected as the MSP for Dunfermline East but she became the member for Cowdenbeath following boundary changes.

Speaking after her death, Ms Lamont said: ‘’Helen was very precious to her family. She played an important part in helping to establish the credibility of Holyrood. Her commitment to delivering change in our communities was the essence of her political beliefs and values.”

Former prime minister Gordon Brown, the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, said Fife was mourning a ‘’much-loved and well-respected’’ figure.

He said Mrs Eadie would “be remembered as a passionate champion of social justice, putting the case for women’s equality, for youth employment and for better care of the elderly”.

Mr Salmond said the politician had served the people she represented ‘’diligently’’ while the Scottish Parliament’s Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick said: “She was well-liked and well-respected across the political divide and will be very much missed at Holyrood.”

Mrs Eadie was born in Stenhousemuir, near Falkirk, and was educated at Larbert Village School, Larbert High and Falkirk Technical College. She went on to graduate from the London School of Economics with a certificate in trade union studies.

She worked as a member of Fife Regional Council before being elected to the former Dunfermline East constituency in 1999.

Mrs Eadie was an active member of the Church of Scotland and had served on the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Transport, Public Petitions and European and External Relations Committees.

She campaigned for her newly-elected Labour colleague, Cara Hilton, in the Dunfermline by-election in the days before she was diagnosed with cancer and was later said to have been conducting parliamentary business from her hospital bed.

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• Obituary: Helen Eadie, politician