Holyrood’s Presiding Officer has revealed for the first time her battle with cancer and is now raring to go for one of the most intense political years in Scotland’s history.
Tricia Marwick spent the summer recovering from an operation to remove a tumour from her bowel, just months after having her gall bladder taken out.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Courier, the Mid Fife and Glenrothes MSP praised her support network and the care from staff at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital for helping her recover.
She said: “Everything was focused on getting back to work as quickly as I could. It was quite complex reasons why I didn’t want to talk about it.
“What I did not want to do was be in the chair at First Minister’s Questions or a debate and anybody holding back because they felt sorry for me, or taking it easy on me. I thought it was far, far better they just treated me absolutely as normal and that’s why very few people, only those closest to me, knew I had cancer.
“Now I’m happy to talk about it.”
Ms Marwick also revealed that a decision was taken to break the link between MSPs’ and MPs’ pay hikes in October and pledged to protect the Scottish Parliament from becoming a “battleground” in the run-up to the independence referendum.
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