Alex is the constituency MSP for Edinburgh Western, and Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He was first elected in 2016, and re-elected in 2021.
Before Parliament, Alex worked in the childrens voluntary sector, including being Director of Together (Scottish Alliance for Children's Rights) and worked on the campaign to raise the age of leaving care in Scotland to 21.
Since being elected Alex led the successful campaign to save HIV Scotland from planned funding cuts, forced the Government to abandon their plans to abolish jury trials during the Covid pandemic and has spoken up for bus services, dentist and GP provision, and protecting greenbelt land in west Edinburgh.
He has prioritised campaigning on children's mental health, first aid awareness, long covid and supporting Ukrainian refugees. He was sanctioned by the Kremlin in August 2022 following his public criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and for his efforts to highlight Russian influence in Scotland.
Schools, hospitals and other public buildings in Edinburgh are being inspected for the use of RAAC. Alex was the first to raise this in the Scottish Parliament after Lib Dem research uncovered the issue.
Alex has urged the Scottish Government to do everything in its power to clean up Scotland’s sewage problem and to tackle plastics pollution on beaches across the country.
Alex is asking for people who have been required to undergo an assessment despite having a long term or chronic condition from which there is no recovery, as part of the transfer, to get in touch.
Alex has today called on the Scottish Government to support ambulance crews as he revealed that almost 3,000 people faced waiting more than 8 hours for an ambulance last year.
Alex has urged the government to move further and faster following the publication of a new report showing an increase in the number of people attending A&E due to a drug-related incident and a rise in drug deaths earlier this year.
With a new record set for waiting times in A&E, local MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton has called on the Scottish Government to take immediate action.
Pupils at Cramond and Trinity Primaries will be taught in portable units after the discovery of a potentially dangerous concrete in their buildings.
Alex is leading efforts to bring stakeholders and officials together to build a strategy to answer Edinburgh’s growing housing crisis.
Alex has called on the Scottish Government to help local health boards and education authorities to replace a dangerous building material that has been discovered in some public sector buildings constructed in the 1960s and 70s.
Alex has urged households which use prepayment meters to redeem energy bill support vouchers before they expire on 30th June.
Alex has branded the SNP's latest independence paper "an insulting distraction".
Local MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton has challenged the new First Minister to get to grips with Scotland’s sewage problem which saw tens of thousands of sewage releases in Scotlands water ways and beaches last year alone.
