Highly effective Scottish secretary and European commissioner
Bruce Millan, who has died aged 85, was a quietly effective Labour politician whose career had been largely confined to Scotland prior to his elevation to European commissioner (1989-95). Under the president of the commission, Jacques Delors, Millan was given responsibility for regional policy and cohesion. Much of the subsequent EU commitment to narrowing the gap between rich and poor can be traced to Millan's success in creating an effective framework for a "Europe of the regions".
Familiar from his Scottish background with the problems of declining industrial regions, Millan brought commitment and expertise to the challenge of easing transition for those parts of Europe that were facing similar challenges. His support for coalfield communities is particularly warmly remembered.
In 1996, John Prescott asked Millan to chair a commission on regional policy in England. Though independent of the Labour party, the characteristically thorough and well-argued Millan report became the template for Labour's commitment to a network of regional development authorities, duly created by the incoming government.
The key to Millan's thinking was an awareness that vast sums were spent in the regions, but most of it under centralised control with little coherence. As an unapologetic believer in state intervention, he saw the need for powerful and accountable economic agencies, attuned to the strategic needs of their regions.
Millan was born in Dundee. His father was a shipyard worker who faced unemployment during the depression; his mother worked in the jute mills to keep the family afloat. From an early age, Millan was a member of the Labour League of Youth, focused on a political career. While this informed his lifelong passion for social justice, after attending Harris Academy in Dundee he trained as an accountant. One of his great strengths was an ability to apply a forensic eye to every piece of paper in search of the facts and figures that mattered. Those who saw only the accountant's demeanour risked failing to understand the depth or integrity of his beliefs.
One victim of this error was Roy Jenkins, then the deputy leader of the Labour party, who admitted to taking Millan to be "nice but pedestrian" before being skewered by him at a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party in 1971 over future voting intentions on Europe, which eventually led to Jenkins's departure from Labour politics. Jenkins conceded to having learned a lesson about "the danger of taking a patronising view of colleagues".
Aged 23, while working as an accountant with the Scottish Gas Board, Millan contested the Tory seat of West Renfrewshire and in 1955 stood for Glasgow Craigton. Four years later, he won Craigton from the Tories and he remained in the Commons until departing for Brussels in 1988. In the first Harold Wilson government, he was under-secretary of state for defence (RAF) under Denis Healey to whom he retained a lifelong political affinity.
After Labour's victory in 1966, Millan moved to the Scottish Office. He forged a lengthy and loyal association with Willie Ross, the formidable secretary of state for Scotland whom he eventually succeeded in 1976, as part of the changes that followed Wilson's resignation.
Millan was a highly effective secretary of state. He was credited largely with establishing the Scottish Development Agency (which later became Scottish Enterprise) as a powerful, well-funded organisation, tasked with attracting inward investment and replacing the declining industries with new ones. He had an intense commitment to urban regeneration not least in Dundee, the transformation of which began during this period.
He took over the Scottish Office at a time when nationalism appeared to be on the rise and the Labour party was divided over devolution. It was to his regret that this issue rather than Scotland's pressing social and economic needs consumed so much of his time and energy. Indeed, it was a tribute to his priorities that, following the failure of the 1979 referendum to deliver a devolved parliament, Labour secured an excellent result in Scotland, while Margaret Thatcher prevailed in the country as a whole.
Millan soldiered loyally on in opposition and his selection by Neil Kinnock as Labour's nominee for the highly prized commissioner's post in Brussels came as a considerable surprise. The least flamboyant of politicians, Millan was ideally suited to the policy role in which he found himself and built a massive reputation across the EU for his commitment to the detail, as well as the principle, of entrenching regional policy.
He retired to Glasgow and chaired a landmark review of mental health in Scotland as well as other valuable public roles, quietly fulfilled.
Millan is survived by his wife, Gwen, whom he married in 1953, and a son, daughter and two granddaughters.
• Bruce Millan, politician, born 5 October 1927; died 21 February 2013 Reported by guardian.co.uk 17 hours ago.
Bruce Millan, who has died aged 85, was a quietly effective Labour politician whose career had been largely confined to Scotland prior to his elevation to European commissioner (1989-95). Under the president of the commission, Jacques Delors, Millan was given responsibility for regional policy and cohesion. Much of the subsequent EU commitment to narrowing the gap between rich and poor can be traced to Millan's success in creating an effective framework for a "Europe of the regions".
Familiar from his Scottish background with the problems of declining industrial regions, Millan brought commitment and expertise to the challenge of easing transition for those parts of Europe that were facing similar challenges. His support for coalfield communities is particularly warmly remembered.
In 1996, John Prescott asked Millan to chair a commission on regional policy in England. Though independent of the Labour party, the characteristically thorough and well-argued Millan report became the template for Labour's commitment to a network of regional development authorities, duly created by the incoming government.
The key to Millan's thinking was an awareness that vast sums were spent in the regions, but most of it under centralised control with little coherence. As an unapologetic believer in state intervention, he saw the need for powerful and accountable economic agencies, attuned to the strategic needs of their regions.
Millan was born in Dundee. His father was a shipyard worker who faced unemployment during the depression; his mother worked in the jute mills to keep the family afloat. From an early age, Millan was a member of the Labour League of Youth, focused on a political career. While this informed his lifelong passion for social justice, after attending Harris Academy in Dundee he trained as an accountant. One of his great strengths was an ability to apply a forensic eye to every piece of paper in search of the facts and figures that mattered. Those who saw only the accountant's demeanour risked failing to understand the depth or integrity of his beliefs.
One victim of this error was Roy Jenkins, then the deputy leader of the Labour party, who admitted to taking Millan to be "nice but pedestrian" before being skewered by him at a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party in 1971 over future voting intentions on Europe, which eventually led to Jenkins's departure from Labour politics. Jenkins conceded to having learned a lesson about "the danger of taking a patronising view of colleagues".
Aged 23, while working as an accountant with the Scottish Gas Board, Millan contested the Tory seat of West Renfrewshire and in 1955 stood for Glasgow Craigton. Four years later, he won Craigton from the Tories and he remained in the Commons until departing for Brussels in 1988. In the first Harold Wilson government, he was under-secretary of state for defence (RAF) under Denis Healey to whom he retained a lifelong political affinity.
After Labour's victory in 1966, Millan moved to the Scottish Office. He forged a lengthy and loyal association with Willie Ross, the formidable secretary of state for Scotland whom he eventually succeeded in 1976, as part of the changes that followed Wilson's resignation.
Millan was a highly effective secretary of state. He was credited largely with establishing the Scottish Development Agency (which later became Scottish Enterprise) as a powerful, well-funded organisation, tasked with attracting inward investment and replacing the declining industries with new ones. He had an intense commitment to urban regeneration not least in Dundee, the transformation of which began during this period.
He took over the Scottish Office at a time when nationalism appeared to be on the rise and the Labour party was divided over devolution. It was to his regret that this issue rather than Scotland's pressing social and economic needs consumed so much of his time and energy. Indeed, it was a tribute to his priorities that, following the failure of the 1979 referendum to deliver a devolved parliament, Labour secured an excellent result in Scotland, while Margaret Thatcher prevailed in the country as a whole.
Millan soldiered loyally on in opposition and his selection by Neil Kinnock as Labour's nominee for the highly prized commissioner's post in Brussels came as a considerable surprise. The least flamboyant of politicians, Millan was ideally suited to the policy role in which he found himself and built a massive reputation across the EU for his commitment to the detail, as well as the principle, of entrenching regional policy.
He retired to Glasgow and chaired a landmark review of mental health in Scotland as well as other valuable public roles, quietly fulfilled.
Millan is survived by his wife, Gwen, whom he married in 1953, and a son, daughter and two granddaughters.
• Bruce Millan, politician, born 5 October 1927; died 21 February 2013 Reported by guardian.co.uk 17 hours ago.