Eilidh Whiteford was born in 1969 in Aberdeen and grew up in Macduff, Banffshire, where her parents still live.

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She went to Banff Academy. She has been active in the SNP since joining her local branch in 1986 during the run up to Alex Salmond's victorious 1987 election. She later served in the Peterhead office working for Alex Salmond in 1992.

At Glasgow University she quickly got involved with the Federation of Student Nationalists, first as National Organiser and then as President, sitting on the SNP National Executive and acting as party spokesperson on Higher Education.

In between the politics, she graduated with First Class Honours in English and Scottish Literature, followed by postgraduate studies in Canada and Scotland that led to a PhD in 1998.

She returned to the North East in early 1998 to work for Allan Macartney MEP. Following Macartney's passing in 1998, she worked for Ian Hudghton MEP until the 1999 elections, and later helped new MSP Irene McGugan establish a constituency office in the first term of the Scottish Parliament.

She returned to Glasgow University in 1999 to teach, lecturing in Scottish Literature and developing access routes into higher education for mature students (in Glasgow University's adult and continuing education department).

In 2001, she moved into a campaigning role in the voluntary sector as Co-ordinator of the Scottish Carers' Alliance, a network of carer, disability and children's organisations working for the rights of and to support people looking after elderly, sick or disabled relatives or friends at home.

In 2003 she moved to Oxfam where she worked as a policy adviser and campaigns manager for over six years in a role that took her to many parts of the world. Closer to home, Whiteford was very actively involved in the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005 and helped establish the Scottish Fair Trade Forum. She also promoted development issues with members of the Scottish Parliament, and immediately after the Make Poverty History campaign, became Oxfam's Scottish Campaigns Manager.

First elected in 2010, she was re-elected as part of the SNP’s #team56 in 2015, and is now the SNP Westminster Group Secretary, and the Shadow Group Leader on Social Justice.