Trygve Magnus Slagsvold Vedum (born 1 December 1978) is a Norwegian politician who has served as Minister of Finance since 2021. A member of the Centre Party, which he has led since 2014, he has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hedmark since 2005. Vedum also served as Minister of Agriculture and Food from 2012 to 2013.
Early life
Vedum was born in Hamar as a son of Trond Vidar Vedum, a lecturer in biology at Hedmark University College, and teacher Karen Sigrid Slagsvold. After finishing the lower secondary school in Romedal in 1994 he entered the three-year upper secondary education in natural resources management, with two years at Jønsberg and one year at Tomb. Following graduation, he studied sciences at Hedmark University College, before enrolling at the University of Oslo in 1999 where he received a bachelor's degree in political science in 2002.
Political career
Early career
He chaired the Centre Youth from 2002 to 2004, at the time also serving as central board member of the Centre Party. He was elected to Hedmark county council in 1999, serving until 2005. From 2004 to 2005 he also worked as an organizational adviser in the Centre Party.
Parliament
He was elected to the Parliament of Norway from Hedmark in 2005 and re-elected in 2009 and 2013. Vedum started out in the Standing Committee on Local Government and Public Administration, then changed to the Standing Committee on Health and Care Services in 2008. In October 2008 he became deputy leader here, and also Second Deputy President of the Odelsting as well as party whip. He was also a member of the Electoral Committee from 2005 to 2012, and from 2009 to 2012 the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence and the Enlarged Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.
Minister of Agriculture and Food
On 18 June 2012, Vedum was appointed to the Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet to serve as Minister of Agriculture and Food. He lost his job after the cabinet fell following the 2013 election. He returned to Parliament, where he took a seat in the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.
Party leader
In 2009, he became second deputy leader of the Centre Party, then party leader in 2014. At the time, he was the youngest ever Centre Party leader.
Vedum led the party into the 2017 election, with the party becoming a clear winner of the election with 10,3 percent of the vote. The party received their best results since the 1993 election. Despite this, there was no change of government. Vedum himself said one had to look back to the 1990s during the EU debate and the glory days of Per Borten's premiership to find equally good results.
After a lot of speculation, the party convention announced in June 2021 that Vedum would be the party's prime minister candidate for the 2021 election. His party gained 9 seats in Parliament and receiving 13,5 percent of the vote following the election on 13 September. His party had campaigned to end Erna Solberg's centralisation policies, and to form a Labour-Centre Party government, the latter to contrary wishes from Labour leader Jonas Gahr Støre.
Vedum subsequently opened to work with the Socialist Left Party in government, and along with the Labour Party, started pre-negotiations on 23 September. On 29 September, the Socialist Left Party withdrew from negotiations, notably citing lack of progress when it came to petroleum and welfare, among other policies as well. Vedum reassured that his party would still work with the Socialist Left if it would be relevant, and called for immediate negotiations to begin between the Centre Party and Labour Party. These negotiations began later that day. On 8 October, Støre and Vedum announced that the new government's platform would be presented on 13 October and that they were ready to form a government on 14 October.
Vedum was mentioned as a candidate for minister of local government, but was then mentioned as a candidate for minister of finance after Støre rejected to appoint Sigbjørn Gjelsvik to the position. This was due to the Labour Party preferring a Centre Party member from their leadership to hold the position, a position Gjelsvik did not hold.
Minister of Finance
Vedum was eventually appointed minister of finance in Støre's Cabinet on 14 October 2021.