Trygve Slagsvold Vedum

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.

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.[1]

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.[1]

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.[1][2]

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.[3]

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.[4] His party gained 9 seats in Parliament and receiving 13,5 percent of the vote following the election on 13 September.[5] 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.[6]

Vedum subsequently opened to work with the Socialist Left Party in government, and along with the Labour Party, started pre-negotations on 23 September. On 29 September, the Socialist Left Party withdrew from negotations, 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 negotations to begin between the Centre Party and Labour Party.[7][8] These negotations began later that day.[9] 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.[10]

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.[11][12]

Vedum was eventually appointed minister of finance in Støre's Cabinet on 14 October 2021.[13]

Over the ensuing electricity price crisis, Vedum stated that he hoped to do something about as soon as possible, saying “If we reduce the taxes on electricity, and there is something we can approve in the Storting”.[14]

Vedum further announced he would freeze executive salaries in the state to avoid a paycheck in state-owned companies, saying that the government would "put on the breaks with full force". He further said: "We will contribute to reduced wages, even if they will still earn well. But they should not exceed what is the average wage increase in the state. Therefore, the government must be active when it comes to executive salaries".[15]

Vedum expressed that there was no “miracle cure” for the electricity price crisis, and said that he couldn’t promise measures that rapid cuts in people’s electricity bills.[16]

Vedum announced clear measures on taxes and fees to start already in 2022, despite a short deadline with the budget to be presented on 8 November. Of the measures, he said: “We will have a completely different distribution profile. If you earn less than NOK 750,000, you will find that the tax measures and the measures we take will make everyday life easier”.[17]

A week before the revised budget being presented, Vedum announced that 1,2 billion NOK would be spent on closure threatened primary schools for every year starting in 2022. He did however warn that if a municipality decides to close a school, they would loose their grant for said school.[18]

On 8 November, Vedum presented the Støre government’s revised state budget.[19]

On 1 December, Vedum said he was willing to take the bill to dissolve Viken. He further said that the counties that make up Viken, Akershus, Østfold and Buskerud; didn’t need to worry about the costs. Vedum went on to say that the government supports Viken’s dissolution economically as well.[20]

On 7 December, with new COVID-19 measures being presented, Vedum announced that the compensation scheme would be reintroduced. This was to help companies who would be effected by the new measures, and that the state would pay for COVID-19 related sick leave from the sixth day. Vedum further said: “The paradox is that the Norwegian economy is otherwise doing very well”.[21]

On 11 December, Vedum, alongside prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre and minister of petroleum and energy Marte Mjøs Persen, presented a security scheme to battle the rising electricity prices. Vedum stated “this scene is more bulletproof”, and said that the government didn’t know how expensive the scheme would be, but had an estimation of ca. 5 billion NOK. Vedum also stated that if the electricity prices became more expensive, so would the scheme.[22]

Vedum has also been a deputy board member of Folk og Forsvar (1999–2000) and a board member of Nei til atomvåpen (2005–2007), Nei til EU (2005–2007), Norway's Contact Committee for Immigrants and the Authorities (2006–) and Menighetssøsterhjemmet (2007–2009).[1]

Vedum participated in the first season of the Norwegian equivalent of The Masked Singer, Maskorama, disguised as The Scarecrow.[23]