Donald Campbell Dewar was a Scottish statesman and politician who served as the inaugural first minister of Scotland and leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 1999 until his death in 2000. He previously served as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1997 to 1999. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Anniesland from 1978 to 2000. Dewar was also Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the equivalent seat from 1999 to 2000.
The politics of Scotland operate within the constitution of the United Kingdom, of which Scotland is a country. Scotland is a democracy, being represented in both the Scottish Parliament and the Parliament of the United Kingdom since the Scotland Act 1998. Most executive power is exercised by the Scottish Government, led by the First Minister of Scotland, the head of government in a multi-party system. The judiciary of Scotland, dealing with Scots law, is independent of the legislature and the Scottish Government. Scots law is primarily determined by the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government shares some executive powers with the Scotland Office, a British government department led by the Secretary of State for Scotland.
Glasgow is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Thus it elects a total of 16 MSPs.
Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister for Finance from 1999 to 2000 and Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs from 2000 to 2001. He has been a Labour life peer in the House of Lords since 2010 and previously served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Motherwell and Wishaw from 1999 to 2011.
John Webster Robertson is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Anniesland and Glasgow North West from 2000 to 2015. Until 2010, he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Yvette Cooper.
On 4 August 1999, NATO announced that the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Hamilton South, in Scotland, George Robertson, had been chosen as their new Secretary-General. This meant that Robertson was required to resign from his seat which he had won at the 1997 general election. The seat had fallen vacant in a Parliamentary recess, and the law does not permit a by-election to be called during a recess if the sitting member resigns by taking the Chiltern Hundreds.
Patricia Josephine Ferguson is a Scottish politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow West since the 2024 United Kingdom general election. Ferguson is also a Glasgow City Council Councillor.
Glasgow North East is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was first contested at the 2005 general election. The current Member of Parliament (MP) is Maureen Burke of the Labour Party who gained the seat from Scottish National Party's Anne McLaughlin at the 2024 general election.
Glasgow North West was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). It was first used at the 2005 general election and was abolished at the 2024 election, being replaced by Glasgow West.
Scottish Labour, is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 22 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is represented by 262 of the 1,227 local councillors across Scotland. The Scottish Labour party has no separate Chief Whip at Westminster.
Glasgow Anniesland is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It is one of eight constituencies within the Glasgow City council area. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. It is also one of nine constituencies in the Glasgow electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Scotland has elections to several bodies: the Scottish Parliament, the United Kingdom Parliament, local councils and community councils. Before the United Kingdom left the European Union, Scotland elected members to the European Parliament.
The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.
The 1938 Combined Scottish Universities by-election was a by-election held from 21 to 25 February 1938 for the Combined Scottish Universities, a university constituency of the British House of Commons.
The 1936 Combined Scottish Universities by-election was a by-election held from 27 to 31 January 1936 for the Combined Scottish Universities, a university constituency of the British House of Commons.
The 1982 Glasgow Queen's Park by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 2 December 1982 for the UK House of Commons constituency of Glasgow Queen's Park.
The 1978 Glasgow Garscadden by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 13 April 1978 for the British House of Commons constituency of Glasgow Garscadden, in the north west periphery of the City of Glasgow.
A general election was held in the United Kingdom on 6 May 2010 and all 59 seats in Scotland were contested. The election result in Scotland was unusual in that there wasn't any change of seats from the 2005 general election, although the Labour Party took back two seats that it had lost in by-elections. This was the last general election at which the Labour Party won a majority of seats and plurality of votes in Scotland until 2024.
A general election was held in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2005 and all 59 seats in Scotland were contested. This was the first election to occur under the new boundaries which reduced the number of Scottish seats from 72 to 59. Previously, Scotland had a greater number of MPs per person than the rest of the UK to compensate for its distinct political nature and distance from Westminster. With the introduction of the Scottish Parliament, Scottish constituencies were brought into line with those found in the rest of the UK, so that they had similar electorates.
A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday 8 June 2017; all 59 seats in Scotland were contested under the first-past-the-post electoral system.
