| 2nd Scottish Parliament | |||||
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| The Scottish Parliament Building opened during this term | |||||
| Overview | |||||
| Legislative body | Scottish Parliament | ||||
| Jurisdiction | Scotland | ||||
| Meeting place | General Assembly Scottish Parliament Building | ||||
| Term | 7 May 2003 – 2 April 2007 | ||||
| Election | 2003 | ||||
| Government | Second McConnell government | ||||
| Members | 129 | ||||
| Presiding Officer | George Reid | ||||
| First Minister | Jack McConnell | ||||
| Deputy First Minister | Jim Wallace (2003–05) Nicol Stephen (2005–07) | ||||
| Leader of the Opposition | John Swinney (2003–04) Nicola Sturgeon (2004–07) | ||||
| This article is part of a series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the |
| Politics of Scotland |
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This is a list of members (MSPs) returned to the second Scottish Parliament at the 2003 Scottish Parliament election. Of the 129 members, 73 were elected from first past the post constituencies with a further 56 members being returned from eight regions, each electing seven MSPs as a form of mixed member proportional representation.
The 2nd Scottish Parliament produced a second hung parliament and became colloquially known as the Rainbow Parliament. This was due to the 2003 election producing a result whereby the incoming members represented the largest number of political parties, with wide-ranging views from across the political spectrum, to be elected at a national level in Scotland. The governing Labour – Liberal Democrat coalition continued in government for a second term. [1]
| Party | May 2003 election | April 2007 dissolution | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • | Scottish Labour Party | 50 | 50 |
| Scottish National Party | 27 | 25 | |
| Scottish Conservative Party | 18 | 17 | |
| • | Scottish Liberal Democrats | 17 | 17 |
| Scottish Green Party | 7 | 7 | |
| Scottish Socialist Party | 6 | 4 | |
| Solidarity | 0 | 2 | |
| Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party | 1 | 1 | |
| Independents | 3 | 5 | |
| Presiding Officer | 0 | 1 | |
| Total | 129 | ||
| Government majority | 5 | 6 | |
Government coalition parties denoted with bullets (•)
These are graphical representations of the Scottish Parliament showing a comparison of party strengths as it was directly after the 2003 election and its composition at the time of its dissolution in April 2007:
This is a list of MSPs at dissolution. For a list of MSPs elected in the 2003 election see here. The changes table below records all changes in party affiliation during the session.
| Name | Image | Member for | Type | Party | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Watson | Glasgow Cathcart | Constituency | Scottish Labour Party | resigned | ||
| Keith Raffan | Mid Scotland and Fife | Regional | Scottish Liberal Democrats | resigned | ||
| David Mundell | | South of Scotland | Regional | Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party | resigned | |
| Margaret Ewing | Moray | Constituency | Scottish National Party | deceased | ||
| Mary Scanlon | | Highlands and Islands | Regional | Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party | resigned | |
| Date | Constituency/region | Gain | Loss | Note | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 May 2003 | Ochil | Presiding Officer | SNP | George Reid is elected as the Presiding Officer and had to take voluntary suspension from the SNP. [2] | ||
| 10 July 2004 | West of Scotland | Independent | SNP | Campbell Martin was expelled from the SNP. [3] | ||
| 10 January 2005 | Mid Scotland and Fife | Liberal Democrats | Liberal Democrats | Keith Raffan resigned from Parliament, citing reasons of ill health. [4] He was replaced by Andrew Arbuckle. [4] | ||
| 17 June 2005 | South of Scotland | Conservative | Conservative | David Mundell resigned from the Scottish Parliament as he had won election to the UK Parliament. [5] Derek Brownlee replaced Mundell. [5] | ||
| 1 September 2005 | Glasgow Cathcart | Labour | Mike Watson resigned from the Scottish Parliament after pleading guilty to a charge of fire-raising. [6] | |||
| 29 September 2005 | Glasgow Cathcart | Labour | Charlie Gordon wins the Glasgow Cathcart by-election. [7] | |||
| 08 November 2005 | Mid Scotland and Fife | Independent | Conservative | Brian Monteith is expelled from his party after briefing against his party leader David McLetchie. | ||
| 21 March 2006 | Moray | SNP | Margaret Ewing dies in March 2006. [8] | |||
| 7 April 2006 | North East Scotland | SNP | SNP | Richard Lochhead resigned his regional seat to contest the Moray by-election. [9] Maureen Watt replaced Lochhead. [9] | ||
| 7 April 2006 | Highlands and Islands | Conservative | Conservative | Mary Scanlon resigned her regional seat to contest the Moray by-election. [9] Dave Petrie replaced Scanlon. [9] | ||
| 27 April 2006 | Moray | SNP | Richard Lochhead wins the Moray by-election. [10] | |||
| 3 September 2006 | Glasgow | Solidarity | Scottish Socialist | Tommy Sheridan resigned from the SSP and formed Solidarity. [11] | ||
| 3 September 2006 | South of Scotland | Solidarity | Scottish Socialist | Rosemary Byrne resigned from the SSP and joined Solidarity. [11] | ||