Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It shares borders with the council areas of Aberdeenshire,Argyll and Bute,Moray and Perth and Kinross. Their councils,and those of Angus and Stirling,also have areas of the Scottish Highlands within their administrative boundaries.
The Scottish Greens are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 2022 local elections,the party sits on 13 of the 32 Scottish local councils,with a total of 36 councillors. They held two ministerial posts in the first Yousaf government following a power-sharing agreement with the SNP from August 2021 until the end of the Bute House Agreement in April 2024,marking the first time Green Party politicians formed part of a government in the UK.
Robert McKay Gibson is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 2003 until 2016,first as a Highlands and Islands regional member from 2003 until 2011,then representing the Caithness,Sutherland and Ross constituency from 2011 until 2016.
Christine Grahame is a Scottish politician who served as a Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2016 to 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP),she has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Midlothian South,Tweeddale and Lauderdale constituency since 2011,having previously represented the South of Scotland region from 1999 to 2011.
Sandra White is a retired Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow electoral region from 1999 until 2011,and then the MSP for the Glasgow Kelvin constituency from 2011 until she stood down from the Scottish Parliament at the May 2021 election.
James Hume Walter Miéville Stone is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician,representing the constituency of Caithness,Sutherland and Easter Ross,since 2017.
Angela Constance is a Scottish politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP),she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Almond Valley since 2007.
Irene Hamilton-Oldfather is a Scottish Labour Party politician. She was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Cunninghame South constituency from 1999 until 2011,when she was defeated by the SNP's Margaret Burgess.
The politics of the Highland council area in Scotland are evident in the deliberations and decisions of the Highland Council,in elections to the council,and in elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) and the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). In the European Parliament the area was within the Scotland constituency,which covers all of the 32 council areas of Scotland.
The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 11 May 2021,under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The election was held alongside the Senedd election,English local elections,London Assembly and mayoral election and the Hartlepool by-election.
Alison Johnstone is a Scottish politician who has served as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament since 2021. Elected as a member of the Scottish Greens,she relinquished her party affiliation on becoming Presiding Officer. She has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region since 2011.
The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday,5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary election in Scotland in which 16 and 17 year olds were eligible to vote,under the provisions of the Scottish Elections Act. It was also the first time the three largest parties were led by women.
Jean Urquhart is a Scottish politician. She was formerly a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP),first elected in 2011 for the Highlands and Islands region as a Scottish National Party (SNP) member,then continuing to sit as an independent after she left the SNP in October 2012. She had been an SNP councillor at the Highland Council from 2003 to 2011.
John Bradford Finnie is a Scottish Greens politician. He was the Green Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Highlands and Islands region from 2016 up until 2021,having previously sat as a Scottish National Party (SNP) member from 2011 to 2012 then as an independent from 2012 to 2016.
Mairi Angela Gougeon is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs,Land Reform and Islands since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP),she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Angus North and Mearns since 2016.
Ruth Bernadette Maguire is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Cunninghame South since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.
Kate Elizabeth Forbes is a Scottish politician who has served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic since May 2024. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP),she previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy from 2020 to 2023. Forbes has been Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Skye,Lochaber and Badenoch since 2016.
Maree Todd is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Caithness,Sutherland and Ross since May 2021. She was previously an MSP for the Highlands and Islands from the election in May 2016. She has been serving as the Minister for Social Care,Mental Wellbeing and Sport since March 2023. She previously served as the Minister for Public Health,Women's Health and Sport from 2021 to 2023,and as the Minister for Children and Young People from 2017 to 2021.
The 2017 Highland Council election was held on 4 May 2017 to elect members of the Highland Council. The election used the 21 wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004;each ward elected three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system. A total of 74 councillors were elected,six less than in 2012.
Elections to The Highland Council were held on 5 May 2022,the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections,it was held using single transferable vote (STV) –a form of proportional representation –in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.
