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 Government of the United Kingdom's Scotland Office,a British government department led by the Secretary of State for Scotland.
Michael Kevin Moore is a British Liberal Democrat politician.
Brian Charles John Sedgemore was a British politician who served as a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 to 1979,and again from 1983 to 2005. He defected to the Liberal Democrats shortly after standing down from Parliament just before the 2005 general election.
James Robert Wallace,Baron Wallace of Tankerness,is a Scottish politician serving as a Liberal Democrat life peer in the British House of Lords since 2007 and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 2021 to 2022. He served as the Deputy First Minister of Scotland from 1999 to 2005,and during that time he served twice as acting First Minister,in 2000,in the aftermath of Donald Dewar's death and in 2001,following Henry McLeish's resignation. He was formerly Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 1992 to 2005 and Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords from 2013 to 2016.
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 Anne McLaughlin of the SNP who gained the seat from Labour's Paul Sweeney at the 2019 general election.
Stephen Roy Williams is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol West from the 2005 general election until his defeat by Labour Party candidate Thangam Debbonaire in 2015. As an MP,he served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Communities and Local Government from 2013 to 2015.
The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005,to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party,led by Tony Blair,won its third consecutive victory,with Blair becoming the second Labour leader after Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However,its majority fell to 66 seats;the majority it won four years earlier had been of 167 seats. This was the first time the Labour Party had won a third consecutive election,and remains the party's most recent general election victory.
The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010,with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system.
Joanne Kate Swinson is a British former politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from July to December 2019. She was the first woman and the youngest person to hold the position,as well as the shortest-serving holder of the post. Swinson was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Dunbartonshire from 2005 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019. In September 2020 Swinson became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE).
Daniel John Rogerson is a Cornish-British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Cornwall from the 2005 general election until his defeat at the 2015 general election. In October 2013,he became the Liberal Democrat Minister at the Department for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs,holding the office until losing his Parliamentary seat to Conservative candidate Scott Mann.
Mark James Hunter is a British Liberal Democrat politician and leader of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council who became Member of Parliament (MP) for Cheadle at a 2005 by-election. At the 2015 general election,Hunter lost his seat to Mary Robinson of the Conservative Party. Since 19 May 2022,Hunter has served as the leader of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. As leader he is also a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and is the combined authority's portfolio holder for Children and Young People.
Scottish Labour,officially the Scottish Labour Party,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 2 of 59 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.
The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday,5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.
Graeme Morrice is a Scottish Labour politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Livingston from 2010 to 2015. Prior to his election to Parliament,he served as the Leader of West Lothian Council from 1995 to 2007.
The National Union of Students (NUS) "Vote for Students" pledge is a pledge in the UK to vote against tuition fee increases that was signed by over 1,000 candidates standing in the general election in 2010,notably including a large number of Labour Party MPs,who had introduced the fees in 1998 and all 57 subsequently elected Liberal Democrat MPs.
Elections to the City of Edinburgh Council were held on 3 May 2012,the same day as the 2012 Scottish local elections. The election was the second using 17 new wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004,each ward elected three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation system of election.
The Leith Burghs by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 20 February 1914. The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom,elected by the first past the post voting system.
A general election was held in the United Kingdom on 7 May 2015 and all 59 seats in Scotland were contested under the first-past-the-post,single-member district electoral system. Unlike the 2010 general election,where no seats changed party,the Scottish National Party (SNP) won all but three seats in Scotland in an unprecedented landslide victory,gaining a total of 56 seats and taking the largest share of the Scottish vote in sixty years,at approximately 50 per cent. The Labour Party suffered its worst ever election defeat in Scotland,losing 40 of the 41 seats it was defending,including the seats of Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy and the then Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander. The Liberal Democrats lost ten of the eleven seats they were defending,with the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and former leader Charles Kennedy losing their seats. The election also saw the worst performance by the Scottish Conservative Party,which received its lowest share of the vote since its creation in 1965,although it retained the one seat that it previously held. In all,50 of the 59 seats changed party,49 of them being won by first-time MPs.
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.
Elections to the City of Edinburgh Council took place on 5 May 2022 on 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.
