Siobhan McMahon

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Siobhan McMahon
SiobhanMcMahonMSP20110510.JPG
McMahon in 2011
Member of the Scottish Parliament
for Central Scotland
(1 of 7 Regional MSPs)
In office
5 May 2011 –24 March 2016
Personal details
Born
Siobhan Marie McMahon

(1984-07-04) 4 July 1984 (age 39)
Lanarkshire, Scotland
Political party Scottish Labour
SpouseJohn Wright
Children1 daughter
Alma mater Glasgow Caledonian University

Siobhan Marie McMahon (born 4 July 1984) is a Scottish Labour Party politician who served as a regional list Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Central Scotland region from 2011 to 2016.

Contents

Education and early career

McMahon graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2006 with a 2.1 BA Honours degree in Politics with History and Sociology. She worked as a paid researcher for her father, the serving Hamilton North and Bellshill MSP Michael McMahon, who also employed her mother as a paid assistant. [1]

Member of the Scottish Parliament

In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, McMahon was elected as a regional list MSP, and her father and herself became the first father-and-daughter pair to serve in the Scottish Parliament. [2]

McMahon was involved in Johann Lamont's successful campaign in the 2011 Scottish Labour Party leadership election. Following Lamont's victory, McMahon became her Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS), with the right to attend meetings of the Scottish Labour Shadow Cabinet. [3]

McMahon was one of three Labour MSPs that voted against the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014, which legislated on civil and religious same-sex marriage. [4]

Following Johann Lamont's resignation as leader following the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, McMahon supported Jim Murphy in the 2014 Scottish Labour Party leadership election, and afterwards he gave her a junior role as Shadow Minister for Youth and Women’s Employment, reporting to Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training Neil Findlay. [5]

McMahon endorsed Richard Baker, then subsequently Ken Macintosh in the 2015 Scottish Labour Party leadership election. After Macintosh ultimately lost to Kezia Dugdale, McMahon lost her frontbench post in Dugdale's first reshuffle.

In the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, McMahon was succeeded as first on the Central Scotland regional list by Richard Leonard, who became Leader of the Scottish Labour Party following the 2017 Scottish Labour Party leadership election. [6] [7] McMahon was ranked tenth by Labour Party members onto the Labour regional list; as only seven MSPs are elected from the list it was impossible for her to be elected again. [8]

In the 2016 election, McMahon's father lost his Uddingston and Bellshill seat after serving as an MSP since 1999 and she criticised Kezia Dugdale for failing to send condolences to defeated MSPs like her father. In response, Dugdale invited all non-returning, including regional list, MSPs to a dinner she would be hosting the following week. [9]

Personal life

McMahon is married to John Wright, with whom she has one daughter, Anna. McMahon now works in civil society. She suffers from a disability called hemiplegia, a neuromuscular condition which causes weakness along the right-hand side of her body. [10] She is a Christian. [11]

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References

  1. ↑ Black, Andrew (27 November 2008). "Which MSPs are employing family?". BBC News . Retrieved 14 May 2011. Over in the Labour camp, it is a family affair for Hamilton North and Bellshill MSP Michael McMahon, who pays wife Margaret and daughter Siobhan as parliamentary assistant and researcher respectively.
  2. ↑ Lindsey Johnstone and Mareike Brensing (6 May 2011). "Holyrood to get first blind MSP". The Herald . Retrieved 14 May 2011. Another first is the election of a father and daughter, Michael and Siobhan McMahon. Mr McMahon was returned as MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill with a Labour majority of 714, while his daughter is one of three Labour MSPs representing the Central region.
  3. ↑ Pringle, Michael (4 January 2012). "Siobhan McMahon MSP handed shadow ministerial role". dailyrecord. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  4. ↑ "Scotland's same sex marriage bill: How MSPs voted". BBC News. 20 November 2013. Archived from the original on 7 January 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  5. ↑ McMahon, Siobhan (6 January 2015). "Siobhan McMahon MSP Delighted to be Appointed Shadow Youth and Women's Employment Minister". Siobhan McMahon for Central Scotland. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  6. ↑ "Scottish Labour announce list candidates for May's election". LabourList. 6 February 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  7. ↑ "Richard Leonard to lead Scottish Labour". 18 November 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  8. ↑ Hutcheon, Paul (14 February 2016). "Labour MSP Siobhan McMahon blasts her party for not doing enough to help disabled people". The Herald. Scotland. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  9. ↑ "Former Labour MSP attacks Dugdale for 'failing to phone defeated candidates'". HeraldScotland. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  10. ↑ "Former Labour MSP Siobhan McMahon on inclusivity for disabled people in politics". Holyrood Website. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  11. ↑ "Catholics voted yes, Protestants no, claims Salmond". Premier Christian News. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
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