Carolyn Leckie (born 5 March 1965) is a Scottish politician. She was a member of the

Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland. The party was founded in 1998. It c ...

(SSP), and held a number of senior positions in the party, but has since left the SSP. From 2003 to 2007 she was a

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The ad ...

(MSP) for the Central Scotland region, having been elected on the SSP list.

Biography

Leckie was born on 5 March 1965 and grew up in Glasgow, the daughter of a shipyard worker. She now lives in

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

. Before she became an MSP she was a

midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...

and a local union leader who represented thousands of hospital workers in Glasgow.

Campaigning

Just before election to Holyrood, she led several victorious strikes against low pay - the most recent involving 300 ancillary workers against the French multinational,

Sodexho Sodexo (formerly Sodexho Alliance) is a French food services and facilities management company headquartered in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux. It has 412,088 employees as of 2021, operates in 55 countries and serves 100 million custom ...

. As an MSP she was a strong supporter of the Nursery Nurses campaigning for higher pay. On 20 May 2004, after attempting to raise a point of order about the strike at a time that the Presiding Officer determined was inappropriate, she was told to leave the chamber. She was active within the parliament campaigning for an end to the cuts and closures in hospital services across Scotland. On 20 January 2005, she was jailed for seven days for non-payment of a fine, arising from a protest outside

Faslane His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...

nuclear base. The Nursing and Midwifery Council did not consider it an impediment to her registration as a Midwife. In January 2007, she was arrested but not charged for taking part in an anti-nuclear demonstration at Faslane as part of the Faslane 365 campaign. In April 2014, Leckie led a campaign against plans to demolish the

Red Road Flats The Red Road Flats were a mid-twentieth-century high-rise housing complex located between the districts of Balornock and Barmulloch in the northeast of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The estate originally consisted of eight multi-storey blocks ...

during the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

opening ceremony.

Other information

Leckie was co-chair of the

for several years. She stood down at the March 2006 annual conference, stating that it was time to hand the post over to a lay member of the party, but she was easily elected as an ordinary member of its executive committee. She was one of several members who gave evidence in the ''

Sheridan v News International ''Sheridan v News Group Newspapers'' (''Thomas Sheridan v News Group Newspapers Ltd'') is a civil court case brought by Tommy Sheridan against the publishers of the '' News of the World'', which began in the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Scotlan ...

'' defamation action, and the subsequent criminal trial ''

HM Advocate v Sheridan and Sheridan ''Her Majesty's Advocate v Thomas Sheridan and Gail Sheridan'' was the 2010 criminal prosecution of Tommy Sheridan, a former Member of the Scottish Parliament and his wife Gail Sheridan for perjury in relation to the earlier civil case ''Sheridan ...

''. Former SSP leader

Tommy Sheridan Tommy Sheridan (born 7 March 1966) is a Scottish politician who served as convenor of Solidarity from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 1998 to 2004 and as co-convenor of Solidarity from 2 ...

was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to three years in prison. At the SSP conference in 2008, Leckie declined nomination for any national posts within the party, but remained an activist within the party, particularly within the

Socialist Women's Network The Socialist Women's Network is the women's wing of the Scottish Socialist Party and campaigns on issues particularly affecting women. Although primarily made up of party members, the SWN is open to all women who are interested in women's issues ...

. She drifted away from the party and stopped paying subscriptions without it being noticed. Leckie is a founder member of

Women for Independence Women for Independence is a grass-roots political organisation which seeks to improve the representation of women in public and political life throughout Scotland. Founded in 2012, the movement promotes the causes of Scottish independence and othe ...

campaign for

Scottish independence Scottish independence ( gd, Neo-eisimeileachd na h-Alba; sco, Scots unthirldom) is the idea of Scotland as a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom, and refers to the political movement that is campaigning to bring it about. S ...

. Leckie worked for a

Women's Aid Women's Aid Federation of England, commonly called Women's Aid within England, is one of a group of charities across the United Kingdom. There are four main Women's Aid Federations, one for each of the countries of the United Kingdom. Its aim is t ...

group from 2007 to 2014. She completed an

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

in 2014, continuing to work throughout. She has since gained a Diploma in Professional Legal Practice from the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...

and is pursuing a law career. She has stated that she will not stand for election again.

References

External links

*
Record in the Scottish Parliament
at

TheyWorkForYou TheyWorkForYou is a parliamentary monitoring website operated by mySociety which aims to make it easier for UK citizens to understand what is going on in Westminster, as well as the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembl ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leckie, Carolyn 1965 births Living people Alumni of the University of Dundee Industrial Workers of the World members Scottish midwives Scottish Socialist Party MSPs Female members of the Scottish Parliament Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 People from East Kilbride Scottish women lawyers Scottish women legal professionals Scottish nurses Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Politicians from Glasgow