Cathie Craigie (born 14 April 1954) is a former

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak of ...

politician who served as

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 Cumbernauld and Kilsyth constituency from

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Early life and career

Craigie was born in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

on 14 April 1954. She was a district councillor of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth from 1984 to 1994 and district leader from 1994 to 1996. She served as a

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also ...

councillor between 1996 and 1999.

Parliamentary career

Craigie was first elected to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

at the 1999 election. She was re-elected to represent the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth constituency in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

with a majority of 520 votes and in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

with an increased majority of 2,079. However, at the 2011 election, she lost her seat to

Jamie Hepburn James Douglas Hepburn (born 21 May 1979) is a Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Higher Education and Further Education, Youth Employment and Training since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he has been Member ...

of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

(SNP) by 3,459 votes. Craigie was a member of the Justice Committee and the Petitions Committee in the Scottish Parliament. She was the first woman to successfully steer a Member's Bill, The Mortgage Rights (Scotland) Act, which provides greater protection for those facing repossession, through the parliament. Craigie was also the convenor of the Cross-Party group on Deafness, and was in the process of steering a British Sign Language Bill through the Scottish Parliament before losing her seat.

References

External links

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Cathie Craigie MSP
Personal website
Cathie Cragie MSP
Biography at Labour party website. 1954 births Living people People from Stirling Labour MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Female members of the Scottish Parliament 20th-century Scottish women politicians Scottish Labour councillors Leaders of local authorities of Scotland Women councillors in Scotland {{MSP-stub