Clare Joan Haughey (née Donnelly, born April 1967) is a Scottish politician serving as Minister for Children and Young People since 2021, having previously served as Minister for Mental Health from 2018 to 2021. A 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), she has served as 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

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

since in the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Nursing career

Haughey trained as a mental health nurse and worked as a clinical nurse manager. Her family were based in Australia for some years.Interview: Mental health minister Clare Haughey on finding the strength to carry on after the loss of a child
Mandy Rhodes, Holyrood.com, 3 June 2020

Political career

In September 2015 the SNP branch selected her as the candidate for the Rutherglen constituency, ahead of the

2016 Scottish Parliament election 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 electi ...

. The constituency had been held by

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 until the election in May 2016, when Haughey defeated the incumbent James Kelly. On 27 June 2018, Haughey was appointed as the Scottish Government's Minister for Mental Health. She retained the Rutherglen seat in the

2021 Scottish Parliament election The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 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 ele ...

, with an increased majority and just over 50% of the vote share.Constituencies A-Z , Rutherglen
BBC News; retrieved 7 May 2021 On 19 May 2021, Haughey was appointed to the new government as Minister for Children and Young People.New Scottish Cabinet
Scottish Government, 19 May 2021

References

External links

*
profile
on SNP website
personal website

profile
on Scottish Government website 1967 births Living people People from Rutherglen Scottish expatriates in Australia Politicians from South Lanarkshire Scottish nurses Scottish National Party MSPs Ministers of the Scottish Government Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 Female members of the Scottish Parliament {{MSP-stub