Joan Kerr Sturgeon (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Ferguson, born 23 October 1952) is a Scottish politician and former dental nurse who served as the Provost of North Ayrshire from 2012 to 2016. She served on the

North Ayrshire council North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

from 2007 to 2017, representing the Irvine East ward. 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 is the mother of the party's leader and

First Minister of Scotland The first minister of Scotland ( sco, heid meinister o Scotland; gd, prìomh mhinistear na h-Alba ) is the head of the Scottish Government and keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. The first minister chairs ...

Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician serving as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) since 2014. She is the first woman to hold either position. She has been a member of ...

Early life

Joan Kerr Ferguson was born on 23 October 1952 in

St Quivox St Quivox is a small Scottish village north of Ayr and east of Prestwick. It lies on the B7035 east of the A77. History The uniquely named village is said to be a corruption either of St Kevoca, St Kevoch or St Kennocha. It is thought to have bee ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

. Sturgeon married Robin Sturgeon in 1969. They have two daughters, Nicola and Gillian. The family grew up in

Prestwick Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...

and later in the village of

Dreghorn Dreghorn is a village in North Ayrshire, Scotland, east of Irvine town centre, on the old main road from Irvine to Kilmarnock. It is sited on a ridge between two rivers. As archaeological excavations near the village centre have found a signifi ...

. Although not politically active at the time, Sturgeon was an SNP voter and was in-favour of

Scottish devolution Devolution is the process in which the central British parliament grants administrative powers (excluding principally reserved matters) to the devolved Scottish Parliament. Prior to the advent of devolution, some had argued for a Scottish Parl ...

in both the

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

referendums. She worked as a dental nurse.

Political career

Sturgeon was elected to the

in the 2007 Scottish local government elections. She sat on the council for ten years, representing the Irvine East ward.

Provost of North Ayrshire

Following Sturgeon's re-election in 2012, she was elected Provost of North Ayrshire after defeating

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 ...

's Ian Clarkson. She succeeded Pat McPhee and became the third woman to hold the post after McPhee and Teresa Beattie, who was elected convener of the former Cunninghame District Council.

Ruth Maguire Ruth Bernadette Maguire is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Cunninghame South since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election. Maguire was elected as a councillor for North Ay ...

, the councillor for the Irvine West ward, stood down after she was 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 ...

in the 2016 election. As a result, a by-election was held and the SNP selected Sturgeon's husband, Robin, as the candidate. He was unsuccessful and was defeated by the Labour candidate, Louise McPhater. This gain for Labour made them the largest party in the council with one seat more than the SNP. On 17 August 2016, the SNP announced its decision to resign from the administration, stating "“given that the SNP group no longer command the largest representation on the council, it is only right that Labour be given the opportunity to form the next administration of the council". Sturgeon subsequently stood down as Provost. Sturgeon stood down as a councillor at the

2017 Scottish local elections The 2017 Scottish local elections were held on Thursday 4 May, in all 32 local authorities. The SNP retained its position as the largest party in terms of votes and councillors, despite suffering minor losses. The Conservatives made gains and di ...

References

{{Reflist Scottish politicians Scottish National Party politicians 1952 births Living people