Kaukab Stewart (born 1967/68) is a

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) politician who has been the

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 Glasgow Kelvin since May 2021. At the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, she became one of the first women of colour 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 ...

, alongside

Pam Gosal Pam Gosal (born 25 April 1972) is a Scottish Conservative politician who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for West Scotland since May 2021. She is one of the first women of colour elected to the Scottish parliament, alongside ...

Early life and career

Stewart was born in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and moved with her family to

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, England when she was five years old, where she attended Northampton School for Girls. She then moved to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, aged sixteen and attended

Bellahouston Academy Bellahouston Academy is a non-denominational state-run secondary school in Bellahouston, south-west Glasgow, Scotland. History Bellahouston Academy first opened in 1876 as a private school run by Alexander Sim. It was taken over by the Go ...

and

Moray House School of Education The Moray House School of Education and Sport ('Moray House') is a school within the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science at the University of Edinburgh. It is based in historic buildings on the Holyrood Campus, located between the ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Prior to her election, she worked as a primary school teacher for nearly 30 years, alongside pursuing a political career, which she earlier admitted as challenging even with a "sympathetic headteacher....you have a duty to the kids, who must come first." She married Richard Stewart on 14 September 1989. They have two children.

Political career

Stewart joined the Scottish National Party in 1994. "For me it is all about the fact that I was always a supporter of equal rights and self-determination," she explained. "I always wanted control over my own affairs and it was a natural progression to put that into a Scotland context. To be able to do what you want to do, when you want to do it and how you want to do it is very important to me." She stood unsuccessfully as a SNP candidate in the first Scottish Parliament election since

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...

, against

Donald Dewar Donald Campbell Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000) was a Scottish politician who served as the inaugural First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 1999 until his death in 2000. He previously served as ...

for Glasgow Anniesland at the 1999 Scottish Parliament election. Eleven years later, she stood unsuccessfully against former

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

Alistair Darling Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...

at the 2010 general election. Speaking about these experiences in September 2020, Stewart said: "In these elections I knew my chances of being elected were close to zero but it was that dream of a better nation which inspired me to carry on... It's thanks to the hard work of the activists I worked with then that we are where we are today." On 6 November 2020, Stewart was selected as the SNP candidate in Glasgow Kelvin for 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 ...

. At the election, she was elected as Kelvin's

(MSP) with a majority of 5,458 votes. Her election was noted in the UK press and abroad, such as ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'' and ''

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''. Stewart was appointed in June 2021 as deputy convenor of the Holyrood education committee which scrutinises Scottish education policy and its lead bodies. She was interviewed for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

blog ''The Political Slot'' on her party's vision for equality in Scotland.

References

External links

*
Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Kaukab Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Living people Scottish educators Scottish National Party MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 Members of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow constituencies Female members of the Scottish Parliament British politicians of Pakistani descent Scottish people of Pakistani descent Scottish Muslims Scottish schoolteachers People educated at Bellahouston Academy

Early life and career

Political career

See also

References

External links