Martin John Docherty-Hughes (born 21 January 1971) 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 ...

politician. He has been the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire ( sco, Wast Dunbairtonshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann an Iar, ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the west of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's commuter town ...

since

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Early life and education

Docherty-Hughes was raised by his parents in

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

, and began working from the age of 16. He studied at the Glasgow College of Food Technology, now

City of Glasgow College The City of Glasgow College (Scottish Gaelic: ''Colaiste Baile Glaschu'') is a further and higher education college in the city of Glasgow. It was founded in 2010 when the Central College, Glasgow Metropolitan College, and the Glasgow Colle ...

, graduating with an HND in Business Administration in 1997. He subsequently obtained a degree in Politics from the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

and attended the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

for his master's degree. On finishing his studies Martin returned to Clydebank and worked for a decade for the West Dunbartonshire Community and Volunteering Services (WDCVS).

Political career

He joined the Scottish National Party in 1991, and was elected the following year as Scotland's youngest councillor to the-then Clydebank District Council in May 1992, at the age of 21, until 31 March 1996. He was elected to the third seat of the Anderston/City ward of the

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council is the local government authority for the City of Glasgow, Scotland. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, largely with the boundaries of the post-1975 City of Glasgow district of the S ...

on 3 May 2012 polling 1,057 votes and 19.9% and exceeding the quota on the second count, becoming a

Bailie A bailie or baillie is a civic officer in the local government of Scotland. The position arose in the burghs, where bailies formerly held a post similar to that of an alderman or magistrate (see bailiff). Baillies appointed the high constables i ...

until 14 May 2015. In February 2015, he was selected as the SNP candidate for the

constituency in the

2015 UK general election The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. It was the first and only general election held at the end of a Parliament under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. Local ...

. He defeated incumbent Gemma Doyle, winning 30,198 votes and 59% of the vote. As a consequence of his election to Parliament, he stepped down from his position on Glasgow City Council. He changed his name from Docherty to Docherty-Hughes after getting married in January 2016. The descendant of a woman from Ballinglen,

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

and a man from Stralongford in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

, he is also a relative of

Ian McGarvey Ian McGarvey (born July 1929) is a former association footballer and former politician. He is a member of Donegal County Council, representing the Letterkenny Electoral Area. Due to his age (his political career peaking while an octogenarian) h ...

and has many relatives scattered around

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Was appointed as Chief Whip following the 2022 SNP Westminster Group Leadership contest by new leader, Stephen Flynn.

References

External links

Personal website

Profile
on SNP website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Docherty-Hughes, Martin 1971 births Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Alumni of the University of Essex Councillors in Glasgow Gay politicians LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Scottish LGBT politicians Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies People from Clydebank Place of birth missing (living people) Scottish National Party councillors Scottish National Party MPs UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Scottish people of Irish descent