Ann McKechin (born 22 April 1961) is a former

British Labour Party The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...

politician and was

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 Glasgow Maryhill from

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

until

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and Glasgow North from 2005 to

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 ...

. She was a junior minister under

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

before becoming a member of

Shadow Cabinet of Ed Miliband Ed Miliband became Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition upon being elected to the former post on 25 September 2010. The election was triggered by Gordon Brown's resignation following the party's fall from power at the 2010 ...

. She lost her seat to 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 ...

in the

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

at the 2015 general election.

Early life

Born in Paisley to Anne (née Coyle) and William Joseph McKechin, she was educated at

Paisley Grammar School Paisley Grammar School is a secondary school in Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 by royal charter of King James VI and is situated on Glasgow Road. The school is recognised as one of Scotland's ...

and Sacred Heart High School, before studying

Scots law Scots law () is the legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. Together with English law and Northern Ireland l ...

at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

. She joined the

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 ...

-based Pacitti Jones solicitors in 1983 as a solicitor, becoming a partner in 1990, she left the practice in 2000. McKechin held several posts within the Glasgow Kelvin Labour Party from 1995, then the constituency of

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...

, then a

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 ...

MP. She was selected as a candidate for the 1999 European election, but failed to be elected.

Political career

She was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at the 2001 general election for the Glasgow Maryhill constituency, following the retirement of the previous Labour MP,

Maria Fyfe Maria Fyfe ('' née'' O'Neill; 25 November 1938 – 3 December 2020) was a Scottish politician and educator who served as Member of Parliament for Glasgow Maryhill from 1987 to 2001. She was Deputy Shadow Minister for Women from 1988 to 1991, ...

. She retained the Maryhill seat with a majority of nearly 10,000 votes. In the boundary changes which came into force for the 2005 election, the Maryhill constituency was abolished, and McKechin was elected for the newly drawn Glasgow North constituency, but with a much-reduced majority of 3,338 over the

Scottish Liberal Democrats The Scottish Liberal Democrats ( gd, Pàrtaidh Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Leeberal Democrats) is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats. The party currently holds 4 o ...

. In the House of Commons, McKechin served briefly as the

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

Jacqui Smith Jacqueline Jill Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a British broadcaster, political commentator and former Labour Party politician. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Redditch from 1997 to 2010. She served as Home Secretary from 2007 to 2009 ...

in 2005 in her capacity as

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

at both the Department of Trade and Industry and at the Department for Education and Skills. She also served on a number of select committees including;

Scottish Affairs ''Scottish Affairs'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering Scottish politics. It was established in 1992 and has been published by Edinburgh University Press since 2014. It is the successor to the ''Scottish Government Yearbooks'', whic ...

(2001–05) and

International Development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic or human development on an international scale. It is the basis for international classifications ...

(since 2005). She replaced David Cairns as

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of Minister (government), government minist ...

at the

Scotland Office The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland ( gd, Oifis Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba), often referred to as, and formerly officially called, the Scotland Office, is a department of His Majesty's Government headed by the Secretary of Sta ...

on 16 September 2008. In October 2010, McKechin was elected to the Shadow Cabinet and appointed as Shadow

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

, but was replaced by Margaret Curran in shadow cabinet reshuffle on 7 October 2011.Margaret Curran replaces Ann McKechin as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
''New Statesman'', October 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2014. She lost her seat to

Patrick Grady Patrick John Grady (born 5 February 1980) is a Scottish politician. He was elected at the 2015 UK general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow North. He was re-elected for the same constituency in the 2017 general election an ...

of the

at the 2015 general election.

References

External links

Ann McKechin MP
''official constituency website'' * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McKechin, Ann 1961 births Living people Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies Politicians from Paisley, Renfrewshire Scottish Labour MPs Scottish people of Irish descent Scottish solicitors UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 21st-century Scottish women politicians 21st-century Scottish politicians Maryhill Scottish republicans