Paul Martin (born 17 March 1967) is a Scottish politician who served as

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 the Glasgow Provan constituency from

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

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 ...

. A member of the

Scottish Labour Party 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 o ...

, he previously represented Glasgow Springburn from

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

to 2011.

Early life and education

Paul Martin was born in 1967 in Glasgow, the son of Michael Martin (1945–2018), a sheet metal worker, and Mary Martin (''

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 ...

'' McLay), an assembly worker. His parents had married the previous year. Michael was a member of the Labour Party and would go on to become a Member of Parliament (MP),

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: *Speaker of ...

and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

. Paul was educated at

All Saints Roman Catholic Secondary School All Saints Roman Catholic Secondary School is a comprehensive, co-educational, Roman Catholic state school situated in Barmulloch the north-east of Glasgow, Scotland. Established in 1972, the school was rebuilt into a newer, more modern version ...

and Barmulloch College in Glasgow.

Political career

At the age of 26, Martin became a Glasgow District Councillor for the Royston ward following a council by-election in December 1993. He was first 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 May 1999 as MSP for Glasgow Springburn. He served as parliamentary aide to the Lord Advocate from 2001 to 2007 and to the Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2007 to 2009. Following the

2007 Scottish Parliament election The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. Local elections in Scotland fe ...

, he was appointed as Scottish Labour's spokesperson for community safety, and as parliamentary business manager on 28 October 2009. In 2016, Martin sought re-election to a fifth term in the Scottish Parliament but lost his 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 ...

Ivan McKee Ivan Paul McKee (born September 1963) is a Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise since 2021, having previously served as Minister for Trade, Innovation and Public Finance, 2020-21 and Mini ...

by 4,783 votes. After losing his seat, he took up the role of general manager and collector at the Merchants House of Glasgow.

Personal life

Martin is married to Marie (''

'' McGarvie) and has two daughters, one named Abbie.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Paul 1967 births Living people Labour MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow constituencies Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 People educated at All Saints Roman Catholic Secondary School People from Springburn Sons of life peers