Ruth Bernadette Maguire 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 th ...

(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 add ...

(MSP) for Cunninghame South since the

2016 Scottish Parliament election The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary electio ...

. Maguire was elected as a councillor for North Ayrshire Council in 2012, in the Irvine West ward. She resigned as a councillor following her election to parliament. She was re-elected in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

. Shortly before the 2021 election, Maguire was diagnosed with stage 3

cervical cancer Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix. It is due to the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Early on, typically no symptoms are seen. Later symptoms may include abnormal ...

. After taking medical leave and successful treatment, she returned to Holyrood in December 2021. Her father John Finnie was an MSP for the Highlands and Islands region from 2011 to 2021. In April 2019, claiming it could change what it means to be male and female, Maguire was one of 15 SNP politicians who signed a public letter calling on the Scottish Government to delay reform to the

Gender Recognition Act The Gender Recognition Act 2004 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allows people who have gender dysphoria to change their legal gender. It came into effect on 4 April 2005. Operation of the law The Gender Recognition Act ...

. Maguire was also the focus of a twitter storm and was called on to resign as convenor of Holyrood's Equalities and Human Rights committee after an exchange between her and SNP MSPs Ash Regan and Gillian Martin was leaked. In it, Maguire responded to a tweet praising the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's 'positive feminist analysis of trans rights,' with ‘FFS’, agreed that Sturgeon was out of step with the SNP group, and questioned whether the minister in charge of the legislation, Shirley Anne Somerville, could have ignored what 'everyone' said.

References

External links

personal website

profile
on SNP website * Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Scottish National Party MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 Female members of the Scottish Parliament Scottish National Party councillors {{MSP-stub