Joan Kerr Sturgeon (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Ferguson; born 23 October 1952) is a Scottish politician and former dental nurse who served as the Provost of North Ayrshire from 2012 to 2016. She served on the

North Ayrshire council North Ayrshire (, ) is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and s ...

from 2007 to 2017, representing the Irvine East ward. A member of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

(SNP), she is the mother of the party's former leader and former

First Minister of Scotland The first minister of Scotland () is the head of government of Scotland. The first minister leads the Scottish Government, the Executive (government), executive branch of the devolved government and is th ...

Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2014 to 2023. She has served as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) sin ...

Early life

Joan Kerr Ferguson was born on 23 October 1952 in

St Quivox St Quivox is a small Scottish village north of Ayr and east of Prestwick. It lies on the B7035 east of the A77 road, A77. History The uniquely named village is said to be a corruption either of St Kevoca, St Kevoch or St Kennocha. It is tho ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

. Sturgeon married Robin Sturgeon in 1969. They have two daughters, Nicola and Gillian. The family grew up in

Prestwick Prestwick () is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, and the small vi ...

and later in the village of

Dreghorn Dreghorn is a village in North Ayrshire, Scotland, east of Irvine town centre, on the old main road from Irvine to Kilmarnock. It is sited on a ridge between two rivers. As archaeological excavations near the village centre have found a signi ...

. Although not politically active at the time, Sturgeon was an SNP voter and was in-favour of

Scottish devolution Scottish devolution is the process of the UK Parliament granting powers (excluding powers over reserved matters) to the devolved Scottish Parliament. Prior to the advent of devolution, some had argued for a Scottish Parliament within the United ...

in both the

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

referendums. She worked as a dental nurse.

Political career

Sturgeon was elected to the

in the

2007 Scottish local government elections The 2007 Scottish local elections were held on 3 May 2007, the same day as Scottish Parliament elections and local elections in parts of England. All 32 Scottish councils had all their seats up for election – all Scottish councils are unitar ...

. She sat on the council for ten years, representing the Irvine East ward.

Provost of North Ayrshire

Following Sturgeon's re-election in 2012, she was elected Provost of North Ayrshire after defeating

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party (UK), Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and Unionism in the United Kingdom, unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Sco ...

's Ian Clarkson. She succeeded Pat McPhee and became the third woman to hold the post after McPhee and Teresa Beattie, who was elected convener of the former Cunninghame District Council.

Ruth Maguire Ruth Bernadette Maguire is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Cunninghame South (Scottish Parliament constituency), Cunninghame South since the 2016 Scottish Parliament electi ...

, the councillor for the Irvine West ward, stood down after she was elected to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

in the

2016 election Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number) *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen * ''Sixteen'' (20 ...

. As a result, a by-election was held and the SNP selected Sturgeon's husband, Robin, as the candidate. He was unsuccessful and was defeated by the Labour candidate, Louise McPhater. This gain for Labour made them the largest party in the council with one seat more than the SNP. On 17 August 2016, the SNP announced its decision to resign from the administration, stating "“given that the SNP group no longer command the largest representation on the council, it is only right that Labour be given the opportunity to form the next administration of the council". Sturgeon subsequently stood down as Provost. Sturgeon stood down as a councillor at the

2017 Scottish local elections The 2017 Scottish local elections were held on Thursday 4 May, in all 32 local authorities. The SNP retained its position as the largest party in terms of votes and councillors, despite suffering minor losses. The Conservatives made gains and d ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturgeon, Joan Scottish politicians Scottish National Party politicians 1952 births Living people People from St Quivox People from Prestwick People from Dreghorn