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 ...
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 o ...
(MP) for
North Ayrshire and Arran
North Ayrshire and Arran is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the south-west of Scotland within the North Ayrshire council area. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-pa ...
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 popu ...
. She received a BA (Hons) and MA (Hons) in English and Politics from the
University of Glasgow
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
. She taught English for over twenty years.
Political career
In 2007, Gibson was elected to 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 th ...
as a councilor for the Greater Pollok ward, on which she served until 2012. While on the council, she was the SNP's spokesperson for education on the Glasgow city council.
In the 2010 election, Gibson contested the North Ayrshire & Arran constituency, achieving a 2.3% swing from Labour to the SNP, however lost to the incumbent Katy Clark.
In the 2015 election she was elected the MP for North Ayrshire & Arran, winning a
majority
A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-WebsterProcedure Committee.
Gibson was reelected as the MP for North Ayrshire & Arran in the 2017 election, however with a reduced majority of 3,633 votes over the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
candidate David Rocks. In June 2017 she was appointed the SNP
spokesperson
A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others.
Duties and function
In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...
for Consumer Affairs. Between September 2017 and 6 November 2019, Gibson was a member of the Backbench Business Committee.
Gibson was again reelected as the MP for North Ayrshire & Arran in the 2019 election, with an increased majority of 8,521 votes. Since March 2020, she has been a member of the Backbench Business Committee.
Sexual misconduct allegations
In March 2021 an SNP member of staff at Westminster complained that Gibson had sexually harassed him in a Parliamentary bar. Gibson said the accusations were "malicious" and "without any foundation". It was reported that Gibson threatened legal action against newspapers that had considered identifying her in coverage over the allegations.
On 16 April 2022, ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' reported that the complaint of sexual harassment against Gibson had been "provisionally upheld" by Parliament's Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS).
On 23 June 2022, the report on the complaint was published. The complaint of sexual harassment was initially upheld, but her appeal against the finding, on the grounds that the investigation had made some technical clerical errors, succeeded. It found the complaint was not malicious.
In June 2022, Gibson admitted she was too drunk to recall exactly how she acted around the SNP member of staff who accused her of sexual harassment.
In August 2022, it was revealed that Gibson claimed in a submission that it was "discriminatory" to say that the impact of sexual harassment of a man by a woman is the same as by a male against a female.
Personal life
Gibson lives in
Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie ( Gaelic: ''Cill Bhraonaigh'') is a small town of 7,280 (as of 2001) inhabitants situated in the Garnock Valley area of North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is around southwest of Glasgow and approximately from Paisl ...
,
North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 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 a ...
which is within her parliamentary constituency.
She is married to Kenneth Gibson, a Member of the Scottish Parliament.