Ann McKechin (born 22 April 1961) is a former

British Labour Party The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been describe ...

politician and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Maryhill from

2001 The year's most prominent event was 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. The United States led a Participan ...

until

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and Glasgow North from 2005 to

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. She was a junior minister under

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British 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. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

before becoming a member of Shadow Cabinet of Ed Miliband. She lost her seat to 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, ...

in the

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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, Renfrewshire, Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 by royal charter of James VI of Scotland, King James VI and is situated on Glasgow Road. T ...

and Sacred Heart High School, before studying

Scots law Scots law () is the List of country legal systems, legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing Civil law (legal system), civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different histori ...

at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () 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 charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

. She joined the

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

-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, then a 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 Bicameralism, 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 ...

at the 2001 general election for the Glasgow Maryhill constituency, following the retirement of the previous Labour MP, Maria Fyfe. 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 () is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, part of UK Liberal Democrats. The party holds 5 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, 6 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons and 86 of 1 ...

. In the House of Commons, McKechin served briefly as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to

Jacqui Smith Jacqueline Jill Smith, Baroness Smith of Malvern (born 3 November 1962), is a British politician, broadcaster and life peer who has been serving as Minister of State for Skills since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Pa ...

in 2005 in her capacity as

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

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 (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 development, economic or human development (economics), human development on an international sca ...

(since 2005). She replaced David Cairns as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the

Scotland Office The Scotland Office (Scottish Gaelic: ''An Oifis Albannach''), known as the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland from 2018 to 2024, is a department of His Majesty's Government headed by the secretary of state for Scotland and respon ...

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 (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...

, but was replaced by

Margaret Curran Margaret Patricia Curran, Baroness Curran (born 24 November 1958), is a Scottish Labour Party politician. She served in the House of Commons as the member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow East from 2010 and 2015, and was Shadow Secretary of S ...

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 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