Christopher Charles Stephens (born 20 March 1973) is a

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, ...

politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow South West from

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

until

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. He was SNP Spokesperson for Justice and Immigration between September 2023 to July 2024.

Early life and career

Christopher Stephens was born on 20 March 1973 in

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 ...

and was educated at Trinity High School, Renfrew and

James Watt College James Watt College was a further education college in Greenock, Scotland. It is now part of West College Scotland. There were also campuses in Largs and Kilwinning which now form part of Ayrshire College as the result of the merger with ...

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

, where he studied public administration. He joined the SNP at the age of sixteen. He completed an apprenticeship at

Strathclyde Regional Council Strathclyde ( in Welsh; in Gaelic, meaning 'strath alleyof the River Clyde') was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Govern ...

before working at the council. Stephens then worked for the

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu'') is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for Glasgow, Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was former ...

. During this time, he joined the trade union

UNISON Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

. Initially Stephens was their youth officer in Glasgow and was later promoted in that branch to treasurer and then vice-chair.

Political career

At 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. 2007 Scottish local elections, ...

, Stephens stood as the SNP candidate in Glasgow Pollok, coming second with 31.2% of the vote behind the incumbent

Labour and Co-op Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated to Labour Co-op; ) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidates contest elections under an el ...

MSP

Johann Lamont Johann MacDougall Lamont (; born 11 July 1957) is a Scottish Labour Co-operative politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2011 to 2014. She was previously a junior Scottish Executive minister from 2004 to 2007 and De ...

. Stephens again stood in Glasgow Pollok at the

2011 Scottish Parliament election The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the Additional M ...

, coming second with 44.7% of the vote behind Johann Lamont. Stephens was 6th on the list of SNP candidates for the six

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

seats in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

, although as only the first two SNP candidates were elected, Stephens was not elected. Stephens was the secretary of the SNP Trade Union Group, a member of the party's National Executive Committee.

Parliamentary career

At the 2001 general election, Stephens stood as the SNP candidate in Hamilton North and Bellshill, coming second with 17.2% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP John Reid. Stephens was elected to Parliament at the 2015 general election as MP for Glasgow South West with 57.2% of the vote and a majority of 9,950. In October 2016, Stephens was reported to have signed the highest number of Early Day Motions of any Member of Parliament. At the snap 2017 general election, Stephens was re-elected as MP for Glasgow South West with a decreased vote share of 40.7% and a decreased majority of 60. Stephens is a vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on South Africa and Chair of the

Public and Commercial Services Union The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is the eighth largest trade union in the United Kingdom. Most of its members work in UK government departments and other public bodies. History The union was founded in 1998 by the merger of th ...

Parliamentary Group. In March 2018, it was reported that he attempted to make two members of staff in his constituency office redundant, subsequently suspending them from employment, generating criticism from members of his own party. Stephens was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with an increased vote share of 47.9% and an increased majority of 4,900. In November 2023, Stephens was re-elected as the SNP candidate for Glasgow South West at the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

Personal life

Stephens is married to Aileen Colleran, a former Labour councillor elected to Glasgow City Council until 2017. He employed his wife as a part-time parliamentary assistant from August 2017 to 30 April 2018.

References

External links

Profile
on SNP website {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Chris 1973 births Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies Scottish National Party MPs Scottish trade unionists UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024