Kenneth James Gibson (born 8 September 1961) is a Scottish politician serving as the

Convenor The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

of the Finance and Public Administration Committee since 2021. 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), he has been the

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...

(MSP) for Cunninghame North since

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, having previously represented the Glasgow electoral region from

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Career

Born in Paisley, Gibson served as an SNP

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

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 ...

for

Mosspark Mosspark () is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated south of the River Clyde, in the southwest of the city. History Mosspark and the lands of East and Mid-Henderston were incorporated into Glasgow in 1909. They covered sev ...

from 1992 to 1999, becoming the first ever party representative in the city to serve successive terms. Following the defection of three Labour councillors and a by-election win, Gibson (also known as 'Kenny') became

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of 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 ...

from January 1998 until being replaced on the council by his mother Iris in the election of 1999. Gibson was first 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'. ...

at the

1999 Scottish Parliament election The first election to the devolved Scottish Parliament, to fill 129 seats, took place on 6 May 1999. Following the election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats formed the Scottish Executive, with Labour Member of the Scottish Parlia ...

as a list member for Glasgow electoral region. Despite these efforts, he failed to win re-election in

. Gibson was the first MSP to lodge plans for a ban of smoking in public places. The proposed Regulation of Smoking Bill was drawn up in the first Parliament but had to be abandoned after Gibson lost his seat in the 2003 Scottish Parliament election. In 2004, Gibson was third on the SNP's list for election to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

. In 2007, he was chosen to contest the constituency of Cunninghame North, winning that seat from Labour by the smallest margin in Scotland of 48 votes. In the subsequent 2011 SNP landslide election, Gibson secured a comfortable majority of 6,117 over Allan Wilson, the same Labour candidate, and former Scottish Minister, he had defeated by so slight a margin in 2007. In addition to his constituency activities, Gibson was also the Convener of the Finance Committee in the Scottish Parliament from 2011 to 2016 and brought attention to enhanced financial powers in the Scotland Act 2012. Gibson has also been actively involved in a number of Cross-Party Groups. He previously served as Convener of the Cross-Party Group on Epilepsy and the Cross-Party Group on Improving Scotland's Health: 2021 and Beyond. He currently convenes the Cross-Party Group on Life Sciences.

Controversies

In March 2017, Holyrood's Standards Committee admonished Gibson for failure to make an oral declaration of a registered financial interest. The Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland submitted a report to the Procurator Fiscal. However, the alleged offence was "time barred from criminal proceedings." Political opponents called for his suspension from the SNP. Gibson faced a selection challenge against former MP

Corri Wilson Corraine Wilson (born 11 April 1965) is a Scottish politician and former civil servant, serving as Director of Operations for the Alba Party since February 2025. Previously a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Wilson was the Member ...

and Osama Saeed for the SNP nomination for Cunninghame North at the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections. Individual office-bearers in the Cunninghame North Constituency Association had issued a call for members to come forward to challenge Gibson and all sitting SNP MSPs, saying there should be 'a festival of democracy.' On 14 October it was reported that two local SNP officials had resigned over allegations that Gibson had been 'aggressive and abrasive." Gibson suggested he was the target of a smear campaign and “underhand tactics”. Shortly after this, the SNP suspended the selection procedure in Cunninghame North. SNP National Secretary Angus MacLeod issued a statement at the beginning of a hustings meeting which clarified the party was not investigating Gibson. MacLeod had previously indicated that insufficient evidence had been presented by the complainers. Gibson emerged as the winner of the selection contest. In December 2022, Gibson was said to be "bordering on hate speech" by Scottish Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba. This was during the Stage 3 debate on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, where Gibson, on the topic of housing "anatomical males" in women's prisons, stated "If a fox said it was a chicken, would you put it in a henhouse? Of course not."

References

External links

Kenneth J Gibson MSP
Personal Webpage *
Kenneth Gibson
SNP Member Profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Kenneth 1961 births Living people Alumni of the University of Stirling Politicians from Paisley, Renfrewshire Scottish National Party MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 Scottish National Party councillors Councillors in Glasgow People associated with North Ayrshire