Paul Martin (born 17 March 1967) is a Scottish politician who served as

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 the Glasgow Provan constituency from

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. A member of the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is repres ...

, he previously represented Glasgow Springburn 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 ...

to 2011.

Early life and education

Paul Martin was born in 1967 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 ...

, the son of Michael Martin (1945–2018), a sheet metal worker, and Mary Martin (''

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 ...

'' McLay), an assembly worker. His parents had married the previous year. Michael was a member of the Labour Party and would go on to become a Member of Parliament (MP),

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

. Paul was educated at All Saints Roman Catholic Secondary School and Barmulloch College in Glasgow.

Political career

At the age of 26, Martin became a Glasgow District Councillor for the Royston ward following a council by-election in December 1993. He 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'. ...

in May 1999 as MSP for Glasgow Springburn. He served as parliamentary aide to the

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (), is the principal legal adviser of both the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolution, devolved powers of the Scottish P ...

from 2001 to 2007 and to the Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2007 to 2009. Following 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, ...

, he was appointed as Scottish Labour's spokesperson for community safety, and as parliamentary business manager on 28 October 2009. In 2016, Martin sought re-election to a fifth term in the Scottish Parliament but lost his 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, ...

Ivan McKee Ivan Paul McKee (born September 1963) is a Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Public Finance since May 2024. He previously served as Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Sco ...

by 4,783 votes. After losing his seat, he took up the role of general manager and collector at the Merchants House of Glasgow.

Personal life

Martin is married to Marie (''

'' McGarvie) and has two daughters, one named Abbie.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Paul 1967 births Living people Labour MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow constituencies Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 People educated at All Saints Roman Catholic Secondary School People from Springburn Sons of life peers