Cathy Jamieson

Jamieson was elected an MSP in the first 1999 Scottish Parliament election. She was elected Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party in 2000 in leadership elections following the death of First Minister, Donald Dewar. The position of Deputy Leader was a first for the Scottish party, and Jamieson was elected unopposed.[2]

In 2001, Jack McConnell became First Minister and Jamieson was appointed Minister for Education and Young People in the subsequent cabinet reshuffle.[3] She successfully shepherded the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001[4] through parliament – legislation which set up a list of people unsuitable to work with children,[5] to be maintained by Disclosure Scotland.[6]

During her tenure as education minister, Jamieson reformed the Scottish Qualifications Authority to reduce bureaucracy,[7] and commenced the largest school building programme seen in Scotland.[8] During the UK-wide fire strike in 2002, Jamieson was criticised for refusing to publicly endorse the Executive's collectively agreed description of the fire strike as "unacceptable", and opposition MSPs called for her to be sacked. However, the First Minister issued a statement of public support for Jamieson and took no action.[9]

Jamieson was appointed Minister for Justice following the 2003 Scottish Parliament election.[10] During her tenure, in addition to taking a substantial justice legislative programme through parliament (14 bills including reform of courts, protections for vulnerable witnesses, measures on the management of offenders, policing, family law, legal aid, the legal profession and the establishment of the Scottish Commission on Human Rights) she took a leading role on anti-social behaviour, tackling violence and sectarianism and commissioned a major review of Scotland's Civil Justice system.

In February 2005, it was revealed that Jamieson's nephew, Derek Hyslop, tried to blackmail her in 2001 while she was Education Minister. Hyslop was serving a jail sentence for manslaughter, and sent her a Christmas card demanding money, threatening to reveal his criminal convictions if she did not pay him.[11] Jamieson had paid £100 into his bank account in 1999, following the birth of his son, and Hyslop tried to claim that she made the payment to help him evade the police while he was on the run.[12]

One of the major crises to face Jamieson during her time as Minister for Justice, was the scandals occurring after the transfer of prisoner escort duties from the police to a private company, Reliance Security Group. Four days following the transfer, Reliance accidentally released a convicted killer at Hamilton Sheriff Court.[13] Jamieson later criticised Reliance and their security methods, but defended the principle of using a private company to transfer prisoners.[14] Opposition parties later called for her to resign, calls that Jamieson rejected, stating "I think the responsibility on a minister is to ensure that problems are solved... Some people in the face of problems might turn away, might walk away from them. I have no intention of doing that and I never did."[15]

One of the more high-profile campaigns launched by Jamieson was a campaign to ban Buckfast, a tonic wine popular with some underage drinkers in parts of Scotland. She campaigned against shops in her Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituency to limit sales of the drink, claiming it was "linked to anti-social behaviour among young people". The distributors of Buckfast later threatened legal action against the Minister, stating it was harming sales,[16] although the reported effect was that Buckfast sales had actually increased substantially in the months following her comments.[17] On a subsequent visit to Auchinleck, a town within her constituency, she faced an impromptu demonstration by teenagers chanting "Don't ban Buckie".[18] In 2005, she co-introduced the joint Scottish Executive and Home Office consultation on criminalising possession of "extreme pornography", which claimed the intention "to reduce the demand for such material and to send a clear message that it has no place in our society".[19] She referred to such material as "abhorrent".[20] The plans have been opposed by groups such as the umbrella group Backlash.

Following the Scottish National Party (SNP) victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, Jamieson was appointed Shadow Minister for Parliamentary Business[21] and was selected as Labour's appointment to the Parliamentary Bureau.

After Jack McConnell's resignation as Scottish Labour Leader on 15 August, Jamieson was acting leader until 14 September 2007, when Wendy Alexander took over the leadership who appointed Jamieson as her deputy but without a portfolio spokesperson's role.[22]

On 29 July 2008, Jamieson announced her intention to stand for the Scottish Labour leadership. After the contest with candidates Iain Gray and Andy Kerr, Jamieson came second to Gray during the election night on 13 September 2008.[23][24] On 16 September, Gray announced the appointment of Jamieson as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing.[25]

Jamieson was elected MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun in the 2010 general election, after winning with a majority of 12,378 and 52.5% of the vote.[26] Following her election to the House of Commons, she did not seek re-election for her Scottish Parliament seat in the 2011 election.

An opponent of the Trident nuclear weapons system, Jamieson was secretary of the Westminster Parliamentary CND group.[27]

In the 2015 general election, Kilmarnock and Loudoun was gained by SNP candidate Alan Brown with a majority of 13,638 and 55.7% of the vote, an increase of 29.7%.[28]

Before the 2010 election, Jamieson had to face the announcement from Diageo in 2009 to pull historic links with Kilmarnock, announcing they would be moving the Johnnie Walker company to Fife, ending the 189-year link the brand had with the town.[29] She strongly criticised Alex Salmond's SNP government and its candidate for Kilmarnock and Loudoun after they announced no money would be coming from the SNP to help create new jobs in Kilmarnock. She said the announcement was a "huge blow for the local area" and worked with a local taskforce to put pressure on the SNP.[30]

In March 2012, two years after Jamieson became MP, the Johnnie Walker factory in Kilmarnock closed, resulting in the loss of more than 700 jobs. Jamieson described it as an "end of an era in Kilmarnock" and pledged to put pressure on Diageo to honour commitments for the "iconic" site to become a point of regrowth in Kilmarnock.[31]

Under Ed Miliband, Jamieson was appointed in 2011 as the Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury within the Official Opposition frontbench. On being appointed, Jamieson said:

I am pleased to be joining the Shadow Treasury team. Every day we hear more about how people across the country are facing rising costs of living, and the fear of unemployment. We know that the Tory-led Government is cutting too far and too fast, and while their plan is hurting, it simply isn’t working. Labour believes there is a better way to deal with the economy, and we’ve launched our 5 point plan for jobs and growth.[32]