Leader of the Scottish Labour Party

Leader of the Scottish Labour Party
since 23 July 2026
Member of
Inaugural holderDonald Dewar
Formation7 May 1999
DeputyJackie Baillie

The office of Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland was established when the Scottish Parliament was formed in 1998 prior to its inaugural election.[1] Until the Murphy and Boyack review in 2011, the office was Leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament and restricted to members of the Scottish Parliament. Since the review, the office has been opened up to all elected Scottish Labour politicians, including those involved in the Parliament of the United Kingdom and local government.

List

Leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament

No. Image Name Term start Term end Tenure First Minister Source
1 Donald Dewar 19 September 1998 11 October 2000 2 years, 22 days Himself [1][2]
2 Henry McLeish 27 October 2000[a] 8 November 2001 1 year, 12 days Himself [3]
― Cathy Jamieson 8 November 2001 22 November 2001 14 days Jim Wallace (acting) [4]
3 Jack McConnell 22 November 2001 15 August 2007 5 years, 266 days [5]
Himself
Alex Salmond
― Cathy Jamieson15 August 200714 September 2007 30 days[4]
4 Wendy Alexander 14 September 2007 28 June 2008 288 days [6]
― Cathy Jamieson 28 June 2008 13 September 2008 77 days [4]
5 Iain Gray 13 September 2008 17 December 2011 3 years, 95 days [7][8]

Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland

No. Image Name Term start Term end Tenure First Minister Source
6 Johann Lamont 17 December 2011 24 October 2014 2 years, 311 days Alex Salmond [9][1]
— Anas Sarwar 24 October 2014 13 December 2014 50 days [4]
Nicola Sturgeon
7 Jim Murphy
(as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party)		 13 December 2014 13 June 2015 182 days [10]
Kezia Dugdale
(as Leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament)
– Iain Gray 13 June 2015 15 August 2015 63 days [11]
8 Kezia Dugdale 15 August 2015 29 August 2017 2 years, 2 days [12]
― Alex Rowley 29 August 2017 15 November 2017 78 days [13][14]
― Jackie Baillie 15 November 2017 18 November 2017 3 days [4]
9 Richard Leonard 18 November 2017 14 January 2021 3 years, 57 days [15]
– Jackie Baillie 14 January 2021 27 February 2021 44 days [4]
10 Anas Sarwar 27 February 2021 23 July 2026 5 years, 146 days [16]
Humza Yousaf
John Swinney
– Jackie Baillie 23 July 2026 Incumbent 37 days

Timeline

Richard LeonardJackie BaillieAlex RowleyKezia DugdaleJim MurphyAnas SarwarJohann LamontIain GrayWendy AlexanderJack McConnellCathy JamiesonHenry McLeishDonald Dewar

Notes

  1. ↑ Acting: 11 October 2000 – 27 October 2000

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hassan, Gerry (2022-03-24), "Appendix: A Chronology of Scottish Politics and Devolution, 1997–2019", The Story of the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 289–300, doi:10.1515/9781474454919-029, ISBN 978-1-4744-5491-9, retrieved 2025-06-15
  2. ↑ "Donald Dewar". www.parliament.scot. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
  3. ↑ "Henry McLeish". www.parliament.scot. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 As deputy leader at the time of a leadership election.
  5. ↑ McConnell quits Labour leadership , BBC News, 15 August 2007.
  6. ↑ "Wendy Alexander". www.parliament.scot. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  7. ↑ "Gray becomes Scots Labour leader". bbc.co.uk. 13 September 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
  8. ↑ Black, Andrew (2011-12-17). "Life and times of Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray". BBC News. Retrieved 2025-06-15.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  9. ↑ "Johann Lamont named new Scottish Labour leader". BBC News. 17 December 2011.
  10. ↑ "MP Jim Murphy named Scottish Labour leader". BBC News. 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  11. ↑ "Scottish Labour agree to swathe of party reforms – and new leader will be announced on August 15th". LabourList. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "Kezia Dugdale". www.parliament.scot. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  13. ↑ "Kezia Dugdale quits as Scottish Labour leader". BBC News. 29 August 2017.
  14. ↑ "Alex Rowley steps down as interim Scottish Labour leader". Holyrood Website. 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  15. ↑ "Richard Leonard to lead Scottish Labour". BBC News. 18 November 2017. Archived from the original on 18 November 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  16. ↑ Rodgers, Sienna (2021-02-27). "Anas Sarwar elected as new leader of Scottish Labour Party". LabourList. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.