Patricia Gibson

Summary

Patricia Gibson (born 12 May 1968) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician serving as SNP Attorney General Spokesperson since September 2023.[1][2] She served as the SNP Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government since 2021 to 2022. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Ayrshire and Arran since the 2015 general election.[3]

Patricia Gibson
Official portrait, 2020
SNP Attorney General Spokesperson in the House of Commons
Assumed office
4 September 2023
LeaderStephen Flynn
Preceded byAngela Crawley (2022)
SNP Spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the House of Commons
In office
10 December 2022 – 4 September 2023
LeaderStephen Flynn
Preceded byDeidre Brock
Succeeded bySteven Bonnar
SNP Spokesperson for Housing, Communities and Local Government in the House of Commons
In office
1 February 2021 – 10 December 2022
LeaderIan Blackford
Preceded byDavid Linden
Succeeded byChris Stephens
SNP Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs in the House of Commons
In office
20 June 2017 – 10 December 2022
LeaderIan Blackford
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Member of Parliament
for North Ayrshire and Arran
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byKaty Clark
Majority8,521 (17.7%)
Personal details
Born (1968-05-12) 12 May 1968 (age 55)
Glasgow, Scotland
Political partyScottish National Party
SpouseKenneth Gibson
Alma materUniversity of Glasgow

Early life and career edit

Patricia Gibson was born and educated in Glasgow. She received a BA (Hons) and MA (Hons) in English and Politics from the University of Glasgow. After graduation, she taught English for over twenty years.[4][5]

Political career edit

In 2007, Gibson was elected to the Glasgow City Council as a councillor for the Greater Pollok ward,[6] on which she served until 2012. While on the council, she was the SNP's spokesperson for education on the Glasgow city council.[4]

At the 2010 general election, Gibson stood as the SNP candidate in North Ayrshire and Arran, coming second with 25.9% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Katy Clark.[7]

Parliamentary career edit

At the 2015 election, Gibson was elected to Parliament as MP for North Ayrshire and Arran with 53.2% of the vote and a majority of 13,573.[8][9][10][11]

Between July 2015 and May 2017 Gibson was a member of the Procedure Committee.[3]

Gibson was re-elected as MP for North Ayrshire & Arran at the snap 2017 general election with a decreased vote share of 38.9% and a decreased majority of 3,633.[12][13]

In June 2017 she was appointed the SNP spokesperson for Consumer Affairs. Between September 2017 and 6 November 2019, Gibson was a member of the Backbench Business Committee.[3]

At the 2019 general election, Gibson was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 48.5% and an increased majority of 8,521.[14][15][16]

Since March 2020, she has been a member of the Backbench Business Committee.[3]

In July 2023, Gibson was re-selected to stand as the SNP's candidate in North Ayrshire and Arran at the next general election.[17]

Sexual misconduct allegations edit

In March 2021 an SNP member of staff at Westminster complained that Gibson had sexually harassed him in a Parliamentary bar. Gibson said the accusations were "malicious" and "without any foundation".[18] It was reported that Gibson threatened legal action against newspapers that had considered identifying her in coverage over the allegations.[19]

On 16 April 2022, The Times reported that the complaint of sexual harassment against Gibson had been "provisionally upheld" by Parliament's Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS).[20] On 23 June 2022, the report on the complaint was published. The complaint of sexual harassment was initially upheld, but her appeal against the finding, on the grounds that the investigation had made some technical clerical errors, succeeded.[21] It found the complaint was not malicious.[22]

In June 2022, Gibson admitted she was too drunk to recall exactly how she acted around the SNP member of staff who accused her of sexual harassment.[23]

In August 2022, it was revealed that Gibson had claimed in a submission that it was "discriminatory" to claim that the impact of the sexual harassment of a man by a woman was the same as that of a woman by a man.[24]

Personal life edit

Gibson lives in Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire which is within her parliamentary constituency.[4]

She is married to Kenneth Gibson, a Member of the Scottish Parliament.

References edit

  1. ^ SNP, the (10 December 2022). "The real opposition: meet your new SNP Westminster Frontbench". Scottish National Party. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  2. ^ "SNP announces frontbench reshuffle at Westminster". BBC News. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d "Parliamentary career for Patricia Gibson - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Patricia Gibson". Scottish National Party. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  5. ^ "About". patriciagibson. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Local and European Election Results 2007" (PDF). p. 43.
  7. ^ "BBC News | Election 2010 | Constituency | Ayrshire North & Arran". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  8. ^ "North Ayrshire and Arran (Constituency) 2015 results - General election results - UK Parliament". electionresults.parliament.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  9. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  10. ^ http://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/news/UKParliamentaryElectionsNorthAyrshireandArran.aspx 18Aug15
  11. ^ "UK Election Results: Ayrshire North & Arran 2015".
  12. ^ "North Ayrshire and Arran (Constituency) 2017 results - General election results - UK Parliament". electionresults.parliament.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  13. ^ "Ayrshire North & Arran parliamentary constituency - Election 2017 - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  14. ^ "North Ayrshire and Arran (Constituency) 2019 results - General election results - UK Parliament". electionresults.parliament.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  15. ^ "Forthcoming ElectionsMinimize". North Ayrshire Council. North Ayrshire Council. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  16. ^ "Ayrshire North & Arran parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  17. ^ "Patricia Gibson: North Ayrshire and Arran MP to stand for re-election". Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald. 19 July 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  18. ^ "SNP MP Patricia Gibson faces sexual harassment claim". BBC News. 21 April 2021.
  19. ^ Andrews, Kieran (22 April 2021). "Don't identify me, sex claim MP Patricia Gibson warned newspapers". The Times.
  20. ^ Boothman, John (16 April 2022). "Sexual harassment complaints against SNP MPs are upheld". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  21. ^ Gordon, Tom (23 June 2022). "Sexual harassment complaints against SNP MPs are upheld". The Times.
  22. ^ Independent Expert Panel (23 July 2022). "The Conduct of Patricia Gibson" (PDF). Parliament.uk.
  23. ^ Hutcheon, Paul (23 June 2022). "SNP staffer 'heartbroken' after MP Patricia Gibson cleared of misconduct charge". Daily Record. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  24. ^ Hutcheon, Paul (6 August 2022). "SNP MP Patricia Gibson under fire over sexual harassment comments during misconduct investigation". Daily Record. Retrieved 6 August 2022.

External links edit

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for North Ayrshire and Arran

2015–present
Incumbent