Labour’s Jackie Baillie named Scottish Politician of the Year

Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie has been named as the Scottish Politician of the Year.

The Labour MSP was given the honour at a ceremony which had to be cut short after a medical emergency involving a guest at the event, held at Prestonfield House hotel in Edinburgh.

It is the second year in a row the prestigious award has gone to Labour, with the party’s Scottish leader Anas Sarwar winning it in 2022.

Mr Sarwar had been shortlisted again this year along with Humza Yousaf, who succeeded Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and became the first Scottish First Minister from an ethnic minority background

But Dame Jackie, who  has been the MSP for Dumbarton since Holyrood was established in 1999, was given the honour for her role in helping revive her party’s fortunes north of the border.

It also comes after she played a key part in Labour’s successful campaign in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, which the party won with a massive swing of just over 20% from the SNP.

The event, staged annually by The Herald newspaper to recognise the achievement of Scotland’s politicians, also saw former Labour MP John McFall given a Lifetime Achievement award.

He spent more than 30 years as an MP, representing first Dumbarton then West Dunbartonshire in the House of Commons, gaining prominence in his role as chair of the Treasury Select Committee as it carried out an inquiry the banking crisis that hit the UK from 2007.

After stepping down from the House of Commons in 2010 he joined the House of Lords, becoming Lord Speaker of the House of Lords in 2021.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack was named the Best Scot at Westminster almost 12 months after he used powers contained in the Scotland Act to block controversial reforms to the gender recognition process north of the border.

The Tory MP, who has held on to his post in several cabinet reshuffles, has also been at the heart of the “muscular unionism” approach adopted by the UK Government in response to the Scottish Government.

Veteran MSP Fergus Ewing won two awards, with the Inverness and Nairn politician named as both the Community MSP of the Year and winning  the Politics in Business award.

That comes after a year in which he challenged the Scottish Government over delays in dualling the A9 road to the Highlands, and also spoke out for fishing communities who feared the impacted of planned highly protected marine areas from the Scottish Government, with Mr Ewing ripping up the consultation document for this in Holyrood’s chamber during one debate.

Fellow SNP MSP and Holyrood Finance Committee convener Kenneth Gibson was named as the Committee MSP of the Year for his role leading the committee as it challenged the lack of financial information over flagship plans from the Scottish Government to create a National Care Service.

The Public Campaigner of the Year award was won by former patients of disgraced neurosurgeon Professor Sam Eljamel, who successfully won a public inquiry after a review found concerns about the medic were not acted on with sufficient urgency.

In a new award category, Green co-leader and Scottish Government minister Patrick Harvie was named as the Green Champion, in recognition of his efforts to decarbonise heating.

Meanwhile Scottish Conservative MSP Jamie Greene was named the Donald Dewar Debater of the Year, after he spoke out in favour of the Gender Recognition Reform Bill – legislation which was largely opposed by the Tories.

Labour’s Michael Marra was named as One to Watch after taking on the role of speaking for his party on finance in Holyrood earlier this year, while Local Politician of the Year went to Councillor Katie Hagmann, who as finance spokesperson for the local government body Cosla has been involved in challenging pay negotiations for council staff.