Ronnie Cowan (politician)
Ronnie Cowan | |
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Official portrait, 2017 | |
Member of Parliament for Inverclyde | |
In office 7 May 2015 – 30 May 2024 | |
Preceded by | Iain McKenzie |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Ronald Jack Cowan[1] (1959-09-06) 6 September 1959 (age 65) Inverclyde, Scotland |
Political party | Scottish National Party |
Ronald Jack Cowan (born 6 September 1959) is a Scottish politician and member of the Scottish National Party. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Inverclyde from 2015 until 2024.[2]
Early life and career
Cowan was born in Greenock to Jimmy Cowan, a former Greenock Morton and Scotland footballer, and his wife, May.[3][4] He was educated at Greenock Academy and, despite growing up in a Labour Party-supporting household, joined the Scottish National Party at the age of 16.[3] After leaving school, Cowan worked as a trainee computer operator at Playtex in Port Glasgow.
Before standing for parliament, Cowan was the owner of an IT service company.[3] During the campaign for the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, he ran the official "Yes" campaign in Inverclyde.[3]
Political career
At the 2015 election, Cowan overturned the 5,838-vote majority of incumbent Labour MP Iain McKenzie and turned it into a 11,063 majority for the SNP.[3]
He was re-elected in the snap election of 2017, but saw his majority significantly reduced to just 384 votes.[5] At the 2019 election, Cowan increased his majority to 7,512.[6]
In 2019, Cowan voted in favor of equal gay rights.[7] He is regarded as a critic of the gambling industry and has led a debate in Westminster highlighting harm caused by gambling advertising in sport.
Cowan was the SNP spokesperson for Infrastructure & Manufacturing at Westminster.[8] He currently sits on the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and has previously sat on the Transport Committee and Procedure Committee. He serves as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Industrial Hemp and CBD Products, as well as Vice Chair of the APPGs for Gambling Related Harm, Medical Cannabis under Prescription, and Commercial Sexual Exploitation.[9]
Cowan is a trustee of Intractable Epilepsy and Man On! Inverclyde.[8]
References
- ^ "No. 27885". The Edinburgh Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 1077.
- ^ Cowan, Ronnie. "Inverclyde Parliamentary Constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Nutt, Kathleen (31 July 2015). "Meet your new Scottish MPs: #38 Ronnie Cowan, Inverclyde". The National. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
- ^ Lochrie, Susan (6 October 2016). "MP shares memories of Morton legend dad with dementia sufferers". Greenock Telegraph. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
- ^ "Ronnie Cowan re-elected as MP for Inverclyde at 2017 General Election". www.wemyssbay.net. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
- ^ "Inverclyde parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News.
- ^ "How Ronnie Cowan voted on equal gay rights". They Work For You. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
- ^ a b "Ronnie Cowan MP". Ronnie Cowan MP. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
- ^ "Ronnie Cowan". www.parallelparliament.co.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
External links
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Ronnie Cowan on Twitter
- Profile on SNP website
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Inverclyde 2015–present | Incumbent |
- v
- t
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in the House of Commons
- 1945
- Robert McIntyre
- 1967
- Winnie Ewing
- 1970
- Donald Stewart
- 1973
- Margo MacDonald
- 1974
- Douglas Crawford
- Margaret Ewing
- Douglas Henderson
- Iain MacCormick
- George Reid
- George Thompson
- Hamish Watt
- Andrew Welsh
- Gordon Wilson
- 1987
- Alex Salmond
- 1988
- Jim Sillars
- 1990
- Dick Douglas
- 1995
- Roseanna Cunningham
- 1997
- Alasdair Morgan
- John Swinney
- 2001
- Annabelle Ewing
- Angus Robertson
- Mike Weir
- 2005
- Stewart Hosie
- Angus MacNeil
- 2008
- John Mason
- 2010
- Eilidh Whiteford
- 2015
- Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh
- Richard Arkless
- Hannah Bardell
- Mhairi Black
- Ian Blackford
- Phil Boswell
- Deidre Brock
- Alan Brown
- Lisa Cameron
- Douglas Chapman
- Joanna Cherry
- Ronnie Cowan
- Angela Crawley
- Martyn Day
- Martin Docherty-Hughes
- Stuart Donaldson
- Marion Fellows
- Margaret Ferrier
- Patricia Gibson
- Patrick Grady
- Peter Grant
- Neil Gray
- Drew Hendry
- George Kerevan
- Calum Kerr
- Callum McCaig
- Stewart McDonald
- Stuart McDonald
- Natalie McGarry
- Anne McLaughlin
- John McNally
- Carol Monaghan
- Paul Monaghan
- Roger Mullin
- Gavin Newlands
- John Nicolson
- Kirsten Oswald
- Steven Paterson
- Tommy Sheppard
- Chris Stephens
- Alison Thewliss
- Owen Thompson
- Michelle Thomson
- Philippa Whitford
- Corri Wilson
- 2017
- David Linden
- 2019
- Steven Bonnar
- Amy Callaghan
- Allan Dorans
- Neale Hanvey
- Kenny MacAskill
- Alyn Smith
- Richard Thomson
- 2021
- Anum Qaisar