Gillian Mackay

Gillian Audrey Mackay (born 1991) is a Scottish Green politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Central Scotland region since the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. She is the first Green MSP ever to be elected in Central Scotland.

Raised in Grangemouth, she is a graduate in marine biodiversity and biotechnology from Heriot-Watt University. She has the sensory disorder Ménière's disease.

Early life and education

Mackay was born to a father from Brora in Sutherland and a mother from Portobello, Edinburgh. She attended Heriot-Watt University and played badminton, hockey and rugby.

Political career

Mackay first entered politics with an internship with the Scottish Greens at Holyrood. She received the internship through a program which aimed to support disabled people in politics. She subsequently went on to become a Regional Campaign Support Officer for the Lothian region.

Prior to being elected to the Scottish Parliament, Mackay was an unsuccessful candidate in the Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency in the 2019 UK general election, and also stood in the 2017 City of Edinburgh Council election and the 2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom.

She is the Scottish Greens' spokesperson for health and social care, and currently sits on the Parliamentary Bureau for the party.

Mackay lodged the draft proposal for her Members Bill, "the Abortion Services Safe Access Zones (Scotland)", on 18 May 2023; with the final proposal lodged on 15 June 2023. The consultation for the Bill received 11,827 personal responses and 52 organisational responses. The Bill subsequently received support from MSP's from all Parties in the Parliament and Mackay secured the right for the Bill to be introduced on 5 October 2023. Formal introduction of the Bill to the Scottish Parliament was completed on 5 October 2023. The bill passed the Scottish Parliament with a near unanimous support, passing 118-1. In February 2025 Mackay indicated that praying inside one's home could be illegal if done "performatively", depending on who passes by the window, but "it requires someone to complain about them…and to find them intimidating and harassing as well".

Personal life

Her mother, Audrey, was a music teacher in Falkirk. She died in December 2020. She also has a sister and a brother.

In 2023, Mackay and her fiancé were said to be learning British Sign Language.

References

External links

Scottish Parliament profiles of MSPs: Gillian Mackay