Jenny Young (politician)

Jenny Young
MSP
Official Portrait, 2026
Member of the Scottish Parliament
for Central Scotland and Lothians West
(1 of 7 Regional MSPs)
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 May 2026
Personal details
PartyScottish Labour

Jenny Young is a Scottish politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Scotland and Lothians West since May 2026. She is a member of Scottish Labour.

Personal life

Young is from Linlithgow, West Lothian. She read Modern and Medieval Languages (French and Spanish) at the University of Cambridge from 2013 to 2017.

Career

Teaching

Young worked as a teacher of French and Spanish in West Lothian Council secondary schools from 2018 to 2023.

Parliamentary research

From 2023, Young worked as a researcher in the Scottish Parliament office of Michael Marra MSP, Labour MSP for North East Scotland and the party's Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance.

Political career

Candidate selection

In February 2026, Young was confirmed as the Scottish Labour candidate for the newly created Bathgate constituency in West Lothian, and was ranked second on the party's Central Scotland and Lothians West regional list, behind Mark Griffin MSP. The rankings followed an internal ballot of Scottish Labour members from across the newly formed region.

MSP for Central Scotland and Lothians West

Young stood as the Labour candidate for the Bathgate constituency at the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, finishing second with 8,007 votes behind SNP winner Pauline Stafford who polled 13,594. The full constituency result was:

CandidatePartyVotes
Pauline StaffordScottish National Party13,594
Jenny YoungScottish Labour Party8,007
David McLennanReform UK7,511
Peter HeggieScottish Conservative and Unionist Party2,091
Stephen HarteScottish Liberal Democrats1,937
Gus FergusonBritish Unionist Party227
Turnout49.1%

Young was subsequently elected as a regional list MSP for Central Scotland and Lothians West, one of two Scottish Labour representatives for the region alongside Mark Griffin. It was her first elected office. On 26 May 2026, she was assigned responsibility for innovation, technology and tertiary education in the shadow cabinet of Anas Sarwar.

She made her maiden speech in the Holyrood Parliament on 4 June 2026 on the subject of children's education.

References

  1. ↑ "Holyrood elections 2026: All you need to know about the new Bathgate constituency". The Scotsman. Retrieved 10 May 2026.
  2. ↑ "LinkedIn".
  3. 1 2 3 4 "West Lothian candidate secures top place on Scottish Labour's new regional list". The Scotsman. 25 February 2026. Retrieved 10 May 2026.
  4. ↑ "SNP takes Bathgate". Midlothian View. Retrieved 10 May 2026.
  5. ↑ "Greens' Mackay takes seat in Central Scotland and Lothians West but Reform the big winners". Deadline News. Retrieved 10 May 2026.
  6. ↑ "New MSPs 2026" (PDF). Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe). Retrieved 10 May 2026.
  7. ↑ Paterson, Kirsteen (26 May 2026). "Anas Sarwar unveils Scottish Labour shadow cabinet". Holyrood Website. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  8. ↑ Swanson, Ian (4 June 2026). "'I'm here to fight for children left behind' says new Lothians MSP". Edinburgh News. Retrieved 22 June 2026.