2020 in Scotland

Events from the year 2020 in Scotland

Incumbents

 * First Minister – Nicola Sturgeon
 * Secretary of State for Scotland – Alister Jack

January

 * 29 January – MSPs vote 64–54 to back calls for a second Scottish independence referendum.

February

 * 6 February – Derek Mackay resigns as Finance Secretary hours before delivering his budget following reports that he messaged a sixteen-year-old boy on social media over a period of several months.
 * 14 February – Jackson Carlaw is elected as leader of the Scottish Conservative Party.
 * 17 February – Kate Forbes is appointed as Finance Secretary, the first woman to hold the post.

March

 * 1 March – COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland: Authorities confirm the first case of the global COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland, the index case of coronavirus being a traveller having returned from Italy.
 * 13 March – COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland: Authorities confirm the first death from COVID-19 in Scotland.

April

 * 3 April – The results of the 2020 Scottish Labour deputy leadership election are announced, in which Jackie Baillie is elected as the deputy leader of Scottish Labour.

June

 * 21 June – The 'Peebles Hoard', comprising Bronze Age horse harness, a sword in its scabbard and other artefacts including a "rattle pendant", is discovered near Peebles in the Borders by a metal detectorist.
 * 26 June – Glasgow hotel stabbings.

August

 * 4 August – The Scottish Qualifications Authority issues moderated grades to school pupils who have not been able to take examinations due to the COVID-19 pandemic; on 10 August, Nicola Sturgeon publicly accepts that her government "did not get it right" over this procedure.
 * 5 August – Following the resignation on 30 July of Jackson Carlaw as leader of the Scottish Conservatives, he is succeeded by Douglas Ross MP.
 * 11 August – Ruth Davidson is appointed Leader of the Scottish Conservatives in the Scottish Parliament by Douglas Ross, becoming the Leader of the Opposition again.
 * 12 August – Stonehaven derailment: A passenger train derails after striking a landslip near Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, with 3 deaths.

October

 * 15 October – Kintore railway station reopens.

November

 * 25 November – Scotland becomes the first country in the world to make it a legal duty for period products to be available to anyone for free after the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill is approved.

January

 * 6 January – Danny Masterton, footballer (Ayr United, Clyde) (born 1954)
 * 12 January – Jackie Brown, boxer, Commonwealth Games gold medallist (1958), British and Commonwealth flyweight champion (1962–1963) (born 1935)
 * 15 January – Bobby Brown, Hall of Fame footballer (Rangers, Queen's Park) and manager (national team) (born 1923)

February

 * 6 February – Jimmy Moran, footballer (Norwich City, Northampton Town, Workington) (born 1935)

March

 * 9 March – George Strachan, cricketer (national team) (born 1932)
 * 11 March – Dave Souter, footballer (Clyde, Dundee) (born 1940)
 * 12 March – Alexander Gordon, 7th Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, peer (born 1955)
 * 30 March – Alex Forsyth, footballer (Darlington) (born 1928)

April

 * 5 April – Dougie Morgan, rugby union player (Stewart's Melville, British and Irish Lions, national team) (born 1947)
 * 14 April – Ron Wylie, footballer and manager (Notts County, Aston Villa, Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion) (born 1933)
 * 23 April – John Murphy, footballer (Ayr United) (born 1942)

May

 * 1 May – Derek Ogg, lawyer (born 1954)
 * 2 May – John Ogilvie, footballer (Hibernian, Leicester City, Mansfield Town), COVID-19 (born 1928)

July

 * 9 July – Johnny Beattie, actor (River City) and comedian (Scotch & Wry, Rab C. Nesbitt) (born 1926)
 * 13 July – Pat Quinn, footballer (Motherwell, national team) and manager (East Fife) (born 1936)
 * 15 July – Maurice Roëves, actor (Oh! What a Lovely War, Escape to Victory, Judge Dredd) (born 1937)
 * 17 July – Alex Dawson, footballer (Manchester United, Preston North End, Brighton & Hove Albion) (born 1940)
 * 21 July – Hugh McLaughlin, footballer (St Mirren, Third Lanark, Queen of the South) (born 1945)
 * 24 July – David Hagen, footballer (Falkirk, Clyde, Peterhead), motor neuron disease (born 1973)

August

 * 4 August – Willie Hunter, footballer (Motherwell, national team) and manager (Queen of the South) (born 1940)

September

 * 7 September – Logie Bruce Lockhart, rugby union player (national team), schoolmaster, writer and journalist (born 1921)
 * 20 September – Sir Malcolm Innes of Edingight, herald, Lord Lyon King of Arms of Scotland (1981–2001) (born 1938)

November

 * 22 November – Hamish MacInnes, mountaineer (born 1930)

December

 * 21 December – Sandy Grant Gordon, whisky distiller (born 1931)
 * 26 December – Jim McLean, footballer and manager (Dundee United) (born 1937)

The Arts

 * 11 February – Douglas Stuart's debut novel Shuggie Bain, a story of growing up in 1980s Glasgow, is first published in the United States; it wins this year's Booker Prize.
 * October – Two of the five winners of the UK 2020 ArtFund Museum of the Year Award are Aberdeen Art Gallery and Gairloch Museum.