Patricia Ferguson

Patricia Josephine Ferguson (born 24 September 1958) is a Scottish politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow West since the 2024 United Kingdom general election. Ferguson is also a Glasgow City Council Councillor.

Ferguson has previously been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, previously Glasgow Maryhill, from 1999 to 2016. A member of the Labour Party, she served in the Scottish Cabinet of First Minister Jack McConnell from 2001 to 2007.

Early life and career
Ferguson was educated at Garnethill Convent Secondary School in Glasgow between 1970 and 1976, and at Glasgow College of Technology, where she obtained an HNC in Public Administration in 1978. She spent part of her childhood living in the city's Red Road Flats.

Prior to entering the Scottish Parliament, she worked as a administrator in NHS Scotland between 1978 and 1990, with the Scottish Trades Union Congress between 1990 and 1994, and with the Scottish Labour Party between 1994 and 1999.

Scottish Parliamentary career
She was first elected as an MSP in 1999 for the newly created Glasgow Maryhill constituency, a seat she held until 2011 when Glasgow Maryhill was merged with other constituencies to form the Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn constituency. She won the 2011 Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn election but lost her seat in 2016 to Scottish National Party(SNP) member Bob Doris.

After being elected as MSP for Glasgow Maryhill in May 1999, she was Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 1999 until 2001 and as a member of several of the Parliament's Standards and Procedures Committees.

She was first appointed to the Scottish Executive Cabinet in November 2001 as Minister for Parliament when Jack McConnell became First Minister. She became Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport in October 2004.

In 2006, her name was included on a variant of a Nigerian scam email after a high-profile trip to Malawi as part of her Scottish Executive brief.

Post-Holyrood career
In the 2022 Glasgow City Council election, Ferguson was one of four members (including Labour colleague Paul Carey) elected to represent the Drumchapel/Anniesland ward.

Ferguson was elected to the United Kingdom Parliament at the 2024 general election, defeating SNP incumbent Carol Monaghan of predecessor seat Glasgow North West. Before that, she was first runner-up to Monaghan in Glasgow North West in 2019.

Personal life
She is married to former Labour MSP Bill Butler.