SNP councillor Jacqueline McLaren becomes Glasgow’s new Lord Provost
Cllr McLaren - who won a community champion award for her work in the Canal ward last year - received 46 votes.
Last updated 19th May 2022
By Drew Sanderlands
SNP councillor Jacqueline McLaren is Glasgow’s new Lord Provost.
Cllr McLaren- who won a community champion award for her work in the Canal ward last year - has received 46 votes.
Patricia Ferguson, the Labour nomination, got 34 with both Conservatives abstaining.
She says she wants to be “a Lord Provost of the people."
Adding, “I am an ordinary Glaswegian who has been given the extraordinary opportunity to represent the people of my city.”
Christy Mearns has been re-elected deputy Lord Provost receiving 46 votes, Labour nomination Hanif Raja got 35.
The SNP is set to form a minority administration after striking a deal with the Greens which will see Cllr Susan Aitken re-elected as council leader, with Cllr Ricky Bell as her deputy.
Cllr McLaren will replace Labour’s Philip Braat as Lord Provost after he took on the role in January 2020.
Cllr Braat was elected after Cllr Eva Bolander, the first SNP politician to become Lord Provost, stepped down following a row over her expenses.
Cllr Bolander resigned as Lord Provost in October 2019 following controversy over her £8,000 claim for personal items such as clothes, make-up and shoes.
She said the claims were within the rules but agreed to repay some of the costs.
She was re-elected earlier this month to serve as a councillor for the Anderston/City/Yorkhill ward.
Cllr McLaren was a winner at the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) awards in November last year.
She picked up the Community Champion of the Year prize at a ceremony in Glasgow’s city chambers after being nominated for her “extensive partnership working with community groups and individuals”.
The event heard how her “no nonsense style with officers and agencies has endeared her to many”.
She was praised for her work helping North United Communities to secure funding for a new community facility on derelict land in her ward.
The Lord Provost, a figurehead for the city, performs an ambassadorial role which includes hosting hundreds of events and engagements each year, and is supported by a deputy and a team of 18 Bailies.
They also chair full council meetings.