16 Facts About Alison Thewliss

Alison Emily Thewliss was born on 13 September 1982 and is a Scottish National Party politician.

Alison Thewliss was the Member of Parliament for Glasgow Central from the May 2015 general election until 2024.

On 3 December 2022, Alison Thewliss announced her decision to stand as leader of the SNP's 44 sitting MPs at Westminster following the resignation of Ian Blackford.

Alison Thewliss was defeated by Stephen Flynn by 26 votes to 17.

Alison Thewliss attended Carluke High School and studied Politics and International Relations at the University of Aberdeen.

Alison Thewliss was inspired to join the SNP at the age of seventeen following the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum.

Alison Thewliss was too young to vote in the referendum, but carried out an exit poll at a polling station as part of a Modern Studies project, which brought her into contact with representatives from Scottish political parties.

Alison Thewliss agreed to stand for the Calton ward at the 2007 Glasgow City Council election which used a new multi-member ward system, and was one of 19 SNP candidates who gained seats previously held by Scottish Labour councillors under the previous single-member system.

Alison Thewliss was re-elected in 2012, but stood down as a councillor after being elected as MP for Glasgow Central at the 2015 general election.

In October 2020, Alison Thewliss was elected to the SNP National Executive Committee.

Alison Thewliss has campaigned on the issue of the government's revised tax credit policy restricting new claimants to two children from 2017, a policy which was introduced by then chancellor George Osborne in his July 2015 budget.

Alison Thewliss, who had intervened nine times in the Commons on the issue by January 2016, was among those who launched a poster campaign in Glasgow that month for the government to abandon the proposal.

Via parliamentary questions, Alison Thewliss had found that the training of a "professional third party" was still not arranged.

In December 2022, Alison Thewliss came second to Stephen Flynn in the contest to succeed Ian Blackford in leading the SNP group in Westminster, after which she became the SNP shadow Home Affairs spokesperson.

Alison Thewliss's constituency has no direct successor under the boundary review ahead of the 2024 general election, with its contents being distributed to five neighbouring constituencies.

In October 2023, Alison Thewliss was one of five sitting SNP MPs involved in selection battles, running in both Glasgow North and Glasgow East.