Pamela Nash was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, and educated locally at St Margaret's High School, Airdrie and Chapelhall. Nash lost her mother and stepfather when she was 17.[4][5]
She spent her first summer after high school volunteering at a school in Nyeri, Kenya, and followed this up with a placement in Uganda during her time at university.[6] She studied politics at the University of Glasgow, specialising in human rights and international development.[6]
Nash was the parliamentary officer for the Young Fabians and a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, where she served on the executive committee and was the convenor of the External Affairs Committee. She interned for John Reid for one year as his constituency assistant and subsequently was employed for a period of three years as his parliamentary assistant.[6]
Political career
Nash was selected as the Labour Party candidate from an all-women shortlist which, at the time, proved to be a contentious issue.[7] The constituency chairman, Brian Brady resigned over the issue. Nevertheless, 80% of the constituency Labour Party took part in the selection process.[8] She was elected as the Member of Parliament for Airdrie and Shotts in 2010, taking over from John Reid. She had a majority of 12,408 votes over the SNP candidate, and at the age of 25,[1] was the youngest MP in the House of Commons, also called Baby of the House.[9] Then-Scottish Labour Party leader, Iain Gray said she had a "big future in Scottish politics".[10]
Following the death of the MP for Inverclyde, David Cairns, she was elected as the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for HIV and AIDS.[13] She was also the Treasurer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Multiple Sclerosis[14] and the Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sustainable Housing.[15] Nash also founded and chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Unemployment.[16]
In September 2010, Nash decided to support David Miliband in the Labour Party leadership election.[17] On 2 December 2010, Nash took part in a BBC debate on age differences in politics and the wider society with the Conservative MP Bill Cash.[18] Nash pledged to oppose the repeal of the Hunting Act 2004 which banned hunting of wild mammals with hounds.[19]
Nash was narrowly reselected by the Airdrie and Shotts CLP to contest her seat at the 2015 UK general election. A total of 55 members voted for her to be reselected, out of 101 members who attended the October 2013 ballot, with 37 opposed.[23][24] At the 2015 general election however, Nash lost her seat to Neil Gray of the Scottish National Party, who won by a majority of 8,779 votes.[25]
In 2021, Nash attempted to be selected as the Labour candidate for the Airdrie and Shotts parliamentary by-election; however, she was unsuccessful, losing the nomination to Kenneth Stevenson.[27] Despite a swing towards Labour, the SNP retained the seat.[28][29]
