Pamela Nash was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, and educated locally in St Margaret’s High School, Airdrie and Chapelhall.
She is a Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Airdrie and Shotts since the 2010 general election.
She 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 convener 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 SpAd.
She was elected as the Member of Parliament for Airdrie and Shotts in 2010, replacing the retiring John Reid.
She has a majority of 12,408 over the SNP and, at the age of 30, is currently the youngest MP in the House of Commons.
March 29 2009; Labour rebels may defy all-woman list to succeed Reid
The first error was the decision of Labour headquarters to impose an all-woman shortlist on Airdrie and Shotts.
There had been a feeling within the local party that local Councillor Jim Logue might have been given the chance to replace Dr Reid.
But the imposition of an all-woman shortlist changed all that.
Then, when the short-listed women were picked to go before the local party for selection, there were further problems.
Three women were picked to go forward for the selection contest. Namely:
Joanne Milligan, (former researcher for MSP Elaine Smith), former local Councillor, Cathy Dick and Nash.
Many in the party and the media had expected Cathy Dick to win the nomination
Indeed, when it came to the hustings event Ms Dick showed up well as a passionate local candidate while Ms Milligan was reported to have come across as the most professional and competent candidate.
Yet it was Ms Nash who won through, despite a performance at the hustings event which was described yesterday as being the poorest of all three candidates.
It is understood that although she failed badly with Labour activists in the hall she did well in the postal vote.
About 160 local members were entitled to vote and about a third of that number – about 50 – turned up at the hustings event.
The local party Chairman immediately resigned. In a statement to media he said: “The constituency Labour Party selected their candidate for Airdrie and Shotts and following that I resigned my position as chair because the voting pattern showed that this had not represented the view of the majority of the CLP. I had expected them to rally behind another local activist, but in the event the broader membership didn’t.”
An official Labour spokesperson said: “One member, one vote means that successful candidates enjoy the confidence of the local party who yesterday chose Pamela Nash by some considerable margin.”
Surprise Surprise London got it’s Blairite child selected.
December 29 2010 – Airdrie & Shotts get what they asked for
Private Eye reports that Pamela Nash, Britain’s youngest MP at 26, has only put forward one written question to parliament in the last six months, and spoken only six times for a total of 4 minutes.
But there was a saving grace. The Eye pointed out that she found plenty of time to Tweet about the X factor and Coronation Street.
So Airdrie & Shotts ended up with twitter-er instead of someone who maybe would have spent time being just a little more active in Parliament? But it is just possible she thought her inane twitters made her more accessible to the locals.
October 19 2011; Pamela and her Labour colleagues off to Israel
Seven “Labour Friends of Israel” enjoyed a fully funded week long tour of Israel, including visits to Ramallah and area’s of Palestine illegally occupied by the Israeli Army.
The MP delegation comprised: Anne McGuire, Rachel Reeves, Jonathan Reynolds, Dan Jarvis, Michael McCann, Pamela Nash and John Woodcock.
Labour spokeswoman commented: “The visit reaffirmed how important it is for Labour MPs to visit Israel, to gain an understanding of its political and security concerns, and to support the Israeli people in their efforts for peace.”
May 23 2012; Nash a huge burden as her personal expense claims exceed £61k for first eight months of the year
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, revealed that Nash had claimed £39,155.34 in business costs and expenses from April to early January which is nearly double the £22,121.06, claimed by Motherwell and Wishaw MP, Frank Roy.
Nash intimated that claims by herself confirmed her commitment to her constituents, stating: “I maintain a town centre constituency office so that it is easily accessible to my constituents and, as I am in my first term in Parliament, the majority of set-up costs for this office have been incurred in the past financial year. I do not share the office with any other politicians and all costs, rent and regular bills are solely my responsibility, and therefore paid from the appropriate allowance from IPSA. All allowances I have claimed are within IPSA guidelines and are solely used to provide a good service to my constituents, both in the constituency and in Westminster.”
November 11 2012; Pamela Nash, MP – What her constituents are saying
Why is she boasting about laying a wreath at a service in Shotts in the morning then travelling to the main service in Coatbridge when she boasted about attending a Sinn Fein conference at Westminster the previous week?
25 years ago, on this day, these people bombed a memorial service in Eniskillen and killed 11 innocents. Who the h*** votes for this clown?
She’s a daft wee lassie, severely out of her depth. Voted in at 25, having never held a job, other than for the Labour party and people wonder why she is failing to represent her people – what does a 25 year old who has never worked know about life!
Well, at the very least she appears able to fill in her expense form correctly unlike her previous boss Dr Reid!
Her worst faux pas (6th Nov) she missed the Commons debate she had requested in the Commons, wasting the time of the M.P.’s that turned up!!
In justification for her absence she told the Speaker that her printer had broken down when she tried to print out her speech!
Colleagues and other MP’s offered she should have rehearsed the speech at the time the poor wee lamb had been in bed with a chill. But despite her being too ill to organize a few pieces of paper, she had still managed to attend a photo-op at the Govan shipyard the day before. Aww!! bless her wee soul!!
She’s is morphing into her predecessor – seen a recent photo of her? An MPs expense account must buy a lot of cakes!
Getting that job must have been like winning the lottery. good salary with blank cheque expenses, no stress, long holidays, no intelligence needed just follow the party line.
I tried to have a conversation with her before the last election about the folly of PFI but she hadn’t a clue what I was talking about. Utterly clueless.
I guess she needs someone from London Labour to tell her what opinion to have. But yet she’ll be voted in because the majority of political thought in Central Scotland is tribal.
She is a wee dolly but a bit of a bigot from what I hear.
A 17 year old “orphan???” f*** me, if there is an award for most dramatic use of language ever she must be in with a shout…
Exactly, what has the fact she’s an Orphan got to do with her political credentials?
tricky dicky is right, a career politician, full of theory, with no experience of “real life” and no understanding of her constituents.
If the Tories ruled Airdrie she’d have no doubt chosen to work under a Tory MP and pursue a career as a Tory MP.
I knew about her Mum and Step-Dad dying in the storms when she was 17 which is horrific, no arguing with that.
She attended Glasgow University, studying politics whilst holding down a fully salaried, political assistant post with the Labour Party. Her (1992) salary was £15000 a year, vastly different from the £3.20 an hour I earned from a part-time job I needed to do so I could pay my way through university. And her University fees and job with the Labour Party were funded by the taxpayer. Not exactly paying her way thrrough university.
I also think 25 is way too young to be appointed a MP, having worked for local authorities for 8 years I think the competent MPs and MSPs are the ones who came through the Councillor route. It is common knowledge in the constituency that she was sponsored by John Reid and London Labour who gerrymandered the selection process banning males from applying then fixing the local party vote in favour of Nash.
February 14 2013; Labour MP Nash fixes parliamentary access for ex- lobbyist friend
Matt Zarb-Cousin, a lefty up-and-comer once worked as a researcher for Labour MPs Pamela Nash and Andy Slaughter, but sadly things didn’t quite work out. Now he seems to spend most of his time working as a lobbyist for the anti-bookies Campaign for Fairer Gambling.
Why, then, does he still hold a parliamentary pass? Nash’s office was asked for an explanation, but they had never heard of Zarb-Cousin. “He definitely, definitely doesn’t work in this office”, an official stated, he might be a friend of Pamela’s”.
No wonder, he’s a mystery. It transpired he hadn’t been in the employment of for over a year. Yet he retained his parliamentary pass, under her name, which he continued to use frequently in his job as an anti-gambling lobbyist. Naughty, naughty!!!
More about Matt Zarb-Cousin
The former Parliamentary researcher left the employment of Nash and joined the Campaign for Fairer Gambling.
One of his principle tasks is to engage with politicians to toughen legislation.
He confirmed, when asked, that he has used the pass to access Parliament in his capacity at Fairer Gambling, and that he earns a wage from the organization.
He said: “since it is not a commercially-motivated campaign I don’t consider myself a lobbyist, so I didn’t think I’d have to declare it. It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have kept hold of the pass”.
Nash said “I was not aware he was still using his parliamentary pass and have instructed the Pass Office to deactivate it immediately.”
Her statement is hardly credible since she and Zarb-Cousin were in regular contact within and outwith Westminster. And he does exert influence over Pamela, (see her contribution to a finance committee meeting).
Discussions at committee included high street betting machines
Sajid Javid: The Government’s initial preferred option is to increase stake and prize limits for some gaming machine categories, which would benefit bingo halls.
Once the Government have made a decision, I will be sure to share it with hon. Members.
The issue of larger prizes was also raised. That could be a result of the change. I was asked whether the Government had assessed the new games that might come into existence due to the change.
Clearly, there will be new games, but HMRC has not directly assessed what and how many new games there will be. I think that that is unnecessary.
Pamela Nash: I seek clarity in the Minister’s comments. Recently there has been a high-profile campaign against fixed odds betting terminals, seeking to reduce the maximum stake available to players on such machines.
Is the Minister saying that the Government are looking to increase the stake?
Sajid Javid: Yes. We are reviewing stake and prize limits. We are looking at potentially increasing them for certain types of machines.
I emphasize that no decision has been made at this point. When we look at the matter further, we will look at its potential impact and provide the information to hon. Members.
http://order-order.com/2013/02/14/labour-mp-allows-access-for-lobbyist-friend/
March 20 2013: Labour’s roll of shame on workfare – mass abstentions enable Con/Dem government victory – Nash abstained as instructed
The much vaunted Tory “workfare bill” (condemned by the Commons Public Affairs Committee) permitted employers to pay workers, in the programme less than the minimum wage legislated by Westminster and was successfully challenged in the courts who instructed government to ensure that those impacted by the legislation should be paid the minimum wage, backdated to the date the case was submitted to the courts.
Having lost a case and fearing they would lose the appeal, the Government, instead of respecting the justice system, set about abusing the Commons emergency procedures with intent to apply a fix denying the courts.
In a virtually-empty House of Commons, the Labour Party Whip instructed Labour MPs to allow the “workfare bill” to pass, cheating thousands of the poorest people in the UK out of money the courts had ruled was rightfully their’s.
The SNP and 42 Labour MP’s (defied their whip) and opposed the cheap-skate conservatives. But all other Labour MP’s including Nash, abstained and the Tory Party won the day. Many of her constituents suffered the consequence.
It is beyond comprehension that the Labour Party could let a bill pass formally setting the government up as above the law, beyond justice. What a nasty Party Labour is.
29 September 2013; Pamela Nash escapes Labour selection battle
The youngest MP to be voted in at the last general election narrowly escaped a challenge that would have forced her into a potentially damaging contest to remain as the representative of one of Labour’s safest Westminster seats in Scotland.
A total of 37 local party members voted against her candidacy, attempting to force a new vote amid dissatisfaction with her performance as the area’s Westminster representative.
Some people felt that the current MP was interested only in the London bubble and that she needed to be far more visible in the constituency.
A Labour insider said it was “extremely rare” for MPs to face such a high level of opposition when they come up for re-election, “Normally it’s something that’s just nodded through, but there have been real concerns about Pamela’s performance. It appears that she is rarely in the constituency, which has huge areas of social deprivation, but is happy to take freebies at Glastonbury.”
Nash was also criticized in November 2010 for failing to represent her constituents after a study showed her to be one of the worst-performing parliamentarians at Westminster.
She came bottom of a list of Scotland’s newest MPs compiled by website TheyWorkForYou.com which looked at the number of questions asked and speeches made in the House of Commons.
At the time she had not submitted a single question since being elected and had spoken on just two occasions, one of which was her maiden speech.
November 2 2013; 40 MPs, including Nash, claim £200,000 on expenses for energy bills
Dave Prentis, General Secretary of Unison, told the newspaper: “It’s disgraceful that well-paid MPs should claim expenses for heating costs at the same time that thousands of families are struggling to pay to turn the oven on to cook dinner for their families.
“These are the same hypocritical MPs who have failed to get a grip on soaring fuel and energy costs, rising food bills and pay freezes.”
Labour MP John Mann, who did not claim for his energy bills, told the Sunday Mirror: “Perhaps the MPs who have submitted the claims should start wearing thicker jumpers.
November 21 2013; Nash faces criticism after missing Westminster ‘Bedroom Tax’ vote.
Nash failed to attend a Labour instigated vote condemning the Bedroom Tax in the House of Commons.
When challenged she offered that it had not been possible to attend the division as she had been speaking at a youth unemployment conference in Austria the previous day.
However it was later revealed that the one day conference occurred the day before the vote and ended in the late afternoon and opposition politicians to attacked Nash claiming that she could have easily returned to London in the evening and rubbished her explanation for not attending the evening vote the next day in Parliament.
Constituency counterpart Alex Neil MSP said that Miss Nash’s “excuse just doesn’t wash,” and added: “Her published reason for missing the vote has just made matters worse and left people with more questions than answers. Attending this conference is not necessarily what her constituents will be concerned about – they want to know why that stopped her voting at 7pm the next day when there are any number of flights available from Vienna to London. They will also want to know why she was willing to let the Tories off the hook by pairing in the first place. What she is saying is that she was willing to trade votes with the Tories on the bedroom tax, and that is a shocking admission.”
26 March 2014; SNP MPs vote against Welfare cap at Westminster
MPs overwhelmingly backed the UK government’s new cap on welfare in a historic vote which will mean benefit payments cannot exceed £119.5 billion next year.
The cap in welfare spending was set by Tory Chancellor George Osborne and was agreed to by Labour leader Ed Miliband, but condemned by some in his party as “short term political posturing”. The measure, in the Charter for Budget Responsibility, comfortably passed the Commons vote
13 Labour rebels joined the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and Green MP Caroline Lucas opposing it.
During the debate, SNP Banff and Buchan MP Dr Eilidh Whiteford warned that the “pernicious measure” would play in the independence referendum underlining the UK’s record for inequality. She said: “The cap once again puts the most disadvantaged people in our communities on the front line. It is blatant ring-wing politics, not aimed at solving any of the long term problems which are getting worse because of Westminster’s austerity agenda, an agenda now supported by all the anti-independence parties.”
These are the Scottish Labour Party members who voted in favour of the Tory welfare cap.
Margaret Curran – Glasgow East,
Tom Greatrex – Rutherglen and Hamilton West,
Ian Murray – Edinburgh South,
Willie Bain – Glasgow North East,
Gordon Banks – Ochil and South Perthshire,
Tom Clarke – Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill,
Dame Anne Begg – Aberdeen South,
Alistair Darling – Edinburgh South West,
Ian Davidson – Glasgow South West,
Thomas Docherty – Dunfermline and West Fife,
Frank Doran – Aberdeen North,
Gemma Doyle – West Dunbartonshire,
Sheila Gilmore – Edinburgh East,
David Hamilton – Midlothian,
Tom Harris – Glasgow South,
Jimmy Hood – Lanark and Hamilton East,
Cathy Jamieson – Kilmarnock and Loudon,
Mark Lazarowicz – Edinburgh North and Leith,
Gregg McClymont – Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East,
Anne McGuire – Stirling,
Anne McKechin – Glasgow North,
Iain McKenzie – Greeenock and Inverclyde,
Grahame Morris – Livingston,
Jim Murphy – East Renfrewshire,
Pamela Nash – Airdrie and Shotts,
Sandra Osborne – Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock,
John Robertson – Glasgow North West,
Frank Roy – Motherwell and Wishaw,
Lindsay Roy – Glenrothes,
Anas Sarwar – Glasgow Central
Comments;
Trust the media to turn this into an excuse to bash the SNP… The main issue here is the hypocrisy laid bare by Labour, who at the weekend were being all “socialistic”, yet now appear to be back in bed with the Tories!
You are of course very correct when you point this out: “In August last year Mr Salmond said: “If you have the right cap deployed in the right way, then that is a reasonable thing to have.”
“However, note the wording he uses – “the right cap deployed in the right way”. This Bill does not deploy “the right cap” in “the right way”, which is exactly why the SNP, Plaid and Green voted against it.
Shoddy journalism as per, but Scots have come to expect nothing less from the Scotsman. Labour eh –dine with the millionaires and vote with the Tories
Just goes to show that when it comes to policy that you could not squeeze a cigarette paper between the 3 Unionist parties. The only real difference between them is the colour of their rosettes. Labour’s support of Tory welfare plans will mean more of this:
“A mental health watchdog has criticized the benefits assessment process after a woman whose allowance was cut committed suicide. The woman, referred to as Ms DE, had a 20-year history of depression and was on incapacity benefit but scored zero points in an assessment which found her to be capable of work. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) decided she would not be eligible for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), which replaced incapacity benefit, and would have to move to Jobseeker’s Allowance.”
Scottish labour has collaborated again with the Tory’s to hammer the poor and weak with the welfare cap.
As usual while the poor get punished – UK millionaires get away with billions.
Labour want ATOS to cut benefits for the disabled , stop bus passes , charge for prescriptions, get rid of free personal care, and with their proposal to give the Scottish parliament the right to abolish the bedroom tax while making that impossible with Westminster’s “Universal Credits ” effectively keeping the bedroom tax.
So putting a cap on the poor who are already having to use food banks is fair? Quite right MPs should oppose this.
Another example of why Scotland should vote Yes and make real attempts to help those in need.
Bedroom Tax: 91% of Scottish MPs voted against it. Westminster imposed it.
Welfare Cuts: 81% of Scottish MPs voted against it. Westminster imposed it.
VAT increase: 82% of Scottish MPs voted against it. Westminster imposed it.
Royal Mail sell off: 79% of Scottish MPs voted against it. Westminster imposed it.
Labour in bed with the Tories to make sure the poor pay for the austerity policy. Well, Labour started the financial crisis and they are useless in trying to solve it.
May 10 2014; Labour MP admits Bedroom Tax vote absence was a mistake.
A Scottish Labour MP who was one of forty seven Labour MPs who failed to turn up for a crucial vote on the Bedroom Tax, has admitted the mass absence was a mistake.
Airdrie and Shotts MP Pamela Nash – one of ten Scottish Labour MPs criticized for the “No” show in November – made the admission during a debate held in Westminster on Thursday into the effects of the policy in Scotland. Speaking in the debate, Nash accepted a mistake had been made, and said of the mass no-show: “I do agree that that number of Labour MPs shouldn’t have been paired at that time,”
May 11 2014: MPs’ expense claims over two months total £3.5m.
Labour’s Pamela Nash received the largest amount, £24,187
June 5 2014; Magic mums: Airdrie MP Pamela Nash backs food project
Nash popped in to the food poverty relief Home Centre to find out more about the project and hear from the volunteers behind it.
Group volunteer Hayley MacNaught said: “As young mums we know how difficult it can be to make ends meet and we wanted to do something that helped people who are struggling. “It’s been a success so far and the numbers visiting us seem to grow every week.”
Nash said: “It’s great to see these young women taking real action to address the problem of food poverty. They feel strongly about the need for access to affordable, fresh produce and they’re determined to do something positive about it.”
Comment: Bloody hell!!! she voted with the Tory/Lib/Dem government to cap benefits increasing the levels of hardship and poverty suffered by 35% of her constituents children.
5 September 2014: Lanarkshire constituences – once the Centre of the industrial heartland of Scotland.
The Labour Party has represented these constituencies at Westminster from 1935 and at Holyrood since 1999.
But although still in Labour hands, change has been blowing for many years as voters are switching to the SNP in their droves.
The old Labour values of the constituents are far distant from the “New Labour” philosophy imposed them from 1994 and there is a disillusionment with their elected representatives.
Local residents comment:
Coatbridge? Have you been there, I live there, after decades of the Labour Party doing no more than plan the after election celebrations Coatbridge is in what only can be described in the local Scottish saying ” Did a bomb hit it”. Coatbridge used to be a town, Labour put paid to that. They knocked all the shops down and spent a fortune planting trees, these were then knocked down by the local neds so we ended up in a town with spaces, then someone built Asda and Coatbridge became known as Asda town. Then, with the help of Maggie Thatcher the last of Coatbridge’s industries were demolished a retail park was built and given the name the Faraday park, but locally known as the FARAWAY park, it’s too far away from the Town Centre for those but the fittest or car owners to enjoy. We’ve also got a pedestrian area where the only risk is getting knocked down by a car or small truck. Coatbridge council who can’t believe that any party other than Labour have the right to join in the local elections, is known as the Monklands Mafia mainly because most officials were related to local Councillors and many are still. In the event of independence the Monklands Mafia would set up a committee to consider a referendum on creating the Socialist State of Coatbridge, so as to protect the careers of Labour Party members.
I’ve never heard any of these Labour MPs say anything about equal pay in recent years – I’ve certainly never heard any one of them speaking up on behalf of their local constituents.
Perhaps they don’t want to criticize the behavior of North Lanarkshire Councils because they are Labour-run, but how anyone can defend Labour over equal pay is beyond me.
Because equal pay is a bad joke to the Labour Party and the Unions and the Council’s senior officials have been shown to have actively presided over pay arrangements discriminating against their largely female workforce. If this happened in the private sector, I suspect the people responsible would all have been sacked by now.
The ‘top brass’ in North Lanarkshire constituencies all stay in post, no one answers for their actions, and in recent years they have even been receiving big bonus payments for good performance supposedly which is a terrible insult to the rest of the Council workforce, if you ask me.
They are all up for re-election in May 2015 and I would be very surprised if their mishandling of equal pay doesn’t result in a backlash on polling day.
If I were an equal pay claimant in North Lanarkshire I would consider dropping these MPs a note telling them, in no uncertain terms, what I think of the Labour Party’s performance. (action4equalityscotland.)
1 Dec 2014; Westminster discussion on student fees – Scottish MP’s should discuss their own parliamentary business
An irate Englishman comments:
“Something other than Scottish fire-water gave me a headache last night – something no over-the-counter painkiller can ease. What was it?
Scottish Labour MPs. That’s who!!!
Why? Their insistent bleating about Government reforms to higher education that have nothing to do with them.
Education is a devolved matter and the Scottish Parliament voted to abolish tuition fees for all Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish and European Union students – just about everyone apart from English students.
That was their choice to do so and residents of Scotland have to make do with budget restraints in other areas. The upcoming reforms to higher education in England and Wales do not, therefore, concern the constituents of the honourable Members from North Britain.
Why, then, did a series of them bob up and down in the House of Commons last night in search of a say in the Opposition debate on higher education?
Then Pamela Nash (Lab, Airdrie & Shotts) had the audacity to interrupt Iain Stewart (C, Milton Keynes South) with her claim that the Government is introducing its reforms based on ideology.
I don’t think that the baby of the house (Nash is 26) is so young that she cannot recall that the Government is acting on the advice of an independent report commissioned by the previous Labour Government.
Moreover, as a recent politics graduate of the University of Glasgow, she has (unlike me and my peers from English universities) never had to pay tuition fees, and was happy to work as Lord (John) Reid’s researcher when he was a long-serving member of the Labour Government that increased fees twice against manifesto promises. (nikdarlington.blogspot)
16 Dec 2014: Labour MP’s Fail to support their own colleague in Commons equal pay debate
The debate and vote had been brought forward by Labour MP, Sarah Champion to require any employer with more than 250 employees to be transparent with their workforce publishing any gender pay gap in their salary policy. A major bill that would go a long way to ensure that employers had to acknowledge pay differentials by sex, together with a commitment to correct anomalies. (Pete Wishart blog)
Transparency
In support of the cause of transparency these are the Scottish MP’s who couldn’t be bothered to turn up for their own debate and vote on equal pay for women.
Scottish Labour leader – Jim Murphy.
Shadow Scottish Secretary – Margaret Curran.
Former Labour PM – Gordon Brown.
Leader of ‘Better Together’ – Alistair Darling.
Shadow Foreign Secretary – Douglas Alexander.
Labour ‘socialist’ leadership candidate – Katy Clark.
Labour front bencher – Russell Brown.
Pamela Nash.,
Anne McGuire.
Michael Connarty.
Tom Harris
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Oliver Mundell
caltonjock 