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Chris Stephens
Official portrait, 2019
SNP Justice and Immigration Spokesperson in the House of Commons
In office September 2023 – July 2024
Leader	Stephen Flynn
Preceded by	Stuart McDonald
Succeeded by	Position Abolished
SNP Spokesperson for Levelling Up in the House of Commons
In office 10 December 2022 – 4 September 2023
Leader	Stephen Flynn
Preceded by	Patricia Gibson
Succeeded by	Anum Qaisar
Member of Parliament for Glasgow South West
In office 7 May 2015 – 30 May 2024
Preceded by	Ian Davidson
Succeeded by	Zubir Ahmed
Personal details
Born	Christopher Charles Stephens (1973-03-20) 20 March 1973 (age 51) Glasgow, Scotland
Political party	Scottish National Party
Spouse	Aileen Colleran
Website	www.chrisstephens.scot

Christopher Charles Stephens (born 20 March 1973) is a Scottish National Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow South West from 2015 until 2024. He was SNP Spokesperson for Justice and Immigration between September 2023 to July 2024.

Early life and career

Christopher Stephens was born on 20 March 1973 in Glasgow and was educated at Trinity High School, Renfrew and James Watt College in Greenock, where he studied public administration. He joined the SNP at the age of sixteen.

He completed an apprenticeship at Strathclyde Regional Council before working at the council. Stephens then worked for the Glasgow City Council. During this time, he joined the trade union UNISON. Initially Stephens was their youth officer in Glasgow and was later promoted in that branch to treasurer and then vice-chair.

Political career

At the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, Stephens stood as the SNP candidate in Glasgow Pollok, coming second with 31.2% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour and Co-op MSP Johann Lamont. Stephens again stood in Glasgow Pollok at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, coming second with 44.7% of the vote behind Johann Lamont.

Stephens was 6th on the list of SNP candidates for the six Scottish seats in the 2014 European Parliament election, although as only the first two SNP candidates were elected, Stephens was not elected.

Stephens was the secretary of the SNP Trade Union Group, a member of the party's National Executive Committee.

Parliamentary career

At the 2001 general election, Stephens stood as the SNP candidate in Hamilton North and Bellshill, coming second with 17.2% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP John Reid.

Stephens was elected to Parliament at the 2015 general election as MP for Glasgow South West with 57.2% of the vote and a majority of 9,950.

In October 2016, Stephens was reported to have signed the highest number of Early Day Motions of any Member of Parliament.

At the snap 2017 general election, Stephens was re-elected as MP for Glasgow South West with a decreased vote share of 40.7% and a decreased majority of 60.

Stephens is a vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on South Africa and Chair of the Public and Commercial Services Union Parliamentary Group.

In March 2018, it was reported that he attempted to make two members of staff in his constituency office redundant, subsequently suspending them from employment, generating criticism from members of his own party.

Stephens was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with an increased vote share of 47.9% and an increased majority of 4,900.

In November 2023, Stephens was re-elected as the SNP candidate for Glasgow South West at the 2024 general election.

Personal life

Stephens is married to Aileen Colleran, a former Labour councillor elected to Glasgow City Council until 2017. He employed his wife as a part-time parliamentary assistant from August 2017 to 30 April 2018.

References

1. "Chris Stephens MP". Politics.co.uk. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
2. SNP, the (10 December 2022). "The real opposition: meet your new SNP Westminster Frontbench". Scottish National Party. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
3. "SNP announces frontbench reshuffle at Westminster". BBC News. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
4. "Analysis: SNP bucks trend for privately educated MPs". The Herald. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
5. Nutt, Kathleen (11 June 2015). "Meet your new Scottish MPs: #23 Chris Stephens, Glasgow South West". The National. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
6. Bircham, Josh (13 November 2015). We Are The 56: The individuals behind a political revolution. Cargo Publishing. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-910449-52-3.
7. Sub-constituency election results for the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections – data Archived 6 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine– Scotland Office, 30 April 2008 (retrieved 5.04.11)
8. "Scottish Results". Glasgow City Council. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
9. "Region Results for Glasgow Pollok (2011)". Glasgow City Council. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
10. "Hudghton and Smith to stand for SNP at European Parliament elections". STV News. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
11. "European Parliament, Elections Scotland, Statement of Parties and Individual Candidates Nominated and Notice of Poll, 2014" (PDF). 24 April 2014.
12. Paterson, Stewart (23 February 2015). "SNP hope yes factor can win in South West". Evening Times. Newsquest. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
13. Stephens, Chris (14 November 2014). "Chris Stephens: Trade union value in SNP future". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
14. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
15. "Election 2015: Glasgow South West: Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
16. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
17. "statement of persons nominated and party affiliations". Glasgow City Council.
18. Ottewell, David (18 October 2016). "I second that motion: SNP MPs falling over themselves to register support for worthy causes". dailyrecord. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
19. "The Scottish seats with the narrowest majorities". www.scotsman.com. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
20. "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 . Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.
21. "House of Commons – Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups as at 12 October 2016: South Africa". www.publications.parliament.uk. The Committee Office, House of Commons. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
22. "Document Summary – PCS". www.pcs.org.uk. Archived from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
23. "MP campaigning for workers' rights is in bitter dispute with his own staff". The National. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
24. "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll – UK Parliamentary election 2019". Glasgow City Council. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
25. "Glasgow South West parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
26. "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
27. "Less than a third of general election candidates selected so far are women". 5 November 2023.
28. "House of Commons – The Register of Members' Financial Interests (16 July 2018: Stephens, Chris)". parliament.uk. House of Commons. Retrieved 7 August 2018.

External links

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile on SNP website

• 1973 births
• Living people
• Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies
• Scottish National Party MPs
• Scottish trade unionists
• UK MPs 2015–2017
• UK MPs 2017–2019
• UK MPs 2019–2024