Member of The Scottish Parliament
At the 1999 election, he won the Eastwood constituency with a majority of 2,125.
In February 2002, Macintosh was appointed as a ministerial parliamentary aide (MPA) to Minister for Education and Young People, Cathy Jamieson. He resigned from this role in September 2002 when he voted against the Labour-Liberal Democrat Coalition Scottish Executive over the closure of the A&E department at the Glasgow Victoria Infirmary.
In 2005 Macintosh had to resign from his position as Deputy Convenor on the Standards Committee after it was revealed he had failed to declare £330 of hospitality from McDonald's within the required time.
In 2006 and 2007 Macintosh has proposed a Member's Bill to the Scottish Parliament providing for the tougher regulation of sunbed parlours, which passed successfully. Since his election in 1999 has been a member of the cross-party group on cancer. From February 2007 to April 2007, he was a Ministerial Parliamentary Aide to the First Minister Jack McConnell.
Macintosh was re-elected as MSP for Eastwood at the 2007 election with a narrow majority of 913, where he fought off a strong challenge from the Conservative Party's Jackson Carlaw. Macintosh was appointed Shadow Minister for Schools and Skills.
Macintosh considered running for the 2008 Scottish Labour leadership election but pulled out and instead backed Andy Kerr's candidacy.
At the 2011 parliamentary election he once again defeated Jackson Carlaw with an increased majority of 2,012. The swing was 8.7% from Conservative to Labour. Macintosh had feared losing the constituency following boundary changes (with the removal of Barrhead, Neilston and Uplawmoor) which gave a notional Conservative majority of almost 3500. After the party's loss to the SNP, Macintosh was made Shadow Culture and External Affairs Secretary. Only a week later though, he took over the Shadow Education portfolio after MSP Malcolm Chisholm resigned over an internal party disagreement.
Read more about this topic: Ken Macintosh
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