Irshad Ahmed (politician)
Scottish politician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Irshad Ahmed is a Scottish businessman and Scottish Labour politician who has been a Member of Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh and Lothians East since May 2026.[1]
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affiliations
Alba (2021-c. 2026)
Irshad Ahmed | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 2026 | |
| Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh and Lothians East (1 of 7 Regional MSPs) | |
| Assumed office 7 May 2026 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Party | Scottish Labour (since 2026) |
Other political affiliations | Scottish National Party (until 2021) Alba (2021-c. 2026) |
Biography
Ahmed was born in Pakistan and moved to Edinburgh in 1993.[1] He is a businessman.[2] He had been a member of the Scottish National Party for over 16 years, standing third on the SNP's Lothian regional list in 2016.[1] In March 2021, after being listed seventh on the SNP's Lothian candidates, he defected to the newly formed Alba Party, citing the need for a pro-independence supermajority in the Scottish Parliament.[1]
In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, he was fourth on the list for the Alba Party in the Lothian electoral region.[3] Subsequently he joined Labour and in 2026 he defeated Daniel Johnson and Martin Whitfield to be the top candidate of the regional list in Edinburgh and Lothians East.[4][5] Following his selection, Scottish Labour's Governance and Legal Unit received a formal complaint alleging voter irregularities in the selection contest, including claims that large numbers of new members had been signed up to support him, and that some listed members could not be verified at their registered addresses.[6] Anas Sarwar backed his candidacy.[7] He unsuccessfully ran as a constituency candidate for Edinburgh North Western in the 2026 election.[8][9] He was elected a list MSP.[10]
