Amy Callaghan (born 21 May 1992) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who has been the member of parliament (MP) for East Dunbartonshire since the 2019 general election. She unseated the then Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, with a narrow majority of 149 votes or 0.3%, overturning her majority of 5,339 votes two years earlier. She has been SNP Health spokesperson since 2023 and sits on the Health and Social Care Select Committee.
Background
Callaghan attended primary and secondary school in Clydebank. She then attended the University of Strathclyde where she gained a BA Honours in politics. Before pursuing a political career, Callaghan worked in retail, hospitality and social care. In 2015 she began her work with the SNP as a Parliamentary Assistant in the Scottish Parliament for the former Scottish Government Minister for Environment and Land Reform, Aileen McLeod MSP. Following the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Callaghan worked as Office Manager to Rona Mackay, the MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden.
Callaghan was diagnosed with melanoma when she was 19 and cites her experience of cancer as motivation to safeguard the NHS, saying, "It can never be jeopardised." She has been cancer-free since 2014.
In June 2020, Callaghan's office announced that she had suffered a brain haemorrhage and had undergone emergency neurosurgery. She spent four months recovering in the Physically Disabled Rehabilitation Unit at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Voluntary activities
Callaghan volunteered as a member of the Children’s Panel for three years. Her voluntary activities have also supported the Teenage Cancer Trust, Young Lives Vs Cancer and the James Lind Alliance. She has co-authored research papers aimed at helping young people with cancer.
Political career
Callaghan was selected as the Scottish National Party's candidate for the seat of East Dunbartonshire in September 2019. At the December 2019 general election, she won the seat, beating the incumbent MP and Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson.
On 7 January 2020, she was appointed as the SNP's spokesperson for pensions and intergenerational affairs. She made her maiden speech in parliament nine days later, during which she spoke about Scottish independence and protecting the NHS from the Tories.
In March 2020, she was selected as a member of the House of Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee. She was later discharged from the committee in June 2020 because of her brain haemorrhage and subsequent period of recovery.
During her recovery, Callaghan contributed to parliamentary debates virtually under processes that had been introduced to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. However, following the removal of these processes, in February 2022 she returned to the House of Commons to deliver a speech in person. She described her return as "against doctor's orders".
Callaghan said she was travelling to London to raise the issue of a constituent who had suffered a stroke and was struggling with financial support. In what the Daily Mirror described as a "powerful return to Parliament", she pushed the work and pensions secretary, Thérèse Coffey, to commit to "revisiting the current levels of Universal Credit", claiming that the current level of support left people "barely getting by".
She has spearheaded the campaign for a proxy voting system. In January 2022, she wrote to then Leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg, urging him to bring back proxy voting and virtual participation for those with long-term health conditions; Rees-Mogg subsequently suggested he was against the introduction of digital voting as MPs would not take votes "seriously" if they participated remotely.
On her physical return to the House of Commons in February 2022, Callaghan stepped up her calls for proxy voting during a speech in parliament and in a serious of interviews including with the Daily Record. In March 2022, she raised the issue again in the House of Commons, describing parliamentary procedures as "exclusionary".
On 7 June 2022, Callaghan was forced to withdraw her comment in the House of Commons for using the word "lying" in relation to the prime minister, Boris Johnson. She criticised Johnson for "partying, lying, amending the ministerial code, voter suppression, [and] watering down human rights". The deputy speaker, Nigel Evans, interrupted Callaghan and asked her to withdraw the word "lying", which she agreed to do.