Ash Regan

Ashten Regan (formerly Denham, born Sarah Jane Regan; 8 March 1974) is a Scottish politician.

Sarah Jane Regan was born in Biggar, South Lanarkshire, on 8 March 1974.

Her father, a Catholic, and her mother, a Protestant were from Glasgow, where her mother owned a kilt shop on Sauchiehall Street.

Regan attended primary school in Scotland, before moving with her family to North Devon in England aged ten.

When she was fifteen years old, Regan changed her birth forename in a deed poll to Ashten, to avoid confusion with another girl in her school who shared the same name.

Regan attended Keele University in England from 1992 to 1995, gaining a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations.

She was the first in her family to attend university.

She was a writer for Concourse magazine, a student newspaper of the Keele University Students' Union.

After graduating she moved to London and earned a diploma in public relations at the London School of Public Relations.

She briefly lived in Australia.

Regan married Robert Denham in 2000, and they had twin boys.

She then went on to work as a Senior Account Executive at Spreckley Partners, before becoming Events Executive in late 2002 for Zinc Management.

From December 2002 to August 2003, Regan was an Account Manager for Rocket PR.

She returned to Scotland in 2003.

She earned a Master of Science in development management at the Open University and worked in digital marketing.

She first got involved in politics when she became head of campaigns and advocacy at the Common Weal, a left-wing pro-Scottish independence think tank.

They returned to Scotland in 2003.

In 2007, Regan studied Development Management at the Open University, gaining a Master of Science in 2012.

After graduating from Keele University, Regan worked as a PR and Marketing Officer at ScottClem for three years.

In October 2012, after graduating from the OU, she worked remotely in Digital Marketing at Tearfund.

Returning to Scotland, Regan became Head of Campaigns and Advocacy at the Common Weal, before her election to Holyrood.

At a dinner party in 2012, Regan was asked by guests for her opinion on the 2014 Scottish independence vote.

Her then husband, who was born in England, assumed Regan would vote 'No'; however, after she conducted research she had found herself to be more leaning towards the 'Yes' movement.

Regan joined Women for Independence and was active in the Yes Scotland campaign.

In the campaign for the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Regan campaigned for Yes Scotland and was a member of the Women for Independence's national committee.

In January 2014, she was elected to the national committee for Women for Independence.

She recalled being “really passionate about Scotland becoming an independent country – I felt the arguments were really strong and I wanted Scotland to have more democratic choice”.

She has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Edinburgh Eastern since 2016.

Initially elected to parliament for the Scottish National Party (SNP), she defected to the Alba Party.

In the aftermath of the referendum defeat, she joined the SNP and was later selected as a candidate for the Edinburgh Eastern constituency in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

Regan served under First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as the minister for community safety from 2018 until she resigned in 2022 in protest against her government's Gender Recognition Reform bill.

A native of Biggar, Regan moved to Devon, England, and studied international relations at Keele University in Staffordshire.

After graduating, she moved to London – working in public relations – and gained a diploma at the London School of Public Relations.

After a successful campaign, she sat as a backbencher, before being appointed to the Scottish Government in First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's 2018 cabinet reshuffle.

Regan resigned in October 2022 in protest against the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, the first SNP minister to resign to vote against government policy since the party entered office in 2007.

Following the announcement of Sturgeon's intention to resign the leadership of the SNP and as First Minister of Scotland, Regan announced her candidacy in the 2023 leadership contest.

Her campaign was endorsed by Alba Party leader and former SNP leader and first minister, Alex Salmond.

She finished last of three candidates with 11.1% of the vote and was eliminated in the first round of voting.

On 28 October 2023, Regan announced her defection from the SNP to the Alba Party and was subsequently appointed the party's parliamentary leader.

She is the first Alba Party member of the Scottish Parliament, having been elected as an SNP member.