As the Scottish Parliament celebrates its milestone 25th anniversary, Dame Jackie Baillie looks back on her career as one of Scotland’s longest serving MSPs.

Beginning her role as the MSP for Dumbarton when the Scottish Parliament first formed on May 12, 1999, Ms Baillie was inspired to get into politics in response to Margaret Thatcher.

She had never served as a councillor or MP, but her passion for devolution provoked her to stand for election in the Scottish Parliament.

Ms Baillie said: “I remember reacting to Margaret Thatcher being the Prime Minister thinking things really can’t be as bad as this and that I had a responsibility to do something about it.

“From then, I got involved in policy and campaigning.

“I was never interested in standing for the council or Westminster but for a long time believed in the possibilities of devolution.

“We campaigned really hard during the referendum to establish a Scottish Parliament and to establish a Labour government in 1997.

“A group of us who believed in the parliament suggested to each other that we should stand and up to that point I hadn’t thought about it at all.

“I made a choice to stand in a couple of seats and I applied to Dumbarton and was accepted by the constituency there which was just an enormous privilege.”

For a quarter of a century, Ms Baillie has represented the Dumbarton constituency and she is grateful she has been welcomed by the community for so long – as her career as an MSP has experienced a longevity that few achieved.

She continued: “I have all my life wanted to right wrongs and correct injustices and give people opportunities.

“It was totally amazing to see the Scottish Parliament open. There are not words that could describe it.

“You felt a sense of euphoria because you had been elected and that is such a proud moment, but you felt this sense of awe that you were going to be in a Scottish Parliament that had not be reconvened in 300 years.

“Twenty-five years is nothing for a parliament, so we are really a baby, but I am really proud that we have already carved out a space in Scottish public life.”

Speaking of her career highlights, the Dumbarton MSP expressed her pride at saving services at the Vale of Leven Hospital and removing tolls at the Erskine Bridge – but explained that none of these achievements were made without the help of local constituents.

She also shared that she has found that helping individuals is just as important and that working to solve personal issues for her constituents has been just as rewarding.

Ms Baillie said: “I didn’t save the Vale of Levan Hospital myself, we did that as a whole community and I’m proud of the efforts that everybody has made of all parties.

“The other things that matter are those at the individual level.

“One day I was doing a roving surgery and came across a couple who lived in Rosneath, who both had learning disabilities, and who were about to have their electricity cut off, which would have been devastating for them.

“They didn’t owe any money and there was a mistake made by the power company, but we managed to stop it so that the couple weren’t cut off.

“I have to say that while that was a very private thing, that was just as satisfying as removing tolls from the Erskine Bridge.”

The Dumbarton MSP went on to speak of the struggles she is currently seeing her constituents face – struggles she is keen to tackle and see improved.

She added: “Recently, things have got tougher for people.

“We’ve experienced the cost-of-living crisis, people have struggled through the Covid-19 pandemic as well, and therefore people whose employment was quite precarious were really badly affected.

“It’s taking a while to recover, and I want to see much more efforts made by both governments through the economy to provide decent, well-paid jobs.

“There are too many people in the constituency who have low wages and I want them to have decent pay for what they do.”

Sharing her hopes for the future, Ms Baillie expressed that she is eager to see an improvement to the economy, housing, the job market, education, and healthcare.

She said: “I hope that we have a vibrant economy, we have jobs available locally, we have houses that people can live in that are decent, we have good schools, and we have services at the Vale of Leven taking care of generations of people from the local area.

“There’s a big job of work to be done, and I want to roll up my sleeves and I want to do that.”

The Scottish Parliament will celebrate 25 years since its official inauguration in July of this year.