# 2025 in Scotland

Events from the year 2025 in Scotland.

## Incumbents

* First Minister – John Swinney
* Secretary of State – Ian Murray

## Events
### January

* 1 January –
** Ferry fares in Scotland increase by 10%.
** Police Scotland release images of 19 people they wish to speak to in connection with violence and disorder which broke out in Glasgow city centre ahead of the Scottish League Cup final between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden Park on 15 December.
** Traditional Scottish singer Iona Fyfe takes up the post of Rector of the University of Aberdeen, succeeding Martina Chukwuma–Ezike.
** With temperatures set to drop overnight on 1–2 January, the Met Office issues a yellow weather warning for ice covering all of Scotland.
* 3 January – Public Health Scotland data released for the week ending 29 December shows the number of hospital admissions for flu has increased by 12% in a week, with influenza present in 52.6 per 100,000 people.
* 6 January – A 2.9 magnitude earthquake is recorded in Kinloch, 19 miles north west of Oban.
* 7 January – A fresh yellow weather alert for snow and ice is issued for large parts of Scotland, starting from midday and lasting for 24 hours.
* 8 January –
** Police Scotland launch an investigation into the illegal release of two lynx in the Highlands, and warn the public not to approach them.
** BBC News reports that plans are under way to create the UK's largest battery storage facility in Coalburn, South Lanarkshire.
** Details of Edinburgh's proposed tourist tax are unveiled, with the levy set at 5%.
** Patrick Harvie, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, is to take time off from the Scottish Parliament because of a medical procedure.
* 9 January –
** Following a trial at the High Court of Justiciary in Glasgow, the members of a Romanian grooming gang, consisting of four men and one woman, are convicted of the rape of ten women between 2021 and 2022.
** Former First Minister Humza Yousaf accuses Twitter owner Elon Musk of trying to inflame racial tensions after he posted about the murder of a Glasgow schoolboy.
** A pair of lynx released illegally are recaptured in the Cairngorms National Park. A second part are found in the same area the following day.
* 10 January – The UK records its coldest temperatures of the winter so far, with an overnight low of −14.5 °C (5.9 °F) in Altnaharra, northern Scotland.
* 11 January –
** The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland confirms that a lynx captured in the Cairngorms National Park the previous day has died overnight.
** Temperatures continue to fall, becoming the coldest since 2010, with an overnight low of −18.9 °C in Roybridge, Scotland.
** The search for sisters Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, missing from Aberdeen since the early hours of 7 January, is extended to the coast.
* 12 January – Police focus their search for missing sisters Eliza and Henrietta Huszti on the River Dee.
* 13 January –
** In a social media post, former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announces that she and Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive, have "decided to end" their marriage and have been separated for some time.
** The CalMac ferry MV Glen Sannox begins timetabled sailings on the Arran route.
** The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland says that four lynx illegally released in the Cairngorms National Park showed signs of starvation.
** Shell plc says it is investigating a "suspected unexploded ordnance" near the Far North Liquids and Associated Gas System (FLAGS) pipeline in the North Sea off Shetland.
** The Thistle, the UK's first drugs consumption clinic, opens in Glasgow. It is used more than 130 times in its first week.
* 20 January – The bodies of a 36-year-old man and a six-year-old girl, later identified as Mark Gordon and his daughter Hope, are discovered at a house in West Lothian.
* 21 January – Perthshire teenager James Maris, who attempted to construct a semi-automatic rifle using a 3D printer he received for Christmas, is sentenced to 300 hours community service, along with a three-year supervision order and a twelve-month night time curfew.
* 22 January –
** The Scottish Government scraps its flagship policy of launching a National Care Service, although the Social Care Minister confirms that a proposed National Care Service Bill will still be presented to Parliament.
** MSPs pass the Welfare of Dogs Bill, requiring a code of practice for getting a dog to be drawn up in the next twelve months.
* 23 January –
** The Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGoRR) is activated by first minister John Swinney ahead of Storm Éowyn.
** The Met office amber warning for wind is upgraded to a Red Warning in the Central belt and Northern Ireland
** The Scottish Government issues an emergency alert to mobile phones across Scotland ahead of Storm Éowyn. The alert was received by approximately 4.5 million people across Scotland.
* 24 January – Storm Éowyn makes landfall in Scotland, causing significant damage and disruption to public services including transport networks and schools. Wind speeds as high as 102 mph were recorded on the Tay Road Bridge, and approximately 117,000 homes across the country were left without power.
* 25 January –
** The train line between East Kilbride and Glasgow Central closes for 16 weeks for electrification work to be carried out. It is scheduled to reopen on 18 May.
** A 19-year-old man from East Ayrshire, Calum Carmichael, dies from complications following a tree falling onto his car during Storm Éowyn on 23 January.
* 26 January – More than 14,000 homes across Scotland are still without electricity and power following Storm Éowyn.
* 27 January –
** A notorious paedophile gang of five men and two women are sentenced to lifelong terms in prison and warned they may never be released on parole.
** Police Scotland say they have completed a search of the River Dee in Aberdeen and that inquiries are ongoing on the investigation into the disappearance of two sisters.
* 28 January – Joe Fitzpatrick announces that he will not stand for re-election to the Scottish Parliament seat of Dundee City West at the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.
* 29 January – The Scottish Government announces the early release of around 390 prisoners beginning in February as the latest measure to reduce the prison population.
* 30 January – The Court of Sessions in Edinburgh rules that licences for the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil fields were granted illegally, and that their owners must seek fresh approval from the UK government.
* 31 January –
** Police in Aberdeen searching for two missing sisters announce the discovery of the bodies of two unidentified women near to where they were last seen.
** Transport for Scotland announces a 3.8% increase for train fares from April.

### February

* 1 February – Police confirm that a second woman's body has been discovered close to where two sisters disappeared in Aberdeen.
* 3 February –
** Nurse Sandie Peggie starts to give evidence at an employment tribunal into her claims that being forced to change in the same changing room as a doctor who was born male but self-identified as female amounted to harassment under the Equality Act.
** First Minister John Swinney says there will be no ban on cats in Scotland after the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission suggested restricting them in some areas because of a potential "significant risk to wildlife populations".
* 4 February –
** Teachers in Glasgow belonging to the Educational Institute of Scotland vote to strike over planned cuts to education funding.
** Aberdeen councillor Kairin van Sweeden of the SNP is cleared by the Ethical Standards Commissioner of breaching the code of conduct after describing Labour's Deena Tissera as a "new Scot" during an Aberdeen City Council meeting in 2023.
* 6 February –
** BBC News reports the case of a woman from the Highlands who, after being assaulted by her husband, was unable to find a divorce lawyer to represent her through legal aid despite approaching 116 different law firms.
** Nickolas Chenier becomes the first person to be convicted under the Hunting With Dogs (Scotland) Act after pleading guilty at Wick Sheriff Court. He is fined £750 and banned from keeping a dog for five years after the animal attacked a deer while he was using it for illegal hare coursing.
** Chris McEleny is suspended as general secretary of the Alba Party following allegations of gross misconduct.
* 7 February –
** First Minister John Swinney rules out the legal reintroduction of lynx into the wild in Scotland.
** Teachers in Glasgow schedule a strike for Thursday 20 February. The strike is subsequently called off after Glasgow City Council agrees to drop its plans to go ahead with job cuts.
** Deaf teenager Niamdh Braid wins a legal case against Fife Council to have a British Sign Language interpreter in her class for school lessons.
* 11 February – Police confirm that two bodies found in a river in Aberdeen are those of missing twin sisters Henrietta and Eliza Huszti.
* 13 February –
** The Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Bill is introduced into the House of Commons in order to lift the ban on Roman Catholics becoming the King's representative at the Church of Scotland's annual assembly, after Lady Elish Angiolini KC, a practicing Catholic, was appointed to be Lord High Commissioner of the 2025 general assembly.
** Historic Environment Scotland grants Glasgow Central Mosque Category A listed status.
** Three 20-storey tower blocks in Motherwell are to be destroyed in a controlled explosion later in the year to make way for new development.
** Nigg, a port owned by Global Energy Group, and part of the new Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport, is given permission by the UK government to have some of its own customs arrangements.
* 14 February – In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, US Vice President J D Vance criticises Scotland's Safe Access Zones Act, which provides buffer zones around abortion clinics, claiming people who live within safe access zones have been sent letters by the Scottish Government warning them about praying within their homes. In response, the Scottish Government accuses Vance of "spreading misinformation" and says that no such letters have been sent out, while the Act would only cover "intentional or reckless behaviour". Green MSP Gillian Mackay, who drew up the legislation, describes the Vice President's comments as "shocking and shameless misinformation".
* 16 February – The Crown Office takes over the management of post mortem examinations in Aberdeen due to a shortage of qualified personnel in the city.
* 17 February – BBC Radio Scotland presenter Janice Forsyth announces she is stepping down from presenting after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease.
* 18 February –
** Scotland begins the early release of a further 390 prisoners in an attempt to reduce overcrowding in the country's prisons.
** East Lothian Council becomes the first Scottish council to confirm a double-digit council tax increase, after announcing it will rise by 10% from April.
* 19 February – A 74-year-old woman becomes the first person to be arrested and charged under a Scottish law banning protests outside abortion clinics following an incident at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
* 20 February – Five local authorities in Scotland confirm the largest council tax increases in two decades; they are North Lanarkshire and Scottish Borders (10%), Fife (8.2%), Edinburgh (8%) and Glasgow (7.5%).
* 21 February –
** The West Coast Main Line is closed between Carstairs and Lockerbie following a landslip at Beattock.
** A 17-year-old boy who idolised the teenagers who carried out the Columbine High School massacre and planned to replicate it at his school in Edinburgh pleads guilty to an offence under the Terrorism Act.
** Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar says he will deliver the "biggest reform of the NHS in decades" if his party wins the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.
* 22 February –
** Scotland's first slap fight contest, scheduled to take place at Glasgow University Union, is cancelled following a health warning from a leading brain injury expert.
** A 40-year-old man dies after he is hit by an ambulance responding to an emergency call on the outskirts of Elgin in the early hours of the morning.
* 23 February – Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announces a further £200m investment in the Grangemouth Refinery site, which is scheduled to close later in the year, with the money aimed at repurposing the site for other industrial use.
* 24 February –
** BBC News Scotland reports the official cause of death of twin sisters Henrietta and Eliza Huszti, whose bodies were found in the River Dee, as drowning.
** The body of Scottish businessman Campbell Scott, who disappeared while on a business trip to Kenya on 16 February, is found dumped in a sack. A murder investigation is launched by the country's police.
* 26 February –
** Kevin Booth, a man who tortured vulnerable women in an underground dungeon at his home in the Highlands, becomes the first person to be given a worldwide travel ban by a court in Scotland.
** A wall collapses following an explosion at an electricity sub-station in Dundee city centre.
* 28 February –
** Around 70 passengers and crew are rescued from a train near the Tay Bridge in Dundee following a fire in a power car.
** Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC orders a fresh investigation into the death of Demi Hannaway, a woman who was abused by her partner, and who died in May 2021.

### March

* 3 March – SNP MSP and deputy presiding officer Annabelle Ewing announces she will not seek re-election to Holyrood in 2026.
* 4 March –
** Former Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard announces he will not seek re-election to the Scottish Parliament at the next election.
** Scottish Sikh Jagtar Singh Johal, detained in India since 2017 on terror charges, is cleared in one of nine cases against him.
* 5 March – SNP ministers Shona Robison and Fiona Hyslop announce they will stand down from Holyrood at the next Scottish election.
* 6 March – Falkirk Council sets Scotland's largest council tax increase after councillors agree a 15.6% rise.
* 8 March – The activist group Palestine Action have vandalised parts of Donald Trump's Turnberry Golf Resort and posted pictures on social media.
* 9 March – Following an unseasonably warm weekend, the highest temperature of the year so far is recorded at Threave in Western Scotland, with a high of 17.3 °C.
* 10 March – Carol Beattie is appointed chief executive of the Scottish National Party after taking on the post in an acting role following the resignation of her predecessor, Murray Foote.
* 11 March –
** The University of Dundee announces plans to cut 632 jobs in an attempt to address a £35m deficit.
** The Scottish Government announces it is scrapping plans to require homeowners to switch to greener heating shortly after purchase, and will take the measures out of its Heat in Buildings Bill.
* 12 March – Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announces she will stand down from the Scottish Parliament at the 2026 election.
* 13 March – First Minister John Swinney holds talks with Eric Trump, the son of US President Donald Trump, at Bute House.
* 14 March – The ferry MV Glen Sannox is taken out of service after the discovery of a crack in its hull.
* 16 March – The MV Glen Sannox resumes sailing following repairs to its hull.
* 17 March – Following a trial at Glasgow Court of Justiciary, Dionne Christie is convicted of the murder of her drug dealer boyfriend, Jevin Haig, who she stabbed with a hunting knife at their flat in June 2022.
* 18 March –
** A fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of three newborn babies at two hospitals in Lanarkshire concludes that "reasonable precautions" could have prevented the deaths.
** BBC Scotland announces its flagship soap, River City, will end in Autumn 2026 after 24 years on air.
* 19 March –
** During a hearing at Stirling Sheriff Court, 26-year-old Shaazia Arshad pleads guilty to the assault of a one-month-old baby boy, who suffered injuries that have been compared to those that would be sustained in a car crash. She will be sentenced on 16 April.
** It is announced that the UK is to stage the opening stage of the 2027 Tour de France for both the men's and women's races, with the men's race starting in Edinburgh.

### Predicted events

* March – 2025 Alba Party leadership election
* 1 June – The sale of disposable vapes will be banned in Scotland.

## Deaths

* 6 January – John Douglas, 90, Scottish rugby union player (Barbarian, British & Irish Lions, national team). (death announced on this date)
* 11 January – Bobby Kennedy, 87, Scottish football player (Manchester City, Kilmarnock) and manager (Grimsby Town).
* 12 January – Peter Brown, 83, Scottish rugby union player (Glasgow, national team).
* 17 January – Denis Law, 84, Scottish footballer (Manchester United, Huddersfield Town, national team), Alzheimer's disease.
* 19 January – Jimmy Calderwood, 69, Scottish football player (Birmingham City) and manager (Dunfermline Athletic, Aberdeen), complications from dementia.
* 6 February – Gordon Marshall, 85, English-Scottish footballer (Heart of Midlothian, Newcastle United, Arbroath). (death announced on this date)
* 17 February – Jamie Muir, 82, Scottish painter and musician (King Crimson).
* 18 February – James Martin, 93, Scottish actor (Still Game).
* 19 February – Cammy Murray, 80, Scottish footballer (St. Mirren, Motherwell, Arbroath).
* 20 February – Evan Williams, 81, Scottish footballer (Wolverhampton Wanderers, Celtic, Clyde).
* 1 March – Jack Vettriano, 73, Scottish painter.
* 9 March – Dick McTaggart, 89, Scottish boxer, Olympic champion (1956).
* 17 March – John Fraser, 88, Scottish footballer (Hibernian, Stenhousemuir). (death announced on this date)