page_title: Johann Lamont
section_title: Scottish independence and enhanced devolution
hierarchical_section_title: Johann Lamont / Leader of the Scottish Labour Party / Scottish independence and enhanced devolution
caption_attribution_description: English: Launch of United with Labour
context_page_description: Johann MacDougall Lamont is a Scottish politician, who was the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2011 until 2014. She served as a junior minister in the Labour–Liberal Democrat coalition Scottish Executive from 2004 until the coalition's defeat by the Scottish National Party in 2007. She was subsequently elected deputy leader of the opposition Labour group of MSPs in 2008, and was elected to the leadership of the Scottish Labour Party in December 2011. She announced her resignation in October 2014, and following a leadership election to replace her, was succeeded by former Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy in December 2014.
  Born in Glasgow, Lamont attended Woodside Secondary School and obtained a degree from the University of Glasgow. After studying for teaching qualifications at Jordanhill College, she became a schoolteacher. Active in the Labour Party since she was at university, Lamont served on its Scottish Executive Committee, and chaired it in 1993. With the establishment of a devolved legislature in Scotland, she was elected as the Labour Co-operative Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Pollok in 1999.
context_section_description: Lamont was a prominent figure in the Better Together Campaign, the cross-party political movement founded to keep Scotland as part of the United Kingdom following the SNP's announcement of a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014. She was outspoken in her opposition to Scottish independence, using a keynote speech at UK Labour's 2013 conference in Brighton to accuse the SNP of nurturing hostility between Scotland and the rest of the UK, and describing nationalism as a "virus that has affected so many nations and done so much harm". Lamont is in favour of greater devolved powers for the Scottish Parliament, and established a Commission to look at how this can be achieved.
caption: Lamont (second from right) alongside Anas Sarwar, Gordon Brown and Margaret Curran at the launch of United with Labour
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