Jeane Freeman
Scottish politician and public affairs consultant (1953-2026)

Jeane Tennent Freeman (September 1953 – 7 February 2026) was a Scottish businesswoman and politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituency from 2016 to 2021.
Born into a Labour-supporting, working-class family in South Ayrshire, Freeman attended the Glasgow College of Technology, studying sociology and politics. She became politically active at an early age and was a member of the Communist Party's student wing, before joining the Labour Party. In 1987, she established Apex Scotland, a criminal justice employment organisation, and was CEO until 2000. Freeman later was a political adviser to the Labour First Minister Jack McConnell from 2001 to 2005. In the run-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, she and several other women, founded Women for Independence. Freeman campaigned in support for Scottish independence and in the aftermath of the Yes Scotland campaign's defeat in the referendum, she joined the Scottish National Party.
The following year Freeman was selected as the SNP's candidate for the Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituency in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election. She was elected to the 5th Scottish Parliament and was subsequently appointed to a junior ministerial post as Minister for Social Security.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Jeane Freeman” as scottish politician and public affairs consultant (1953-2026). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as scottish politician and public affairs consultant (1953-2026). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16250806. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 2026, 2018 and 2021.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jeane Freeman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.