Ash Regan

Ash Regan MSP
Official portrait, 2021
Minister for Community Safety
In office 27 June 2018 – 27 October 2022
First Minister	Nicola Sturgeon
Preceded by	Annabelle Ewing
Succeeded by	Elena Whitham
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh Eastern
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 May 2016
Preceded by	Kenny MacAskill
Personal details
Born	Sarah Jane Regan (1974-03-08) 8 March 1974 (age 50) Biggar, Scotland
Political party	Alba (since 2023)
Other political affiliations	Scottish National Party (until 2023)
Spouse	Robert Denham ​ ​ (m. 2000; div. 2020)​
Children	2
Alma mater	Keele University Open University

Ashten Regan (formerly Denham, born Sarah Jane Regan; 8 March 1974) is a Scottish politician. 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.^[1][2] 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. 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. 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 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. 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 (and only) Alba Party member of the Scottish Parliament, having been elected as an SNP member.