Dave Doogan is the Scottish National Party (SNP) MP for Angus and Perthshire Glens, having first been elected for the predecessor seat of Angus at the 2019 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Doogan won 19,142 votes, representing 40.4% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Stephen Kerr, received 14,272 votes (30.1%), while the Labour candidate, Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, secured 6,799 votes (14.4%). Doogan was duly elected with a majority of 4,870 votes.

The Angus and Perthshire Glens constituency was newly created for the 2024 election following boundary changes, covering parts of Angus and Perth and Kinross council areas. It includes towns such as Brechin, Forfar, and Montrose. The former Angus seat, which comprises 63.3% of Doogan’s current Angus and Perthshire Glens constituency, was an SNP-Conservative marginal. It was represented by Kirstene Hair of the Conservative Party from 2017 to 2019.

Political Career

Doogan serves as leader of the SNP Westminster group (since May 2026). He succeeded Stephen Flynn in this role after Flynn stepped down as an MP following their election to the Scottish Parliament.

Doogan was unanimously elected Westminster leader by a vote of SNP MPs.

At the time, he said: “Following a swift timetable for an orderly leadership transition, I’m delighted to have been elected as the new SNP Westminster Leader at a crucial time for Scotland’s future and our journey to independence.”

Doogan was appointed as the SNP Westminster spokesperson for defence and the economy following the 2024 general election – which saw his party’s standing in the House of Commons markedly reduced from 48 seats (in 2019) to nine.

Doogan is also a member of the commons Scottish affairs select committee (since June 2025) – the committee responsible for scrutinising the expenditure, administration and policies of the Scotland Office and its associated bodies. The committee also examines the wider UK government, assessing policies and legislation that are relevant to Scotland.

In November 2025, Doogan said he would seek the SNP leadership at Westminster in the event that the incumbent, Stephen Flynn, secured election to the Scottish Parliament.

Doogan stated: “I will certainly be putting my name forward…

“We are not short of capable leadership in our admittedly small group. I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if it goes to a contest.”

Doogan has held several frontbench roles during his time in parliament. He served as SNP energy security and net zero spokesperson from July 2024 to June 2025, SNP energy security and net zero spokesperson from September 2023 to May 2024, SNP defence spokesperson from December 2022 to September 2023, SNP defence procurement spokesperson from January 2022 to December 2022, SNP manufacturing spokesperson from October 2020 to January 2022, and SNP agriculture and rural affairs spokesperson from January 2020 to January 2022.

Doogan’s promotion as defence spokesperson in December 2022 followed Flynn’s victory in the SNP Westminster leadership election (over Alison Thewliss).

Doogan was a member of the House of Commons defence committee from January 2022 to September 2023, and the environment, food and rural affairs committee from March 2020 to January 2022.

Doogan is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for engineering.

Doogan delivered his maiden speech on 21 January 2020 during a debate on the Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) Bill.

In it, he said: “It was in Angus – at Arbroath abbey – that, 700 years ago, the nobles of Scotland became signatories to the declaration of Arbroath that was sent to Pope John XXII, which asserted Scotland’s position in the world as an independent kingdom. While this work remains in progress, I believe a satisfactory conclusion to Scotland’s position in the world is close at hand.”

He added: “I will always seek to be constructive and courteous in transacting our business down here, but do not mistake that for submission or fondness for the status quo. I and my SNP colleagues are here to settle up, not settle down.”

Before entering parliament, Doogan was an SNP councillor for Perth City North ward on Perth and Kinross Council from 2012 until February 2020. He served as convener of housing and health and later as leader of the SNP group on the council.

Political views

As a member of the SNP, Doogan advocates for Scottish independence. In his 2019 maiden speech, Doogan said he looks forward to a “progressive future of independence” for Scotland.

He stated: “We are here only to help to open the door to a progressive independent future for our country – and when Scotland walks through, into the progressive future of independence and the normality that that brings, the honour will fall to me and my SNP colleagues here gathered to firmly close the door of this place behind us and leave for the last time, taking Scotland’s brighter, independent future with us.”

As an SNP councillor, Doogan was the subject of controversy after he made references to “redcoats” and “quislings” during a debate on the Gaelic language. The contribution forced Nicola Sturgeon, the then-first minister of Scotland, to condemn any comments which seek “to divide people on the basis of ethnicity” after his speech was raised in Holyrood as being “anti-English”.

Doogan also claimed Scotland had been “under the heel of foreign influence and power for 300 years”.

In March 2017, the comments were raised at a session of first minister’s questions by Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser, who asked Sturgeon to condemn the remarks.

The first minister responded: “I condemn any comments or any language, no matter who it’s from, that is in any way shape or form racist or anti-English or in any way seeks to divide people on the basis of their ethnicity.

“That’s not what my party or my movement – the movement I’m part of is for or represents.”

Winter fuel payment EDM: In September 2024, Doogan signed an early day motion (EDM) expressing concern over the government’s proposed changes to the winter fuel payment. The motion called on the government to “postpone the ending of winter fuel payments and establish a comprehensive strategy to tackle fuel poverty, health inequality and low incomes among older people.”

In a contribution to a February 2025 session of prime minister’s questions, Doogan accused Keir Starmer of “tripping Scottish pensioners of their winter fuel payment” and “abandoning workers in Grangemouth.”

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Fair elections APPG: Doogan is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

Foreign policy and security

Customs union vote (2025): In December 2025, Doogan voted in favour of the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill. The bill, introduced under the 10-minute rule procedure by Liberal Democrat Europe spokesperson Al Pinkerton, sought to mandate the government to enter into negotiations with the European Union to establish a bespoke customs union. In total, 13 Labour MPs joined the Liberal Democrats in supporting the motion, while the majority of the party abstained.

Doogan, in line with SNP policy, is an opponent of nuclear weapons and the Trident nuclear deterrent.

In an interview with the Courier, published July 2021, Doogan stated: “The SNP’s position is very clear, we want weapons of mass destruction removed from Scotland’s waters as soon as possible after a yes [to independence] vote.

“Weapons of mass destruction are not consistent with the values of Scotland and Trident is a colossally expensive system which Scotland doesn’t want.

“I would rather the £204 million a year for Trident paid for personnel that go onto buy houses and send their kids to school in Scotland.

“England may want to maintain a nuclear deterrent and that is up to them, but this is a long-awaited opportunity to say to the rest of the UK ‘we don’t want weapons on our shore’.”

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Doogan was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

Before Politics

Born David Michael Doogan on 4 March 1973 in Perth, Scotland, to Irish parents, James and Anne (née Walsh) Doogan.

Following his schooling in Perth, he worked as an aircraft engineer for the Ministry of Defence, specialising in Sea King Search and Rescue aircraft.

Doogan left this career in 2007 to study politics. He graduated from the University of Dundee in 2011 with a first-class degree in politics and international relations.

From 2011 to 2016, he worked in the office of the now-first minister of Scotland John Swinney.

Personal Life

Doogan married Gillian Kirk in 1999. They have a son and a daughter. He is Catholic, having sworn into parliament on the Jerusalem Bible.

In his 2019 maiden speech, Doogan relayed that his mother “fled Ireland’s poverty as a young adult”.

He added: “The refuge that she and her family found some 70 years ago was in Forfar, the county town of my constituency… My family are indebted to, and a product of, Scotland’s hospitality.”

Trivia

Before entering politics, Doogan worked as an aircraft engineer for the Ministry of Defence specialising in Sea King helicopters.

While studying at university, he worked part-time as a taxi driver.