Joanna Cherry QC was first elected SNP MP for Edinburgh South West in 2015, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 11,982.
The Edinburgh South West constituency covers the suburban south west of Edinburgh itself, before spreading out of the Scottish capital to include a number of rural villages in the Pentland Hills. This seat was previously represented at Westminster by the Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling until his retirement in 2015, at which point voters switched to back the SNP.
Joanna Cherry previously served as the SNP Justice and Home Affairs spokesperson in the House of Commons. Perceived as being at odds with the current SNP leadership on a number of issues, she was removed from the role in 2021.
Born in 1966, Joanna Cherry studied at St Margaret’s Convent School in Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh, where she gained a first-class degree in 1988, a Master of Laws degree in 1989 and a Diploma in Legal Practice in 1990.
A former barrister, Cherry served as a Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Government from 2003 to 2008, and as an Advocate Depute and Senior Advocate Depute from 2008 until 2011. She was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 2009.
During the 2014 Scottish Referendum, Cherry set up the “Lawyers for Yes” campaign group.
In 2019 Cherry was heavily involved in legal battles to overturn the suspension of Parliament that occurred in the midst of the then Brexit battle.
Cherry writes a weekly column for the the National newspaper.
Cherry is openly lesbian and has been active in the debate around trans gender rights.
In 2021 she was reported as being on the receiving end of a number of threats on social media. She resigned from the SNP’s National Executive Committee in May 2021 claiming that a “number of factors had prevented her from improving “transparency” and “scrutiny”. She resigned shortly after the SNP Treasurer, Douglas Chapman MP, had also resigned arguing he hadn’t been given enough information to do his job.
Joanna Cherry is the Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on the Rule of Law.
Email: joanna.cherry.mp@parliament.uk
Website: https://joannacherry.scot/
Twitter: twitter.com/joannaccherry
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/JoannaCherrySNP
