Jackie Baillie MSP is made a Dame in King's birthday honours

Jackie Baillie, who has represented the town since the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999, has been honoured for her "political and public service".

Helensburgh tennis star Gordon Reid was made an OBE to add to the MBE he received six-and-a-half years ago, while town resident Lawrence Honeysett was given an MBE for his services to parliament.

Dame Jackie was elected to serve the Dumbarton constituency at the first Scottish Parliament election 24 years ago - and has held the seat ever since, despite the declining electoral fortunes of her party at Holyrood and in the face of determined efforts by the SNP to wrest it from her control.

At the most recent election in 2021, Ms Baillie increased her majority over the SNP to win a sixth term representing the area.

She said she wanted to share the accolade with the people she represents - saying there were many in the area who deserved it more than her.

She said: “This is not something I would have sought or expected. I am humbled to be honoured in this way.

“Having been nominated by the constituents I have represented for the last 24 years, I am delighted to accept.

"There are, however, many people in my area that deserve to be honoured more than me - the NHS staff that cared for us during the pandemic and those who give of their time to help others.

“So I am accepting this on their behalf as much as my own.”

With recipients of honours sworn to secrecy about their awards ahead of the honours list being made public, the Labour politician told just two people about the award – her daughter and the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar.

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The 59-year-old is one of only three MSPs at Holyrood who have represented the same constituency for the lifetime of the Parliament – the others being former deputy first minister John Swinney and the SNP’s Fergus Ewing.

And she vowed that the honour would not change her.

In her time in Holyrood, Dame Jackie has fought for a public inquiry to be held into the outbreak of Clostridium difficile at the Vale of Leven Hospital.

With her constituency including the Faslane nuclear submarine base, she has also supported the jobs there, even at times when Labour has not been in favour of nuclear weapons.

Dame Jackie said: “I’m a multilateralist: I want to see nuclear weapons across the world removed, but these are good jobs in my constituency.”

The MSP, who was born in Hong Kong to a Portuguese father and Scottish mother, was made deputy communities minister by Holyrood’s first First Minister Donald Dewar, before becoming social justice minister under his successor Henry McLeish, during which time she was spearheaded the efforts of the then Scottish Executive’s homelessness task force.

She has held a range of positions in the shadow cabinet since 2007, covering areas including health, social care and finance and the economy.

She has previously served as acting Scottish Labour leader and was elected as the party’s Scottish deputy leader in 2020.

But she said: “I can’t get over the fact that I think there are many, many more people in my constituency who are much more deserving of this honour than me.

“The NHS staff that I know, the care staff that I know, who went above and beyond during the pandemic to care for us.

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"I think of all the people in my constituency who are always giving of their time freely to help others, whether it is volunteering with CHAS (Children’s Hospices Across Scotland) which is in the constituency, or raising funds for cancer services, all of that they do all the time.

"So they are far more deserving than me.

“This is less about me, this is for them. It is for them as much as it is for me.”

Gordon Reid, meanwhile, sees an OBE added to the MBE he received after winning gold in the wheelchair tennis event at the Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.

Since then, the former Hermitage Academy pupil has gone on to win 17 Grand Slam doubles titles alongside fellow Brit Alfie Hewett – who is also made an OBE.

The pair have now won an incredible 18 Grand Slam doubles titles together – the most recent of them at the French Open at Roland-Garros less than a week ago – while Reid himself can boast of being a 21-time Grand Slam doubles winner, alongside his two singles titles, both achieved in that remarkable 2016 which saw him go on to win gold in Brazil.

Born at the Vale of Leven Hospital on October 2, 1991, Gordon contracted a rare spinal condition, transverse myelitis, in 2004.

He took up wheelchair tennis a year later and in 2007 became Britain’s youngest men’s singles national champion – aged just 15 and while still a pupil at the Academy.

His 2016 exploits saw him awarded the Freedom of Argyll and Bute in December of that year – an honour that has been bestowed on only a handful of people, among them the late Billy Petrie, former councillor, Rhu postmaster and Argyll and Bute Provost, who died in August 2022 aged 94.

“It is a great honour to be receiving an OBE in the King’s birthday honours," Gordon said.

"I hope my platform as a professional athlete can help inspire other people with disabilities to lead an active and positive lifestyle.”

Helensburgh’s third honours recipient is Lawrence, or Larry, Honeysett, who receives an MBE “for services to Parliament” in recognition of his role as head of financial scrutiny at the Committee Office in the House of Commons.

Mr Honeysett has written, on his own and with others, numerous research briefings, insights and debate packs on Parliament’s scrutiny of the government’s spending plans, dating back to 2017 – all of them available at the House of Commons Library website.

The Advertiser was unable to contact Mr Honeysett prior to publication.