Jo Swinson recovers from SNP surge to reclaim old seat

Former 'Baby of the House' Jo Swinson has sparked her political comeback by winning her old parliamentary constituency back from the SNP.

Jo Swinson.

The Liberal Democrat first won the seat of East Dunbartonshire from Labour in 2005 at the age of 25 - at the same time becoming the first MP to have been born in the 1980s.

She held the seat in 2010 and after the Lib Dems went into coalition with the Conservatives, she took on junior ministerial posts, serving as minister for employment relations, consumer and postal affairs, and also junior equalities minister.

During her time in government, she worked to bring in shared parental leave to encourage more fathers to take time off for caring responsibilities after the birth of a child.

When the SNP swept the board in the 2015 election, winning 56 of the 59 Scottish constituencies, she was ousted from Westminster by nationalist John Nicolson.

Just over two years later, she defeated Mr Nicolson to win the seat back for the Lib Dems, with the snap General Election providing an early opportunity for Ms Swinson to return to the political fray.

She was brought up in the East Dunbartonshire area that she represents once again and studied at Douglas Academy in Milngavie before going on to get a first-class degree from the London School of Economics.

She joined the Liberal Democrats at the age of 17 and is married to Duncan Hames, who like her was a Liberal Democrat MP who lost his seat when support for the party plummeted in the 2015 election.

The couple have one son, Andrew, who was born in December 2013.