Exclusive:Fit for office: Holyrood's MSPs on pre-election weight loss jabs and exercise regimes
Holyrood’s MSPs are on a fitness kick in order to be battle ready for the election - and some are using weight loss jabs to do it
With more than a third of MSPs standing down at the May elections, Holyrood is set to take a radically new shape … and so are its politicians.
As legislators prepare for the gruelling campaign trail or pastures new, a fitness craze has swept the Scottish parliament.
And The Scotsman can reveal a significantly higher proportion of the MSP population than ordinary Scots are using weight loss jabs as they bid to get fit for office.
At least 16 of the parliament’s 129 MSPs are using weight loss medications, we have confirmed.
That amounts to 12.4 per cent of Holyrood politicians using weight loss jabs - far higher than the Scottish average.
Figures published by the Scottish government in October last year showed at least 7,660 patients in Scotland are being prescribed weight loss medication.
For the overall population, that amounts to just 0.14 per cent - far lower than the estimated figure for the UK, which is 2.9 per cent.
Weight loss drugs would appear to have gained cross-party consensus - the Scottish Greens the only significant group at Holyrood that appears to have no politicians using the jabs.
One parliament insider said: "The MSPs are vanishing before our eyes and that's even before the election results.
"Some people are very open about using the fat jags. Others are far more private but a stonking number of them are at it - it's a full on craze.”
For Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland region, his decision to use Mounjaro was far from influenced by any craze.
He was prompted to lose weight by thoughts of his own mortality and his family.
Having celebrated a milestone birthday last year, he realised he wanted to be around for as long as possible for his wife, children and grandchildren.
“I realised that if I carried on at the weight I was, I would be shortening my own life,” he said.
“That was a sobering thought.
“Public life is demanding, but family must always come first. And I realised that if I was going to be serious about serving others, I had to take responsibility for my own health as well.”
Mr Kerr had struggled with his weight and fitness for years but discussions with friends and colleagues - as well as medical advice - led him to choose Mounjaro to kick start his fitness regime.
“It wasn’t about a quick fix, but about taking responsibility for myself and getting the support I needed to reset habits, improve my diet and exercise more consistently,” he added.
“It is not a miracle cure. It still takes discipline, and I am still working at it. But it has helped
me make meaningful progress.”
He also believes weight and fitness is a public health issue, not merely a personal matter.
After attending an international conference on diabetes last year with former Prime Minister Theresa May, he realised the scale of the challenge “was stark”.
Mr Kerr said: “I have hesitated before speaking about it because weight is personal.
“I do not want people to think I am being preachy or pompous.
“But if being open about my experience encourages even one other person to think about taking steps to improve their own health, then it is worth saying so.
“Whatever happens in May at the elections, I am determined to keep working at this.
“It is something I owe to my family and to myself.”
Not all fitness-focused politicians have gone down the medication route.
Among the new Holyrood health and fitness fans is Scottish Conservative Roz McCall, who has spent the past year transforming her health.
The Mid Scotland and Fife MSP was, however, motivated by what she candidly describes as the “worst of reasons”.
“My husband asked me for a divorce last January, and not to put too fine a point on it, it came as a shock and meant a monumental shift in my life.”
Ms McCall moved out of the family home and back in with her mum - at the age of 56.
“I realised very quickly that if I didn't do something to keep my head, I was going to be in trouble. “And I just started walking.”
The MSPs sister is an avid walker and so every morning at 6.30am the pair would go for an hour’s trek in the morning then another after dinner.
It was only when she began to exercise that Ms McCall said she realised how unfit she was, adding, “It’s ridiculous how unfit I was - I hadn't realised just what a lardy arse I'd become”.
The politician said she also has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which can make it harder to lose weight.
Being at home with her mother and no longer running her own home gave her more time to focus on her health.
The stress of her situation also reduced her appetite but, she said, if she hadn’t lost weight through other means “I would have been a major candidate” for weight loss jabs.
“I know there are many people out there who think you should do it the old-fashioned way, but if the old-fashioned way hasn't worked for you for 40 years, then do it,” she said.
Ms McCall added: “I completely understand the need for something that monitors your hunger and stops the ‘food noise’.
“I've been a big girl all my life, and even as a child, I would wake up thinking, ‘What am I going to have for breakfast, what's after breakfast?’
“I think about food all the time.”
As an adult Ms McColl became fixated on calorie counting but during the stress of her early separation she stopped thinking constantly about food.
She is now evangelical about the benefits of walking in the fresh air for both physical and mental health.
It is a habit that, after a full year committed to walking, she is confident she will not give up.
“The clarity of mind that comes within the first few minutes of that walk … I've got so much noise in my head but as I'm pounding the streets and I'm not talking, that noise will disappear and I can process the thing I need to work through.”
Weight‑loss medications, such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, are designed to help people reduce body weight when diet and exercise alone are not enough.
Experts caution the drugs are not a magic solution.
They are most effective when combined with lifestyle changes, including healthy eating and regular exercise, and long-term use requires medical supervision.
Side effects can include nausea, digestive issues, and, rarely, more serious complications.
Private prescriptions are also expensive, with insiders at the parliament suggesting a high number of MSPs use them for the simple fact they can afford to.
In the UK, GLP-1 drugs are sold by the companies Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and Company, Orlistat and Mysimba.
Several MSPs have been lobbied by Novo Nordisk, including Emma Harper, Foysol Choudhury, David Stewart and ex-Olympian Brian Whittle, about its weigh-loss drug Wegovy.
Weight loss injections are now proving so popular that restaurants have begun to offer smaller portions for those using the medicines.
Food chains like Marks and Spencer, Iceland and the Co-op have also started selling GLP‑1 friendly “mini meals” that are lower calorie but high in nutrients.
However, the parliament’s caterer’s, Sodexo, haven’t yet caught up to the trend.
Asked if they have plans to introduce an adapted menu for the parliament’s fitness-focused legislators, a Sodexo spokeswoman said: “We always provide our customers with a variety of balanced meal options, including offering small main meal options and different portion sizes.”
But do voters care about the size or shape of their politicians?
They do if the politician is a woman.
Surprisingly, polling from both the UK and US show that obese women legislators are less trusted by the electorate - but obese men are more trusted.
Douglas Ross MSP is frequently spotted in Holyrood’s gym and cutting through the parliament in his tracksuit on the way back from a lunchtime run.
Former Scottish Tory leader Mr Ross famously butted heads with his old boss Boris Johnson - but running was at least one thing they had in common.
Former First Minister Alex Salmond also famously lost more than two stone for the run up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum by following the 5:2 fasting diet.
Yet polling suggests that their fitness efforts might have been electorally wrong-headed as voters apparently prefer thin women and larger men.
Polling expert Mark Diffley, founder of Diffley Partnership, said: “While we are often fixated with how honest, trustworthy and hardworking our politicians are, we should not forget or discount the fact that some voters will make judgements about the weight and physical appearance of those seeking office.
“Many political leaders seek to portray an image of being fit and healthy, in part because they want to convey to voters that they are suitable to handle the significant demands of modern politics.”
In the US, data from the 2008 and 2012 elections was used to look at the relationship between the size of the candidate and their selection outcome.
Overweight women, but not overweight men, were under-represented while heavier candidates received a lower vote share.
Mr Diffley added: “The evidence suggests that it is women seeking office that are more are more likely to be harshly judged for being overweight than their male counterparts.
“So, although the cohort of MSPs taking weight loss drugs to prepare for the election campaign covers both sexes, it is women who may be at an advantage in terms of trading weight loss for a gain in votes.”
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