2006 in Scotland
Events from the year 2006 in Scotland.Incumbents
January
- 1 January – Transport Scotland begins operations as an agency of the Scottish Executive.
- 7 January – Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats resigns after revelations that he has a drinking problem.
February
- 9 February – Dunfermline and West Fife by-election: Willie Rennie of the Liberal Democrats is the winner.
March
- 2 March –
- * Sir Menzies Campbell is elected leader of the Liberal Democrats following an election caused by the resignation of Charles Kennedy.
- * Four people are injured in an explosion in a GlaxoSmithKline factory in Irvine, North Ayrshire.
- 15–26 March – Scotland at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
- 28 March – Royal Regiment of Scotland created; King's Own Scottish Borderers and The Royal Scots disbanded.
April
- 27 April – Moray by-election: Richard Lochhead holds the seat in the Scottish Parliament for the Scottish National Party.
May
- 30 May – Scottish TV and Grampian TV both relaunched under the new name of STV.
July
- 4 July - The Sheridan v News International court case begins.
August
- 21 August – the first modern solely Gaelic-medium school to offer secondary education, Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu, is opened at Woodside in Glasgow.
- Scotland's first offshore wind turbine is installed in the Beatrice Wind Farm, 24 km offshore in the Moray Firth.
- The Scottish crossbill is finally confirmed as a unique species.
September
- 3 September – establishment of Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement, a breakaway from the Scottish Socialist Party.
- 18 September – the Clyde Arc, a pedestrian/cycle bridge over the River Clyde at Finnieston, is officially opened.
October
- 5 October – Rt. Hon. Elish Angiolini, QC, appointed as Lord Advocate. She is the first woman, first procurator fiscal, and the first solicitor to be appointed to the post.
- 11–13 October – multi-party political talks on Northern Ireland are held in St Andrews, resulting in the St Andrews Agreement.
November
- 8 November – three men of Pakistani origin sentenced to life imprisonment for the racist murder of Kriss Donald in Glasgow.
- 25–26 November – Aberdeen Cup tennis tournament.
- 30 November – residents of Benbecula take control of a large part of the island in a community buy-out.
Deaths
- 5 January – Rachel Squire, Labour MP
- 31 January – Moira Shearer, ballet dancer and actress
- 9 February – Ena Lamont Stewart, playwright
- 10 February – John Prentice, football player and manager
- 28 February – Hugh McCartney, Labour MP
- 3 March – Ivor Cutler, poet, songwriter and humourist
- 12 March – Jimmy Johnstone, footballer; member of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame
- 21 March – Margaret Ewing, Scottish National Party MSP and former MP
- 27 March – Ian Hamilton Finlay, writer, artist and gardener
- 9 April – Robin Orr, composer
- 13 April – Muriel Spark, novelist
- 15 April – Calum Kennedy, singer
- 8 May – Iain Macmillan, photographer and author
- 17 May – Eric Forth, Conservative MP
- 6 July – Tom Weir, climber, author and broadcaster
- 30 August – Hector Monro, Baron Monro of Langholm, Conservative and Unionist MP
- 15 September – Douglas Henderson, Scottish National Party MP
- 3 October – Lucilla Andrews, romantic novelist
Arts
- February – National Theatre of Scotland established as a peripatetic company.
- 1 August – Gregory Burke's play Black Watch is first performed, by the National Theatre of Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe'.
- Hamish MacDonald self-publishes The Willies and Idea in Stone.
- James Robertson publishes The Testament of Gideon Mack.
