Craig Meighan
Craig Meighan is a Scottish political reporter for the Press Association, covering party politics, parliament and public policy with a consistent focus on how decisions affect people and institutions in Scotland. His copy is widely syndicated across national and international outlets, including titles such as the Evening Standard, MSN and Yahoo News. Recent work shows him tracking the collision between leadership battles, economic choices and the realities of energy bills, jobs, protest and public services. He works in a straight news format built around clear timelines, polling, official reports and extensive on‑the‑record quotes from politicians, union leaders, campaigners and families.
Party manoeuvres and leadership pressure
Meighan follows party dynamics as stories about power, accountability and consequence rather than insider gossip. In a politics piece for the Evening Standard he reported Scottish Labour figures saying they would “wait and see” on Andy Burnham running in a by‑election, setting that against Wes Streeting’s resignation as health secretary and his call for a leadership battle and for Sir Keir Starmer to stand aside. Another story captures the Scottish Conservative leader insisting he “can’t control defections” to Reform after a senior councillor’s switch, presenting factional tension as a direct quote rather than paraphrased spin.
His coverage repeatedly brings out who is putting pressure on whom: union leaders attacking Anas Sarwar over “radio silence” on the Grangemouth closure, and parties facing electoral consequences if they do not act on threatened jobs. In his reporting on the SNP’s demand that any replacement prime minister slash energy bills, he ties Westminster‑level change straight to household costs, rather than treating leadership as a self‑contained drama.
His party stories are framed by clear stakes – leadership, jobs, energy prices and credibility in front of voters – with little space given to personality detail.
Energy, industry and the cost of living
Energy policy, industrial change and the cost of living form a core thread in Meighan’s work. A Standard piece on protesters laying 400 hard hats outside a Scottish Labour conference uses that image to anchor a story about hundreds of refinery jobs at risk in Falkirk and the warning that Labour will face consequences at the 2026 Holyrood elections if it does not do more. He returns to Grangemouth in a follow‑up where union figures accuse Sarwar of “face‑saving” after what they call “radio silence” on the closure, keeping attention on the workers’ perspective and the timeline of political responses.
In another article he reports poll findings that seven in ten respondents want more North Sea oil and gas to meet energy needs, linking public opinion to the surge in fossil fuel imports and the debate over domestic supply. A health‑sector piece on a “devastating collapse in standards” and an NHS “corridor care crisis” draws heavily on a Royal College of Nursing report, using its language to underline how resource pressures translate into patient harm.
Across these stories he treats energy, industrial policy and public services as connected parts of the economic landscape: refinery closures, poll numbers, union pressure and clinical standards are reported as different faces of the same pressures on living standards.
Protest, rights and justice
Protest and rights‑based stories are another recurring strand, often sitting at the intersection of law, activism and individual experience.
Meighan has covered a US anti‑abortion group planning a series of protests outside a Scottish hospital, setting that against a law passed by the Scottish Parliament that outlaws activists from protesting within 200 metres of abortion clinics. In education, he reports teachers in Glasgow voting overwhelmingly to strike over cuts, highlighting the scale of the ballot result and the specific council decisions at issue. His work also includes a detailed timeline of events around the disappearance of two missing sisters, using chronological structure to guide readers through a complex and sensitive case. On trans rights, he has reported comments from John Swinney that he “understands hurt and anguish” caused by a Supreme Court ruling affecting trans people, bringing together constitutional law and its human impact.
In foreign‑policy‑linked coverage, he reports Swinney backing UK sanctions against what the First Minister calls a “barbaric” regime in Iran, treating the Scottish Government’s stance on sanctions as part of the wider rights discussion. Meighan’s recent stories on Jagtar Singh Johal, a Scot detained in India for nearly nine years without conviction, focus on the family’s reaction to bail and release, describing it as a “moment of joy and sorrow” and foregrounding the long duration of the case. Across these pieces, he consistently centres the voices of protesters, unions, families and ministers while keeping legal context and specific legislative provisions in view.
Format, syndication and prior experience
Meighan works as a political reporter for PA, with his output routinely picked up by national and international publishers. Databases listing his work attribute thousands of published articles to him and note syndication across outlets including MSN, Yahoo and the Independent.
The Standard’s politics section carries many of his stories, typically branded as PA Media copy, which reinforces his role as a wire reporter whose work is built for quick, accurate republication.
Earlier in his career he worked as a production journalist at STV News, covering Scottish politics for the digital team, and as a multimedia journalist for a regional publisher handling live news, politics and culture pieces. His professional profile and social presence describe him explicitly as a Scottish political reporter for the Press Association, underscoring a clear primary beat rather than a general news remit.
Taken together – a focused Scottish politics brief, a strong emphasis on party conflict, energy and rights, and a wire‑style format built on quotes, reports and timelines – his coverage stands out from more generic political reporting by keeping the practical stakes for workers, patients, campaigners and families at the centre of stories about power.
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