Ann was elected to Parliament in 2001 for Glasgow Maryhill and re-elected in 2005 and 2010 as MP for Glasgow North. 

Ann served on the Scottish Affairs Committee and then as a member of the International Development Committee at the House of Commons.  She was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland in the last Labour government, and was previously Chair of the All Party Group on Debt, Aid and Trade and Chair of the backbench group of Scottish Labour MPs. 

In October 2010, Ann McKechin was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland.

Born in Paisley on 22 April 1961, she attended Sacred Heart High School in Paisley and Paisley Grammar School. After leaving school, Ann studied Scots Law at Strathclyde University and practised as a solicitor from 1983 until 2000. Between 1990 and 2000 she was a partner in the Glasgow legal firm, Pacitti Jones. Ann has  lived in Glasgow North constituency for over 17 years.

She was a Labour Party candidate in the Scottish Parliament Elections in 1999 on the West of Scotland list and served as the Secretary of the Glasgow Kelvin Constituency Labour Party from 1995-1998 and as their Women's Officer from 2000-2001.

Ann’s personal interests include dancing, films and art history.