2001 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• First Minister and Keeper of the Great Seal – Henry McLeish, Jack McConnell
• Secretary of State for Scotland – John Reid until 25 January; then Helen Liddell

  Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Lord Boyd of Duncansby
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Neil Davidson; then Elish Angiolini
• Advocate General for Scotland – Lynda Clark

  Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Rodger of Earlsferry until 13 November; then Lord Cullen of Whitekirk
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Cullen, then Lord Gill
• Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord McGhie

  Events

• 31 January – the Scottish Court in the Netherlands convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed in Lockerbie in 1988. Lamin Khalifah Fhimah is cleared, but Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum term of twenty years. Megrahi was released from prison on compassionate grounds in 2009; as doctors reported he had terminal prostate cancer, and he died on 20 May 2012, aged sixty.
• March – first natural gas production from the Elgin–Franklin fields in the North Sea.
• 26 May – the Forth and Clyde Canal reopens throughout for leisure purposes.
• 7 June – The UK general election results in the Labour Party winning 56 of Scotland's 72 seats, with the Liberal Democrats winning ten, the Scottish National Party winning five and the Conservatives gaining one.
• 17 June – Cardinal Winning, head of the Roman Catholic church in Scotland, dies of a heart attack aged 76.
• 21 June – Glasgow Science Centre opens to visitors.
• 24 June – suicide of Nicola Ann Raphael in Glasgow following bullying. She was fifteen years old.
• 14 July – Eriskay is linked to South Uist by causeway.
• 10 September – the Bank of Scotland and the Halifax merge to form HBOS plc.
• October – Glasgow Tower first opens to public.
• 6 November – the Protection from Abuse Act 2001 receives Royal Assent.
• 13 December – New Lanark is designated as a World Heritage Site.
• 23 December – the Cairngorm Mountain Railway opens.
• 26 December – English-born author J. K. Rowling marries at the country house of Killiechassie which she purchased a month earlier.

  Deaths

• 27 January – Robert Alexander Rankin, mathematician
• 12 June – Thomas Wilson, classical composer
• 31 October – Angus MacVicar, writer
• 15 November – Megan Boyd, fly tyer

  The arts

• Summer – Channel Six Dundee, a Restricted Service Licence television station, begins its 1-year operation.
• Anne Donovan's collection Hieroglyphics and Other Stories is published.
• Pop rock group Speedway formed by Glaswegians Jill Jackson and Jim Duguid.