Desmond "Des" McNulty (born 28 July 1952), is a Scottish Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Clydebank and Milngavie constituency from 1999 to 2011, serving as Labour's Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning until he was defeated at the 2011 election.

McNulty studied at St Bede's College, Manchester and graduated from the University of York in social sciences in 1974.

[1] Before entering the Scottish Parliament, he worked at Glasgow Caledonian University as a sociologist, later becoming head of strategic planning.

On becoming leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament in September 2008, Iain Gray appointed McNulty Shadow Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change.

On 27 October 2009 he was appointed Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning by Iain Gray.