Scotland’s New Cabinet
Who’s who and what does it mean going forward?
A few weeks on from the Scottish elections in May which returned the SNP as the largest (although slightly reduced) party once more to Holyrood. Thus far, First Minister John Swinney has chosen to run a minority government meaning he will have to rely on support from or bargaining with other parties across the chamber to pass each vote. Perhaps, given what happened last time, both the SNP and Greens are hesitant to return to a coalition agreement… We’ve also seen that under Swinney, the SNP has taken a more right-wing turn, primarily with Swinney’s inclusion of Kate Forbes in his last cabinet, former MP Angus Robertson’s secret meeting with Israeli officials during the ongoing genocide, and, as we’ll see, a new cabinet going towards business and the oil industry.
So what of this new reduced cabinet of 8 (plus FM), its positions, and the people who hold them? And what does it say that the SNP elected several former MPs who lost their seats during the 2024 UK Election, recycling their experience closer to home as many of the old guard stood down.
On the whole, there isn’t much change between Swinney’s previous cabinet and now. It shrank from 10 to 8 MSPs, made easier with the departure of Kate Forbes, Shona Robinson, Mairi Gougeon and Fiona Hyslop from politics and the failure of Angus Robertson to be re-elected to parliament. Now two short, Swinney brought in former Leader of the SNP in the House of Commons, Stephen Flynn and bumped the previous Minister for Finance, Ivan McKee, up to the new role of ‘Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform’. Roles have been swapped for Neil Gray and Angela Constance, with Gray moving from Health to Justice; Constance, the reverse.
All in all, we’re left with a smaller cabinet that will undoubtedly be deemed more ‘agile’ especially as Swinney already outlined his focus for the years ahead as one of ‘fiscal sustainability’. He argues that “it’s about changing the way we deliver public services”, and yet having heard similar turns of phrase used by many politicians, usually means cuts, including the possible 11 000 staffing cuts across the public sector. But who will now do those jobs — added to others who are lucky and stay, outsourced to private companies, or another direction?
Cabinet
John Swinney: First Minister
First serving as an MP and then, since the formation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, as an MSP, Swinney, is now two years into his second term as SNP Leader (the first being 2000–2004) and now with his second cabinet as First Minister, bringing with him a sense of status quo. Looking at his career and his previous tenure as first minister prior to these elections, this perhaps can give us an indication of what’s to come — not much.
His leadership was challenged in 2003, unsuccessfully, after poor election results although he did stand down after the 2004 European elections. After the SNP losing seats in this year’s elections, a familiar story is possibly being told — Swinney and his tepid offerings are not attractive to voters but might be to business. His time as education secretary is not looked upon fondly wehn he pshsed the downgrading of exam results during the pandemic, leading to two votes of no confidence in parliament. His success in the 2024 leadership race seemed like the SNP trying to steady a ship in troubled waters after the double whammy of their staggering 39-seat loss in the 2024 UK Elections and the chaotic exit of Humza Yusaf and the coalition agreement. Looking to the future, I don’t see Swinney having the ambition to take Scotland in a better direction and, in line with his comments and appointments, it seems like he will continue the managed decline of Scotland.
Jenny Gilruth: Deputy FM; Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government
In what The Ferret describes as “a SHOCKING twist”, Gilruth was announced as the new deputy FM and finance secretary. Others, including Flynn and McAllan, had been whispered to be in the running as number two and potential future leader. An MSP since 2016, Gilruth sat on the backbenches for 4 years until being appointed to Minister for Culture, Europe, and International Development and later as Minister for Transport. For the last few years, she stepped up to Cabinet Secretary for Education. A high school teacher by trade, Gilruth in theory had the hands-on knowledge of education, yet much like Swinney she came under fire in this role including failing to read a report into violence in Aberdeen city schools and her lack of implementing the findings of a report into the Scottish qualification system. With two heavy roles in government, it’s yet to be seen how she will manage both, alongside the increasingly pre
Angela Constance: Cabinet Secretary for Health & Care
Constance has been in parliament since 2007 and held been on the frontbenches (cabinet secretary or minister) on and off since 2014. She’s faced several hiccups to say the least, including demotions to the backbench, but primarily around her time as Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs (2023–2026) when she told Parliament the wrong advice regarding child sexual abuse in Scotland. Opposition parties put forward a vote of no confidence, arguing Constance had misled parliament but this failed to pass. Independent advisors soon after found that Constance had breached ministerial code but not with intent to mislead. Her continued presence in cabinets despite an inability to really move the needle, much like others on this list, reflects perhaps Swinney and his government at-large.
Stephen Flynn: Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Transport, & Tourism
Perhaps one of the more interesting appointments. Flynn is one of the two new MSPs who vacated their MP position, leading to two new by-elections in the North East on June 18. I shared my thoughts briefly on these here. Going from a minor party in UK politics to the ruling party in Scotland is sure to be a change of pace, and he’s already been pushed as a potential face for the party going forward. Is placing him in the cabinet so soon a sign of confidence and comradery, or an attempt to put him in his place?
His roles in UK Parliament centred on finance and business, making his new role for the economy and tourism a logical one. He has already pledged to business that the new government’s direction will be “bold, innovative and ambitious”. Looking to Europe who are similarly pursuing a path of ‘innovation’, this has meant deregulation and greater public funds to business at the expense of people and planet. His views in this regard are not out of the norm for Swinney’s cabinet it seems.
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He did not get off scot-free during his time in London, with accusations of a hit list of all-women MSPs to be ousted to make space for MPs who lost their seats in 2024. The internal drama led apparently to tension between Flynn and Swinney, and sources for The National appeared give support to the idea that Flynn had pressured female MSPs to stand down. Others SNP MSPs have also faced various charges and found a seat on the frontbench including Jamie Hepburn who reportedly “physically assaulting the Conservative MSP Douglas Ross” .
Gillian Martin: Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action & Rural Affairs
An MSP since 2016, Martin has held the energy /climate brief first as minister from 2023 then as cabinet secretary from 2025, and now in combination with rural affairs. Her background as a lecturer and running a business to provide training in the energy sector sounds promising, but then when you combine it with her 10 years acting in public relations for oil and gas companies things don’t look so rosy. In 2019, she argued the economic case for continuing to extract oil & gas and that it had a “huge potential” to get us towards our climate goals… Her re-appointment seems again to be more of the same which is exactly what we don’t need — Scotland should be rushing to get greener energy, to better insulate homes, and to improve infrastructure like batteries, not wean itself off of oil and gas over the course of the next millennium.
Màiri McAllan: Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic
Taking over the education brief from Gilruth and tagging on two extras, McAllan is the youngest in the cabinet but has held a ministerial role from her first day on the job in 2021, and within two years joined the cabinet. In her five years, McAllan primarily focussed on environment related roles until 2025 when she took over the housing brief, and now lands herself far away again in this new role. Her environment brief made sense given her pre-parliament career in advising the Scottish government on climate as well as working in social justice NGOs. Again, the theory works better than the practice as McAllan is also responsible for weakening our climate targets dramatically — moving them from 2030 to 2045. Swinney moving her around could signal his trust in her or offering her a range of experience before she succeeds him as leader as some have suggested.
Ivan McKee: Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform
An MSP since 2016, McKee was minister for public finances and previously minister for business. His new role, Public Service Reform, is truly a sign of the apocalypse. With around a £5 billion shortfall, the Scottish Government now needs to find a way to deal with it. A role to ‘reform’ public sector likely means one thing — cuts. Cuts mean austerity for you and me and the millions of people across Scotland who are at the edge already after years of costs getting higher, wages staying flat, and services struggling. I’ve heard others, including from Skotia, arguing that this could be Swinney’s scapegoat as it’s also predicted they are aiming to cut 11,000 public sector jobs and McKee seems willing to take the fall unless he can pull a trick out his hat to resolve this.
Shirley-Anne Somerville: Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing
Somerville’s history is a storied back and forth of failed and successful elections, but since 2016 it has stuck and she has since held several roles including succeeding John Swinney as Education Secretary after his disastrous turn. Somerville should get some recognition for her attempts to pass the Gender Recognition Reform which would have simplified the process of legally changing ones name and gender. Since 2023, she has held the social justice brief, and now oversees housing too.
Neil Gray: Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Jumping from Westminster to Holyrood in 2021, Gray has also risen from the backbenches to minister and then to cabinet secretary. His briefs have covered culture & Europe, the economy & energy, then his last role as health. Now, he’s swapped with Angela Constance for her Justice brief going forward. Finishing his politics degree and heading straight to an internship for the SNP then working for and MSP later.
Junior Ministers
In addition to the cabinet, there are 11 junior ministers with various portfolios, I won’t cover them in as in depth but will spotlight the few who I think are of note (including the previous mention of Jamie Hepburn, now Minister for Parliamentary Business & Veterans).
Stephen Flynn’s counterpart, Stephen Gethins, is the other MP stepping down for Holyrood and giving us our second by-election in June. Their second similarity is indeed his place on the front bench as Minister for Europe, External Affairs, and Energy. Joining Gethins and Flynn are several other former MPs, including Kirsten Oswald and Alison Thewliss, but unlike the Stephens they were unsuccessful in the 2024 UK election. Their return to politics brings experience from Westminster but could also signal a lack of talent from the SNP given the selection of candidates who aren’t either long-established candidates (as above) or so-called career politicians (as below).
David Linden, who since his early 20s has been involved with the SNP, including working for an MP at the age of 21, and has been an elected official since he was 25, could be seen as such. And as with Thewliss and Oswald, Linden lost in his 2024 bid to return to Westminster, but was elected this year to go to Holyrood. Ross Greer, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, could also be seen as a career politician in that he served in the youth parliament until he was 19, then worked for the Scottish Greens, and after was elected as an MSP at the age of 22, making him one of the youngest MSPs ever elected at the time. This is more broadly a reflection on the lack of candidates who look like the average Scot and not the classic politician.
A final note of interest is the new MSP for Shetland, Hannah Mary Goodlad, being selected as Minister for Public Finance. Goodlad’s election is historic for both the SNP and the islands as highlighted here. Her previous jobs have included working in the oil and gas industry for Equinor, which is aligns her with other colleagues but could be a bad sign for progress on climate action that the SNP has already weakened. Her vision for finance could then be one of further public-private partnerships (speculating of course), but these are notorious blackholes for public funds and a bad sign for public services. Her selection for a ministerial position could also signal two things — Swinney highlighting her for a future role in the party and/or the government deciding to give greater attention to the islands since they now have a literal seat at the table.
What can we expect
The politicians holding top jobs in Scotland are… a mixed bag to say the least. From their various experiences and roles, it does sometimes beg the question as to how First Ministers decide to group briefs together — combining economy, fair work, and energy into one brief seems a stretch as to how each of these key areas can get the focus they warrant. With a mixture of Swinney himself and members of his cabinet being quite vocally pro-oil and gas, including calling out the UK government on the windfall tax, we can likely expect a further weakening or delaying of our climate ambition in the name of the economy and business. The same business that has seen year after year of growth while we have seen year after year of higher energy bills.
All in all, the SNP won’t have the ability to pass things through parliament without forming agreements with other parties. Depending on which party they give concessions to could change a lot of the future of our country in the next five years and beyond. Our elected officials in theory must also listen to us — voting is only one day every few years so we must then keep the pressure on our MSPs (and MPs) to act in our interests and not their own or big businesses.
This was a bit different from my normal articles, so maybe a little rough around the edges but hopefully it is informative and helpful to lay a foundation of the people in charge of our country for the next few years. I’ll continue to write on Scottish politics as it comes but might bring back this format for other elections or changes and sharpen it somewhat.
In this piece I refer a couple times to The Ferret, Skotia, and The National, two of Scotland’s strongest media outlets. I’d highly recommend them for reporting that is actually worth your time (and money).
