The shadow cabinet or shadow ministry is a feature of the Westminster system of government. It consists of a senior group of opposition spokespeople who, under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition, form an alternative cabinet to that of the government, and whose members shadow or mirror the positions of each individual member of the Cabinet. Their areas of responsibility, in parallel with the ruling party's ministries, may be referred to as a shadow portfolio. Members of a shadow cabinet have no executive power. It is the shadow cabinet's responsibility to scrutinise the policies and actions of the government, as well as to offer alternative policies. The shadow cabinet makes up the majority of the Official Opposition frontbench, as part of frontbenchers to the parliament. Smaller opposition parties in Britain and Ireland have Frontbench Teams.
In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then known as being on the frontbench and are described as frontbenchers. Those sitting behind them are known as backbenchers. Independent and minority parties sit to the side or on benches between the two sides, and are referred to as crossbenchers. Frontbenchers may be part of a Frontbench Team with other members of their political party.
Catherine Mary Jamieson is a Scottish business director, currently a director at Kilmarnock Football Club and former politician. She served as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2000 to 2008. She previously served in the Scottish Executive as Minister for Justice from 2003 to 2007 and Minister for Education and Young People from 2001 to 2003. Jamieson was Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley from 1999 to 2011 and was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 2010 to 2015.
Stewart Hosie is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee East from 2005 to 2024. He served as the SNP Treasury Spokesperson from 2022 to 2023, and previously from 2015 to 2017. He served as the SNP Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office since 2021. He served as Deputy Leader of the SNP to Nicola Sturgeon from November 2014 to October 2016. He was also the SNP Deputy Westminster Leader and the SNP Treasury Spokesperson from May 2015, until he was succeeded in both positions by Kirsty Blackman in June 2017.
The frontbench of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom consists of the Shadow Cabinet and other official shadow ministers of the political party currently serving as the Official Opposition. The Opposition front bench provide Parliamentary opposition to the British Government front bench, and is currently the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer since April 2020.
James Anthony Kelly is a Scottish politician who has served as General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region between 2016 and 2021, having previously been MSP for Rutherglen from 2007 to 2016.
Unlike in the Parliament at Westminster where there is an Official Opposition to the government of the day, all parties in the Scottish Parliament that are not in government are all technically on the same footing as 'opposition parties'. With the Scottish National Party (SNP) currently in government, the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour each have a Shadow Cabinet composed of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and prospective parliamentary candidates.
Ian Murray is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh South since 2010. He has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland since 2020, and previously from 2015 to 2016.
Ian Blackford is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the House of Commons from 2017 to 2022. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 2015 to 2024.
Alan Brown is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun since 2015. Brown was previously the SNP Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson in the House of Commons.
Alison Emily Thewliss is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Central since the May 2015 general election.
Joanna Catherine Cherry is a Scottish politician and lawyer who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh South West since 2015. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she was the party's Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice in the House of Commons from 2015 to 2021.
Stephen Patrick Gethins is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician and academic. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife from the 2015 general election, until he lost his seat at the 2019 general election to Wendy Chamberlain of the Liberal Democrats. Subsequently, he was appointed Professor of Practice in International Relations at the University of St Andrews.
The list that follows was an unofficial shadow cabinet of the SNP led by Angus Robertson from 2015 to June 2017, after the Scottish National Party (SNP) became the third-largest party in the UK Parliament after the 2015 general election, and up until the defeat of Angus Robertson and other key SNP politicians in the 2017 general election. The Frontbench Team consisted exclusively of Members of the House of Commons, since the SNP has a policy of not appointing peers to the House of Lords.
His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, commonly known as the Official Opposition in the United Kingdom, is the main political opposition to His Majesty's Government. This is usually the political party with the second-largest number of seats in the House of Commons, as the largest party will usually form the government. Since May 2010, the Official Opposition has been the Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer since 2020.
On 20 July 2017, Sir Vince Cable became Leader of the Liberal Democrats after facing no competition. He was the oldest leader of a major UK political party since Sir Winston Churchill. Upon taking office Cable made no significant reshuffle to his Frontbench Team, so the line-up remained much as it was inherited from Tim Farron. Cable later completed his first reshuffle a few weeks after the Party's 2017 Autumn Conference.
Stephen Mark Flynn is a Scottish politician who has served as the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the House of Commons since December 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen South since the 2019 general election.
The frontbench of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom consists of the Shadow cabinet and other shadow ministers of the political party currently serving as the Official Opposition. From 2020 to 2024, His Majesty's Loyal Opposition was the Labour Party, and the Leader of the Opposition was Keir Starmer.
The 2022 Scottish National Party (SNP) Westminster leadership election was held to choose the leader of the SNP in the House of Commons, following the resignation of Ian Blackford on 1 December 2022. Stephen Flynn and Alison Thewliss were the two MPs who ran in the election. Flynn was elected by 26 votes to 17.
The Frontbench Team of Stephen Flynn is the team of Scottish National Party Spokespersons in the House of Commons since 2022. The frontbench was appointed on 10 December 2022.
