Alexander Neil is a Scottish politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing from 2012 to 2014 and Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners' Rights from 2014 to 2016. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Airdrie and Shotts constituency from 2011 until his retirement in 2021.
John Ramsay Swinney is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) on two occasions, since 2024 and between 2000 and 2004. He has held various roles within the Scottish Cabinet from 2007 to 2023 under First Ministers Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. Swinney was Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North Tayside from 1999 to 2011 and, following boundary changes, has been MSP for Perthshire North since 2011. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Tayside North from 1997 to 2001.
Robert Hardie Bruce Crawford is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy from 2011 to 2012, having held the junior ministerial position of Minister for Parliamentary Business from 2007 to 2011. Crawford served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Stirling from 2007 to 2021, having previously represented the Mid Scotland and Fife region 1999–2007.
Fiona Jane Hyslop is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Transport since 2024. Hyslop has served in various offices under first ministers Salmond, Sturgeon, Yousaf and Swinney; as education secretary, culture secretary, and economy secretary as well as in junior ministerial roles. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Linlithgow constituency since 2011, having represented the Lothians region from 1999 to 2011.
Shona McRory Robison is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she previously served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland from 2023 to 2024. Robison has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Dundee City East since 2003 and was an additional member for the North East Scotland region from 1999 to 2003.
Airdrie and Shotts is a constituency of the UK House of Commons, located in central Scotland within the North Lanarkshire council area. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting.
Karen Whitefield is a Scottish Labour politician. She was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Airdrie and Shotts constituency from 1999 to 2011.
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care,(Scottish Gaelic: Rùnaire a’ Chaibineit airson Slàinte is Cùram Sòisealta) commonly referred to as the Health Secretary, is a cabinet position in the Scottish Government. The Cabinet Secretary is responsible for the Health and Social Care Directorates and NHS Scotland.
Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond was a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he was Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014. He then served as leader of the Alba Party from 2021 until his death in 2024.
Pamela Ann Catherine Nash is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke since 2024. She previously served as Chief Executive of Scotland in Union, a campaign group launched in March 2015 to help keep Scotland within the United Kingdom. Between 2010 and 2015 she was the Labour MP for Airdrie and Shotts.
Graeme James Dey is a Scottish politician currently serving as the Minister for Veterans and the Minister for Higher and Further Education since 2023. He served as Minister for Transport from 2021 to 2022, having previously served as Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he has been Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Angus South since 2011.
The 2014 Scottish National Party leadership election was held to choose the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and First Minister of Scotland, following the resignation of Alex Salmond as first minister and leader. Nicola Sturgeon emerged as the only candidate and was elected unopposed as leader of the SNP.
The 2004 Scottish National Party leadership election was held following the resignation of John Swinney as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP). Nominations opened on 22 June, with three candidates nominated, and voting began on 13 August. This was the first election where all party members could vote. The results were announced on 3 September; Alex Salmond defeated Roseanna Cunningham and Michael Russell, with more than 75% of votes.
Graham Simpson is a British politician and former journalist who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Central Scotland region since 2016. A member of the Scottish Conservatives, he served as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity from 2020 to 2021.
Richard Leonard is a British politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), as one of the additional members for the Central Scotland region, since 2016. He ideologically identifies as a socialist, democrat and internationalist.
The 2021 Airdrie and Shotts by-election was held in the UK parliament constituency of Airdrie and Shotts following the resignation of the sitting member (MP), Neil Gray, to run for the corresponding seat in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. This was necessitated by Scottish National Party (SNP) rules banning its members from sitting as an MSP and an MP at the same time. It took place on 13 May 2021, a week after the Scottish Parliament elections, to reduce COVID-19 transmission risk.
Anum Qaisar, previously Anum Qaisar-Javed is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Airdrie and Shotts from 2021 to 2024, when she lost the seat to Kenneth Stevenson of the Labour Party. She was also the SNP Spokesperson for Levelling Up from 2023 to 2024.
Nicola Sturgeon formed the third Sturgeon government following her Scottish National Party's victory in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Sturgeon was nominated by a vote of the 6th Scottish Parliament for appointment to the post of First Minister on 18 May 2021 and announced the formation of a new Scottish National Party minority government on 19 May.
The 2024 general election was held on 4 July 2024. 57 Scottish Westminster seats were contested. The election saw a resurgence of Labour within Scotland, with the party winning 37 seats, an increase of 36 from the previous election and becoming the largest party in Scotland for the first time since 2010. The Liberal Democrats also saw gains, increasing their Scottish representation in Parliament from four seats to six. The Scottish National Party, the dominant party in Scotland since 2007, saw a collapse of support in which they lost 39 seats, bringing their total from 48 seats won at the previous election to nine. This was their worst Westminster election result since 2010. The Conservative Party lost one seat, taking their total down to five. Turnout dropped to 59%, eclipsed for the first time by a preceding Scottish Parliament election (63.5%). This was a reduction in turnout of 8.4% from 2019 and in a few constituencies the turnout was down 10%.
The 2024 Scottish National Party leadership election took place to choose the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) following the resignation of Humza Yousaf on 29 April 2024, amid a government crisis. Nominations closed on 6 May, with John Swinney emerging as the only candidate and was subsequently elected unopposed as the party's new leader.
