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 served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland from 2014 to 2023. He held various Scottish Cabinet roles under First Ministers Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon from 2007 to 2023. Swinney has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Perthshire North since 2011, having previously represented North Tayside from 1999 to 2011. He was the Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2000 to 2004.
Angus Struan Carolus Robertson is a Scottish politician serving as the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture since 2021. Former Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2016 to 2018, he has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Edinburgh Central since 2021. Robertson previously served as a Westminster MP for Moray from 2001 to 2017, where he served from 2007 to 2017 as the Leader of the SNP in the House of Commons.
Richard Neilson Lochhead is a Scottish politician serving as the Minister for Small Business, Trade and Innovation since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he served as the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment from 2007 to 2016. Lochhead has been a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, first representing North East Scotland electoral region from 1999 to 2006, before representing the Moray constituency since 2006.
Fiona Jane Hyslop is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Transport since 2024. Hyslop is the only current serving minister from the first SNP government, having served in various cabinet and junior ministerial offices under first ministers Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon; first as education secretary from 2007 to 2009, then culture secretary from 2009 to 2020, and latterly as economy secretary from 2020 to 2021. 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.
Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2014 to 2023. She has served as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, first as an additional member for the Glasgow electoral region, and as the member for Glasgow Southside from 2007.
Dame Jacqueline Marie Baillie is a politician who has served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2020. She has been Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Dumbarton constituency since 1999. She also served as acting Leader of the Scottish Labour Party in 2017 and again in 2021.
Angela Constance is a Scottish politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Almond Valley since 2007.
Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond is a Scottish politician, economist and television host, who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as Leader of the Alba Party since 2021. Salmond was leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014. He served as the party's depute leader from 1987 to 1990. Salmond hosted The Alex Salmond Show (2017–2022) on RT UK. He currently hosts Scotland Speaks with Alex Salmond (2023–present).
The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021, under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The election was held alongside the Senedd election, English local elections, London Assembly and mayoral election and the Hartlepool by-election.
James Hamilton is an Irish barrister and administrator who served as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) at the Republic of Ireland's Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions from 1999 to 2011. In September 2010, Hamilton was elected President of the International Association of Prosecutors, succeeding Francois Falletti.
Joanna Catherine Cherry is a Scottish politician and lawyer serving as 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.
Leslie Evans was the Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government. In this role, Evans was the principal policy adviser to the First Minister and Secretary to the Scottish Cabinet. Evans was the senior civil servant in Scotland and led more than 5,000 civil servants working for the Scottish Government, supporting development, implementation and communication of government policies, in accordance with the Civil Service Code. At a UK level, she was a member of the Civil Service Board. She was succeeded as Permanent Secretary by John-Paul Marks in January 2022.
Ashten Regan is a Scottish politician. She has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Edinburgh Eastern since 2016. Initially elected to parliament for the Scottish National Party (SNP), she defected to the Alba Party. Regan served under First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as the minister for community safety from 2018 until she resigned in 2022 in protest against her government's Gender Recognition Reform bill.
The Scottish Ministerial Code applies to members of the Scottish Government. The guidance is issued by the First Minister and is a collection of standards around expected behaviours and responsibilities. Since 2008 there has been a mechanism for an independent review of any suspected breaches of the code.
The Alex Salmond scandal was a political scandal in Scotland concerning the conduct of former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond while in office.
The Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints was a Committee of the Scottish Parliament which was set up to investigate the Alex Salmond scandal, in which the Scottish Government breached its own guidelines in its original investigation into claims of sexual harassment claims by former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, leading to the loss of a judicial review into their actions. The Committee met from 2020 to 2021 and published its final report on 23 March 2021. Prior to publication, it leaked that the Committee concluded that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon misled them in her evidence.
The Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland, founded in February 2021, led by former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond. Salmond launched the party's 2021 Scottish Parliament election campaign in March 2021, with the party standing list-only candidates. Two members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK House of Commons defected from the Scottish National Party (SNP) to the Alba Party on 27 March 2021, and member of the Scottish parliament Ash Regan defected on 28 October 2023. Several former SNP MPs also joined the party. No Alba Party candidate has been elected at any election.
Nicola Sturgeon's term as first minister of Scotland began on 20 November 2014 when she was formally sworn into office at the Court of Session. It followed Alex Salmond's resignation following the defeat of the Yes campaign in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. She is the first female and longest serving officeholder. Sturgeon's premiership was dominated by Brexit, which she used as an argument to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence, however, opposition from the UK Government, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the ruling against her government holding an advisory referendum would be obstacles for Sturgeon securing her legacy of gaining Scottish independence. As a result of occupational burnout, Sturgeon's term ended on 29 March 2023, following her resignation announcement on 15 February.
Alex Salmond's term as first minister of Scotland began on 17 May 2007 when he was formally sworn into office at the Court of Session. It followed his Scottish National Party's win at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, where his party defeated the incumbent Labour Party by just one seat. Salmond's term ended on 18 November 2014, following his resignation in the aftermath of the Yes campaign's defeat in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
