List of First Ministers of Scotland

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Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister

The First Minister of Scotland is the political leader of Scotland, and head of the Scottish Government. The First Minister chairs the Scottish Cabinet and is primarily responsible for the formulation, development and presentation of Scottish government policy. The First Minister is a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), and is nominated by the Scottish Parliament before being officially appointed by the monarch. Following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament and devolved Scottish Government were established, to give Scotland some measure of self governance in its domestic affairs. This devolution resulted in administrative and legislative changes to the way Scotland was governed, and resulted in the establishment of a post of First Minister to be head of the devolved Scottish Government. Following the first Scottish Parliamentary elections on 6 May 1999, Scottish Labour Party leader Donald Dewar was nominated as First Minister, and was officially appointed by the Queen on 17 May at a ceremony in the Palace of Holyroodhouse.^[1]

Currently, the First Minister of Scotland is Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party (SNP), who succeeded Alex Salmond in November 2014 following his announcement that he would resign the premiership in the wake of the defeat of the Yes Scotland campaign in the Scottish independence referendum, 2014. Sturgeon leads the fourth government of the Scottish Parliament which was elected by the people of Scotland firstly in 2007 as a minority government,^[2]^[3] and re-elected in 2011, where they formed the first majority government in the Scottish Parliament.^[4]^[5]

The longest-serving First Minister is Alex Salmond, who surpassed Jack McConnell on 7 November 2012 and spent a total of 7 years in the role.^[6]

Chronological list of First Ministers

	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party of FM	Elected	Ministry
1	Donald Dewar (1937–2000)† MSP for Glasgow Anniesland	17 May 1999	11 October 2000	7007442584000000000♠1 year, 147 days	Labour	1999	Dewar Lab – LD	Jim Wallace (Liberal Democrat)
—	Jim Wallace (acting)	11—26 October 2000			Liberal Democrats	1999	Dewar Lab – LD
2	Henry McLeish (1948–) MSP for Central Fife	26 October 2000	8 November 2001	7007326808000000000♠1 year, 13 days	Labour	—	McLeish Lab – LD
—	Jim Wallace (acting)	8—22 November 2001			Liberal Democrats	—	McLeish Lab – LD
3	Jack McConnell (1960–) MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw	22 November 2001	16 May 2007	7008172562400000000♠5 years, 171 days	Labour	—	McConnell I Lab – LD	Jim Wallace 2001–2005 (LD) Nicol Stephen 2005–2007 (LD)
3	Jack McConnell (1960–) MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw	22 November 2001	16 May 2007	7008172562400000000♠5 years, 171 days	Labour	2003	McConnell II Lab – LD	Jim Wallace 2001–2005 (LD) Nicol Stephen 2005–2007 (LD)
4	Alex Salmond (1954–) MSP for Gordon until 2011 MSP for Aberdeenshire East from 2011	16 May 2007	19 November 2014	7008237060000000000♠7 years, 187 days	Scottish National Party	2007	Salmond I SNP (minority)	Nicola Sturgeon (SNP)
4		16 May 2007	19 November 2014	7008237060000000000♠7 years, 187 days		2011	Salmond II SNP	Nicola Sturgeon (SNP)
5	Nicola Sturgeon (1970–) MSP for Glasgow Southside	20 November 2014	Incumbent	7007645840000000000♠2 years, 17 days		—	Sturgeon I SNP	John Swinney (SNP)
5	Nicola Sturgeon (1970–) MSP for Glasgow Southside	20 November 2014	Incumbent	7007645840000000000♠2 years, 17 days		2016	Sturgeon II SNP (minority)	John Swinney (SNP)

† Died in office.

Timeline

References

↑ "UK Politics- Dewar appointed as first minister", BBC News, 17 May 1999
↑ Wintour, Patrick (4 May 2007). "SNP wins historic victory". The Guardian. London.
↑ "Scottish elections 2007". The Guardian. London. 15 January 2008.
↑ Carrell, Severin (6 May 2011). "Stunning SNP election victory throws spotlight on Scottish independence". The Guardian. London.
↑ "Scottish election: SNP wins election". BBC News. 6 May 2011.
↑ "Longest-serving first minister Salmond will not 'go on and on'". BBC News. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2013.

External links

Scottish Government web site

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