List of first ministers of Scotland

The first minister of Scotland is the head of government of Scotland, leader of the Scottish Government and keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. The first minister is responsible for the exercise of functions by the Cabinet of the Scottish Government; policy development and coordination; relationships with the rest of the United Kingdom, Europe and international relations. Since the establishment of the office in 1999, seven men (including both tenures as acting first minister by Jim Wallace) and one woman has served in the position.

• Top left: Donald Dewar was the first ever First Minister of Scotland
• Top right: Nicola Sturgeon was the first female and longest serving First Minister
• Bottom left: Humza Yousaf was the youngest and first minority ethnic First Minister
• Bottom right: John Swinney is the current and seventh since devolution

Donald Dewar was the inaugural person to hold the position following his election in 1999 and is regarded as the "Father of the Nation".^[1] Following Dewar's death in 2000 whilst still serving in office, he was succeeded by his Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Henry McLeish. McLeish resigned from the office of first minister on 8 November 2001 following the officegate scandal and is the shortest-serving First Minister, having served in the role for 1 year and 12 days.^[2] Humza Yousaf, who served as first minister between March 2003 and May 2024 is the second shortest–serving first minister after a period in office of 1 year and 39 days.^[3] Sturgeon is the longest-serving First Minister, having surpassed Salmond on 25 May 2022.^[4] Salmond in turn spent a total of 7 and a half years in the role.

The current First Minister is John Swinney, who leads the Government of the 6th Scottish Parliament, as did his predecessors Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon. Before that, Alex Salmond, led the governments of the 3rd and 4th Scottish Parliaments which was first elected in 2007 as a minority government, and re-elected in 2011, where they formed the first majority government in the 5th Scottish Parliament.^[5][6][7][8] 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.

List of First Ministers of Scotland

The parties shown are those to which the First Ministers belonged to at the time they held office, and the constituencies shown are those they represented while in office.

Political parties

  Scottish Labour Party

  Scottish Liberal Democrats

  Scottish National Party

Status

  Background and italics indicates caretaker First Minister

Legend

• — Indicates appointed without an election
• (—) Indicates acting First Minister
• † Indicates died in office

No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death) constituency	Term of office			Party		Election (parliament)	Government	Deputy	Monarch (reign)	Ref.
			Took office	Left office	Tenure
1		Donald Dewar (1937–2000) MSP for Glasgow Anniesland Premiership	17 May 1999	11 October 2000†	1 year, 147 days		Labour	1999 (1st)	Dewar Lab – LD	Jim Wallace	Elizabeth II (1952–2022)	[9]
(—)		Jim Wallace (born 1954) MSP for Orkney	11 October 2000	27 October 2000	16 days		Liberal Democrat	— (1st)	Dewar Lab – LD (caretaker)
2		Henry McLeish (born 1948) MSP for Central Fife Premiership	27 October 2000	8 November 2001	1 year, 12 days		Labour	— (1st)	McLeish Lab – LD
(—)		Jim Wallace (born 1954) MSP for Orkney	8 November 2001	27 November 2001	19 days		Liberal Democrat	— (1st)	McLeish Lab – LD (caretaker)
3		Jack McConnell (born 1960) MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw Premiership	27 November 2001	16 May 2007	5 years, 170 days		Labour	— (1st)	McConnell I Lab – LD
								2003 (2nd)	McConnell II Lab – LD
										Nicol Stephen
4		Alex Salmond (1954–2024) MSP for Gordon (until 2011) MSP for Aberdeenshire East (from 2011) Premiership	17 May 2007	18 November 2014	7 years, 185 days		SNP	2007 (3rd)	Salmond I SNP (minority)	Nicola Sturgeon		[10]
								2011 (4th)	Salmond II SNP
5		Nicola Sturgeon (born 1970) MSP for Glasgow Southside Premiership	20 November 2014	28 March 2023	8 years, 128 days		SNP	— (4th)	Sturgeon I SNP	John Swinney		[11]
								2016 (5th)	Sturgeon II SNP (minority)
								2021 (6th)	Sturgeon III SNP – Green
											Charles III (2022–present)
6		Humza Yousaf (born 1985) MSP for Glasgow Pollok Premiership	29 March 2023	7 May 2024	1 year, 39 days		SNP	— (6th)	Yousaf I SNP – Green	Shona Robison		[12]
									Yousaf II SNP (minority)
7		John Swinney (born 1964) MSP for Perthshire North Premiership	8 May 2024	Incumbent	188 days		SNP	— (6th)	Swinney SNP (minority)	Kate Forbes

Timeline of Scottish First Ministers

References

Notes

Citations

1. "BBC News | SCOTLAND | 'Father of nation' dies". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
2. "The seven men and women who have led Scotland in 25 years of devolution". The Herald. 11 May 2024. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
3. Cameron, Joshua Thurston, John Boothman, Kieran Andrews, Laurence Sleator, Greig (29 April 2024). "Humza Yousaf resigns as Scotland's first minister — as it happened". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 7 November 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
4. Duffy, Judith (25 May 2022). "Sturgeon sets new record for longest term as FM". The National. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
5. Wintour, Patrick (4 May 2007). "SNP wins historic victory". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 23 March 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
6. "Scottish elections 2007". The Guardian. London. 15 January 2008. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
7. Carrell, Severin (6 May 2011). "Stunning SNP election victory throws spotlight on Scottish independence". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
8. "Scottish election: SNP wins election". BBC News. 6 May 2011. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
9. "Donald Dewar". www.parliament.scot. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
10. "Alex Salmond". www.parliament.scot. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
11. "Biography: Nicola Sturgeon". www.gov.scot. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
12. "Biography: Humza Yousaf". www.gov.scot. Archived from the original on 7 May 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024.

External links

• Scottish Government web site