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.
Donald Dewar was the inaugural person to hold the position following his election in 1999 and is regarded as the "Father of the Nation". Following Dewar's death in 2000 whilst still serving in office, he was succeeded by his enterprise minister, 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. Humza Yousaf, who served as first minister between March 2023 and May 2024 is the second shortest–serving first minister after a period in office of 1 year and 39 days. Sturgeon is the longest-serving first minister, having surpassed Salmond on 25 May 2022. 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 7th Scottish Parliament, whereas his predecessors Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon led the Governments of the 6th Scottish Government. 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 4th Scottish Parliament. 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
Status
Legend
Portrait Name Term of office Party Election Government Deputy Monarch Took office Left office Tenure 1 Donald Dewar 17 May 1999 11 October 2000† Labour 1999(1st) DewarLab – LD Jim Wallace Elizabeth II(1952–2022) (—) Jim Wallace 11 October 2000 27 October 2000 Liberal Democrat —(1st) DewarLab – LD(caretaker) 2 Henry McLeish 27 October 2000 8 November 2001 Labour —(1st) McLeishLab – LD (—) Jim Wallace 8 November 2001 27 November 2001 Liberal Democrat —(1st) McLeishLab – LD(caretaker) 3 Jack McConnell 27 November 2001 16 May 2007 Labour —(1st) McConnell ILab – LD 2003(2nd) McConnell IILab – LDNicol Stephen 4 Alex Salmond 17 May 2007 18 November 2014 SNP 2007(3rd) Salmond ISNP (minority) Nicola Sturgeon 2011(4th) Salmond IISNP 5 Nicola Sturgeon 20 November 2014 28 March 2023 SNP —(4th) Sturgeon ISNP John Swinney 2016(5th) Sturgeon IISNP (minority) 2021(6th) Sturgeon IIISNP – Green Charles III(2022–present) 6 Humza Yousaf 29 March 2023 7 May 2024 SNP —(6th) Yousaf ISNP – Green Shona Robison Yousaf IISNP (minority) 7 John Swinney 8 May 2024 Incumbent SNP —(6th) Swinney ISNP (minority)Kate Forbes2026(7th)Swinney IISNP (minority)Jenny Gilruth
Timeline of Scottish first ministers
The following chart lists first secretaries and first ministers by lifespan (living first secretaries and first ministers on the green line), with the years outside of their tenure in beige.
References
Notes
Citations
External links Scottish Government web site