Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf has risked widening the split within the SNP by effectively ousting Kate Forbes from the cabinet. Having dispensed with his leadership rival, Yousaf has now appointed those who will make up his top team – and insists that his choices demonstrate a party united. But for all his warm words, Yousaf appears to have done little to reach across the SNP divide. Instead, he has opted to reward those who have stayed loyal to him throughout his campaign, such as Shona Robison and his campaign manager Neil Gray. Those who backed Forbes are nowhere to be seen.
For all his warm words, Yousaf appears to have done little to reach across the SNP divide. Those who backed Forbes are nowhere to be seen.
Robison, a close ally of Nicola Sturgeon, is Yousaf’s deputy. She will also take on Forbes’s role of finance secretary. This is a promotion for Robison, who first entered Sturgeon’s cabinet in 2014 as equalities, social justice and communities secretary. By the end of the year, she was made health secretary by Sturgeon. While healthcare spending and the NHS workforce increased under Robison, a series of financial crises at NHS Tayside, the health board for her own constituency, saw her pushed out of the job in 2018. Since 2021, she has served as secretary for social justice. Yousaf’s wife, Nadia El-Nakla, has worked in Robison’s constituency office in the past.
While Robison is finance secretary now, Yousaf has split the responsibility of the budget between her and Neil Gray, his leadership campaign manager, who is now secretary for wellbeing economy, fair work and energy. Previously an MP, Gray entered Holyrood in 2021 and was given the role of minister for culture, Europe and international development by Sturgeon. Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Gray has led the Scottish government’s response to supporting Ukrainian refugees coming to Scotland under the ‘super sponsor’ scheme. However, the minister has come under fire after it was found that refugees had been left ‘stuck in hotels’ for ‘too long’. His appointment will do little to reassure those worried about whether Yousaf is competent enough to lead Scotland.
Angela Constance was previously minister for drugs policy from 2020 to 2023, during which time Scotland has experienced record levels of drug deaths. In 2022, Constance reiterated her commitment to setting up drug consumption rooms following a humbling report from the Drug Deaths Taskforce that called Scottish Government funding for drug and alcohol services as ‘woefully inadequate’, yet drug deaths in Scotland remain higher than anywhere else in the UK.
And Angus Robertson, initially thought to be the natural successor to Sturgeon, has kept his cabinet position as secretary for constitution, external affairs and culture. Robertson is another close ally of Sturgeon, highlighting an emerging pattern seen with almost all of Yousaf’s new appointments, yet never expressed support for her ‘de facto’ referendum plan. He has been criticised by colleagues for having a more patient approach to independence, having previously spoken of the need for Westminster to issue a Section 30 order to allow a second independence referendum.
The full list of the new First Minister’s cabinet appointments are as follows:
- Shona Robison is the new Deputy First Minister. She will also become the finance secretary.
- Michael Matheson will be secretary for NHS recovery, health and social care. The position has been renamed since it was last held by First Minister Humza Yousaf.
- Jenny Gilruth will join the cabinet for the first time as secretary for education and skills.
- Màiri McAllan will join the cabinet for the first time as secretary for net zero and just transition.
- Neil Gray will join the cabinet for the first time as secretary for wellbeing economy, fair work and energy.
- Mairi Gougeon will remain the secretary for rural affairs, land reform and islands. The rural affairs portfolio was offered to runner up in the leadership contest, Kate Forbes, which she rejected before resigning from government.
- Angus Robertson will remain the secretary for constitution, external affairs and culture.
- Shirley-Anne Somerville will become the secretary for social justice.
- Angela Constance will return to cabinet as the secretary for justice and home affairs.
Yousaf said this afternoon that his new team ‘reflects the priorities that we will pursue as a government – including tackling child poverty, improving public services and building a fairer, green economy’. The First Minister said in one of the final TV debate of the SNP leadership race that he wanted to be judged on his ability to ‘eradicate poverty’. He has considerable work to do here; Scotland is home to some of the most deprived areas in the UK and 25 per cent of children in the country are growing up in poverty. Public services in Scotland, like the NHS, have been described as being ‘on [their] knees’ while some of the poorest areas have been worst affected by teaching strikes this year.
His new cabinet is committed to delivering a ‘radical, ambitious and progressive policy agenda’, Yousaf declared earlier. For the first time, Scotland’s cabinet features a female majority and includes five members under the age of 40, including the First Minister himself. He is yet to announce a minister for independence, a position that, during his campaign Yousaf pledged to create. He also appears to have sacked Keith Brown, former justice secretary and the SNP’s elected deputy leader.
The First Minister is saying all the right things, but what matters is delivery. Yet Yousaf’s track record, and the past performances of many of his new cabinet ministers, does not inspire confidence. Labour has said Yousaf’s cabinet sums up ‘the SNP’s new status as a deeply divided party led by B-rate politicians’. It is clear that his cabinet of Sturgeon allies does not seem to be as focused on party unification as Yousaf made out on Monday – and there is still the fallout over his snub to Kate Forbes to contend with. Has Yousaf been successful in reaching out across the SNP divide? Not particularly. Will his cabinet be successful in delivering for the people of Scotland? If recent decisions are anything to go by, it seems unlikely.
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