Deputy First Minister of Scotland

Scotland

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The Deputy First Minister of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Leas-Phrìomh Mhinistear na h-Alba; Scots: Heid Meinister Depute o Scotland) is the deputy to the First Minister of Scotland.

The post is not recognised in statute (in comparison with the post of First Minister which is established by the Scotland Act 1998), and its holder is simply an ordinary member of the Scottish Government. The post has nonetheless existed since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government in 1999.

The Additional Member System used to elect Members of the Scottish Parliament makes it difficult for a single party to have an absolute majority. Between 1999 and 2007, the Scottish Executive was formed by a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition. The First Minister was appointed from the majority coalition partner (Labour) and the Deputy First Minister from the minority partner (Liberal Democrats).

Although the Scottish National Party (SNP) formed a single party minority administration following the 2007 election, the post was not abolished despite there being no need to recognise the status of a second party leader, instead being given to the SNP Deputy Leader Nicola Sturgeon MSP.

During the illness of the first First Minister, Donald Dewar, the Deputy First Minister took over the running of the Executive as Acting First Minister.

The spelling used in the titles of all Deputy First Ministers so far has not been in line with traditional Scottish usage, which uses the form "Depute" in preference to "Deputy".

List of Deputy First Ministers

		Name	Entered Office	Left Office	Party	Other offices held whilst in post
	1.	Jim Wallace	7 May 1999	23 June 2005	Liberal Democrats	Minister for Justice (1999–2003) Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning (2003–2005)
	2.	Nicol Stephen	23 June 2005	16 May 2007	Liberal Democrats	Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
	3.	Nicola Sturgeon	16 May 2007	Incumbent	Scottish National Party	Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing

See also

• Under-Secretary of State for Scotland