List of first ministers of Scotland

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 the 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.

Currently, the First Minister of Scotland is Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party (SNP), who succeeded Alex Salmond in November 2014 following his resignation after the defeat of the Yes Scotland campaign in the Scottish independence referendum. Sturgeon leads the fourth government of the Scottish Parliament which was first elected in 2007 as a minority government, and re-elected in 2011, where they formed the first majority government in the Scottish Parliament.

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.

Chronological list of First Ministers

No.		Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party of FM	Elected	Government	Deputy First Minister
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Labour Party/meta/color" |	1		Donald Dewar (1937–2000)† MSP for Glasgow Anniesland	17 May 1999	11 October 2000	1 year, 147 days	Labour	1999	Dewar Lab – LD	rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Scottish Liberal Democrats/meta/color" |	Jim Wallace (Liberal Democrat)
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Liberal Democrats/meta/color" |	—		Jim Wallace (acting)	11—26 October 2000			Liberal Democrats
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Labour Party/meta/color" |	2		Henry McLeish (1948–) MSP for Central Fife	26 October 2000	8 November 2001	1 year, 13 days	Labour	—	McLeish Lab – LD
style="background-color: Template:Scottish Liberal Democrats/meta/color" |	—		Jim Wallace (acting)	8—22 November 2001			Liberal Democrats
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Scottish Labour Party/meta/color" |	3		Jack McConnell (1960–) MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw	22 November 2001	16 May 2007	5 years, 171 days	Labour	—	1st McConnell Lab – LD	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Scottish Liberal Democrats/meta/color" |	Jim Wallace 2001–2005 (LD) Nicol Stephen 2005–2007 (LD)
2003								2nd McConnell Lab – LD
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" |	4		Alex Salmond (1954–) MSP for Gordon until 2011 MSP for Aberdeenshire East from 2011	16 May 2007	19 November 2014	7 years, 187 days	Scottish National Party	2007	1st Salmond SNP (minority)	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" |	Nicola Sturgeon (SNP)
2011								2nd Salmond SNP
rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" |	5		Nicola Sturgeon (1970–) MSP for Glasgow Southside	20 November 2014	Incumbent	9 years, 275 days		—	1st Sturgeon SNP	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" |	John Swinney (SNP)
2016								2nd Sturgeon SNP (minority)

† Died in office.

Timeline

External links

• Scottish Government web site