First Minister John Swinney announces Scottish Government Cabinet reshuffle

John Swinney has announced a cabinet reshuffle of his Government.

Standing in front of Bute House in Edinburgh, the First Minister announced on Wednesday a suite of appointments and reappointments to his Cabinet, which is the main decision-making body of the Scottish Government.

Swinney described the reshuffle as “modest” and said the government was focused on four aims, eradicating child poverty, strengthening the economy, making the transition to net zero and improving public services, in particular the NHS.

John Swinney appointed Màiri McAllan, who’s returning from maternity leave, as the cabinet secretary for housing to tackle the national housing crisis.

Swinney also appointed a new minister for drugs and alcohol policy following the death of Christina McKelvie in March.

Maree Todd will take on the role while Tom Arthur moves to social care.

Gillian Martin, the current acting cabinet secretary for wellbeing, economy, net zero and energy will be staying put and taking the role on permanently.

On the steps of Bute House, John Swinney told reporters: “This morning I have made some changes to my ministerial team to accommodate the return from maternity leave of Màiri McAllan and I’m delighted to welcome her back after her maternity leave. Màiri will be occupying a new post in cabinet, cabinet secretary for housing, giving leadership to the housing emergency which has to be tackled in Scotland and to deliver homes and better lives for people in Scotland.

“Gillian Martin will take forward responsibilities as cabinet secretary for net zero, climate action and measures on energy that require to be taken.

“Maree Todd will take forward responsibilities as drugs and alcohol minister, with responsibility for sport and Tom Arthur will be the minister for mental wellbeing and social care.

“I’ve decided to make modest changes to the government because I think it is essential that the government which is far advanced in delivering its programme of improvement in the lives of the people in Scotland, is concentrated on that delivery, it’s vital that we have all the time available to us in this parliamentary term to improve the lives of people in Scotland and that is what the government is going to do.”

Opposition parties were more critical, with Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton saying Swinney had “rearranged the deckchairs on the Titanic and ended up with the same old faces who have failed Scotland for far too long”.

She said: “For the good of the country, we need to remove John Swinney and the SNP from power at next year’s election.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie similarly said: “John Swinney has chosen to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic as his authority as leader continues to sink.”

She added: “If, after 18 years in power, the best John Swinney has to offer as an answer to the issues facing Scots is to shuffle his Cabinet around, then that is simply not good enough.”