Two veteran SNP ministers have become the latest to announce they will stand down at the next election.
Former deputy first minister and finance secretary Shona Robison has announced she will quit being an MSP and Fiona Hyslop, Scotland’s transport secretary, announced she will retire at the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary election.
Hyslop and Robison are the latest senior SNP politicians to announce they are standing down.
Former first minister Humza Yousaf, former drugs and alcohol minister Elena Whitham, business minister Richard Lochhead and former minister Joe FitzPatrick have confirmed they will not run again.
Last month, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said Scots will “have to wait” and see whether she runs again as an MSP.
Hyslop said she is not seeking re-election next year so she can spend more time with her family, particularly her new granddaughter, who is seven months old.
Hyslop has been an SNP MSP since the formation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
“The decision to retire is entirely personal and I do it for positive reasons,” she said.
“I recently became a grandmother and having served 26 years as an MSP – 27 years at the next election – with 16 of those in Government at cabinet level, I have decided that this is the right election for me to retire and it is a decision which will give me the valuable opportunity to spend more time with my family and loved ones.”
Robison said she has made the decision to step down after 27 years following “careful consideration and reflection”.
“By the time of the next election, I will have been an MSP for 27 years, and I believe now is the right time for me to take on some new challenges and contribute to public life in a different way.”
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