First Minister of Scotland

The First Minister of Scotland (Template:Lang-gd) is the head of Scotland's national devolved government, the Scottish Executive, which was established in 1999 along with the Scottish Parliament.

The First Minister is, ex officio, the Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, and his place in the order of precedence in Scotland is determined by that office.

Appointments to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom are made by the monarch, although in practice they are made only on the advice of the UK government. To date all three First Ministers (and also both Deputy First Ministers) have been appointed members of the Privy Council, and therefore entitled to use the title 'Right Honourable'.

The First Minister is paid £123,161 which includes his allowance as an MSP of £50,300.

Bute House in Edinburgh's Charlotte Square is the official residence of the First Minister. The Current First Minister is Alex Salmond after the general election on May 3rd

Role

The Scottish Executive is led by the First Minister who is nominated by the Scottish Parliament and appointed by the monarch. The FM may then nominate ministers, a Lord Advocate and a Solicitor General to form the Scottish Executive, but only with the support of the Scottish Parliament.

The First Minister is responsible to the Scottish Parliament for his/her actions and the actions of the executive. This happens by means of written questions or through the weekly session of questions to the First Minister. This happens on a Thursday afternoon.

See also

• First Minister's Question Time (Scotland)
• Deputy First Minister of Scotland
• Scottish Parliament Building
• Scottish Parliament
• First Minister, as used around the world
• Prime Minister

External links

• First Minister, at the Scottish Executive website

	Minister	Party	Took office	Left office
style="background:Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Donald Dewar	Labour	1999	2000
style="background:Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Henry McLeish	Labour	2000	2001
style="background:Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Jack McConnell	Labour	2001	2007
style="background:Template:Scottish National Party (UK)/meta/colour"		Alex Salmond	SNP	2007	Present

First Ministers of Scotland
First Ministers	Donald Dewar Jim Wallace (acting; 11–27 October 2000) Henry McLeish Jim Wallace (acting; 8–27 November 2001) Jack McConnell Alex Salmond Nicola Sturgeon Humza Yousaf John Swinney
Premierships	Dewar (1999–2000) McLeish (2000–2001) McConnell (2001–2007 Salmond (2007–2014) Sturgeon (2014–2023) Yousaf (2023–2024) Swinney (2024–)
Category Politics of Scotland List of first ministers of Scotland List of first ministers of Scotland by education