Written by David Petrie, Senior Consultant, Bell Pottinger Public Affairs
As the dust settles over the SNP’s historic victory a fortnight ago, the picture of what Scottish Government will look like is beginning to emerge. Those who were already less than enthusiastic about the SNP may not like what they see.
Reflecting the confidence the First Minister, Alex Salmond, had in his previous team, many of the previous cabinet secretaries have returned to the same roles they filled before the election. Praise indeed.
The First Minister’s ever loyal and effective deputy in the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, retains her title of Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, adding ‘Cities Strategy’ to her portfolio.
Working underneath the Cabinet Secretary for Health will be Shona Robinson, who retains her sport brief, whilst Michael Matheson is finally given a job and becomes Minister for Public Health. Mr Matheson has performed consistently well on the backbenches and his very vocal support for the introduction of a minimum price for alcohol during the last Parliament gives him a solid footing for what will be one of his first tasks.
Arguably the SNP’s most competent Minister, John Swinney, has unsurprisingly been retained as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth. Mr Swinney frequently out-manoeuvred his opposite numbers during the last 4 years, most shrewdly in his last budget. The quietly spoken Finance Minister repeatedly produced balanced budgets and has, against all the odds, managed to fund a freeze in council tax rates since 2008 and on to 2016
Mr Swinney will be supported by Fergus Ewing, who becomes Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, and Aileen Campbell who was appointed Minister for Local Government and Planning. The primary focus of Mr Swinney’s department is said to be jobs, with this renewed drive being reflected across Government in the introduction of some new cabinet positions.
One such example is the role filled by cabinet newcomer, Alex Neil, who becomes Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment. Mr Neil has been told his principle focus is the not insignificant task of “sustaining capital spending in the face of Westminster cuts” in order to strengthen the recovery of the Scottish economy. Mr Neil is joined in his department by Keith Brown who adds housing to his transport brief.
In a further display of approval, Kenny MacAskill has been re-appointed as Justice Secretary, the role that saw him gain global notoriety in 2009 when he granted Abdelbaset al-Megrahi compassionate release. Whilst it would be disingenuous to suggest that the election result was in anyway a validation of the Justice Secretary’s decision to release the only man convicted of the bombing of Pan-Am flight 103, the result – and this re-appointment – seems to indicate that the decision to release him is not as divisive in Scotland as the reaction to it elsewhere may have suggested.
Perhaps one of the most regrettable new titles in the new SNP Government is that allocated to Roseanna Cunningham, who becomes Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs (with responsibility for tackling sectarianism). Sectarian tensions have spiked in Scotland recently and, whilst remedying the problem will be no easy task, the SNP should be commended for looking to tackle the issue head on. How successful they will be remains to be seen.
Michael Russell remains Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning and will be supported by Angela Constance as Minister for Children and Young People, and Alasdair Allen as Minister for Learning and Skills.
Richard Lochhead remains Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, where he has been since 2007. He is joined in his department by the returning Stewart Stevenson who becomes Minister for Environment and Climate Change. Mr Stevenson, who was forced to resign last winter for failing to prevent snow from falling, was previously responsible for steering through the ambitious Climate Change Act.
Following her move in 2009 from Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning to Minister for Culture and External Affairs, where she attended cabinet, Fiona Hyslop now becomes Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs.
Bruce Crawford is promoted from his cabinet position of Minister for Parliamentary Business to become Cabinet Secretary for Parliament and Government Strategy. He will be supported by Brian Adam who becomes Minister for Parliamentary Business and Chief Whip. Mr Crawford’s main role will be to co-ordinate work across Government, and – perhaps the biggest challenge of all – build cross-party support for policy and legislation.
Mr Adam will be a busy man. There are opportunities here to rid the Parliament of the worst of its ‘Punch and Judy Show’ elements and, instead, focus on developing well thought out and constructively scrutinised legislation. The SNP will be acutely aware that now more than ever they need to demonstrate they can run a Government effectively and inclusively as, ultimately, many will now assess the viability of an independent Scotland through the prism of the current administration. Despite their Parliamentary majority, the SNP would be well advised to make concerted efforts to achieve a conciliatory approach to Parliament.
The first challenge the new Scottish Government has set itself is to put pressure on Westminster to revisit the Scotland Bill as, they claim, “it is a flawed bill that does not meet the aspirations of Scotland’s people”. It is their hope that the Bill will eventually include the devolution of powers to allow the Scottish Government to borrow, and control over corporation tax.
In addition, the SNP will seek to gain control over the Crown Estate. This would allow the Scottish Parliament to license marine renewable energy projects to “stimulate green industry and to ensure that local communities benefit from natural resources”.
As well as additional power over the Scottish fisheries industry and broadcasting, efforts will also be made to bring control of alcohol excises to Holyrood. This follows the SNP’s unsuccessful attempt to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol which was blocked by the opposition parties who maintained that a Westminster-led duty rise would negate the need for Holyrood to act. This never happened. With such a large majority, it is now certain a minimum unit price for alcohol will be introduced.
However, the size of the SNP’s majority could become their biggest threat. Until now they have had the luxury of being able to side-step full responsibility for the actions of Parliament. Now, there are no hiding places. The party will need to demonstrate to Parliament, and the electorate, that it is genuinely willing to engage and make concessions. With a severely weakened opposition the danger is that sufficient scrutiny will not occur. Ironically, this could be compounded by one of Alex Salmond’s greatest assets, namely that many of his team have been on the ground running for the last 4 years and won’t be minded to wait for the opposition to catch up.
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