Meeting of the Parliament 21 May 2026 [Draft]
On behalf of the Scottish Labour Party, I welcome the new Scottish Cabinet and junior ministers to their roles. I congratulate every one of the SNP MSPs who has been given ministerial office, and I confess that I am somewhat jealous.
The night before he died, John Smith famously said that the “opportunity to serve” his nation was all he asked. Every one of the ministers has been given that precious gift that was denied to John Smith, and I hope that they appreciate the honour that they have been given and make the most of it.
As our leader, Anas Sarwar, said on Tuesday, this is a new Parliament and it is a chance to introduce a new politics of co-operation. That is the spirit in which the Scottish Labour Party will engage with the Scottish Government. However, I must be clear that we will continue to hold Government ministers to account: to challenge them on their failings and to pressure them to focus on the priorities of the people of Scotland—not as opposition for opposition’s sake, but to make them better.
The election result, which deprived the SNP of a majority, proved that the people of Scotland want a politics that is centred on their concerns. The cost of living, our national health service, our economy and safety on our streets are the issues that we are expecting ministers to address.
People want ministers who will make an impact, and I am not just talking about Jamie Hepburn. If and when Parliament confirms his appointment, I hope that the Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans will spare a thought for the veterans in his own group who have not got the call-up as of yet. It would be remiss of us not to say that Mr Hepburn’s appointment and Kirsten Oswald’s appointment as Minister for Victims and Community Safety have raised some concerns, but that is for the First Minister to make a judgment on. To be clear, we do not intend to oppose the First Minister in his making of appointments, but we do expect ministers to conduct themselves professionally and appropriately at all times and to uphold the highest standards.
I congratulate Stephen Gethins and Alison Thewliss on their appointments as ministers, too, and I particularly congratulate Hannah Mary Goodlad and Simita Kumar on their appointments as the two ministers who are new to any Parliament.
That brings me to the Cabinet. John Swinney’s election as First Minister is undoubtedly a political achievement. However, like many across Scotland, we struggle to see how the man who failed as education secretary and created the black hole in Scotland’s finances can deliver the leadership that Scotland needs now. We are sure that Mr Swinney will do all that he can to prove us wrong, and we wish him every success in carrying out his duty to serve the people of Scotland.
I also extend my congratulations to Jenny Gilruth, who is Scotland’s new Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government. Ms Gilruth has her work cut out for her to fix the mess that her boss has made of our finances. Given her U-turn on mobile phones in classrooms, however, we wonder whether she will be confiscating phones on the way into the Cabinet room in due course.
When it comes to fixing the mess of our public finances, the task truly falls to Scotland’s new Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform, Ivan McKee. Ivan McKee could be joining in a rich SNP heritage of ministers with performative job titles. Oh, how we miss the cabinet secretary for the wellbeing economy. What became of the minister for the just transition? The roles of the minister for independence and the minister for community wealth have, sadly, faded into the past.
However, if it is not a performative job title, a more ominous ministerial title I cannot imagine. We can only imagine that it was decided that the title of “Minister for Job Losses and Redundancies” was too on the nose. With the possibility of 20,000 public sector job cuts on the way, I hope that Mr McKee is ready to face the righteous fury of Scotland’s trade union movement and the public at large. Members on the Labour benches are clear that Scottish Labour’s priority will always be to protect jobs and to stand up for the interests of Scotland’s workers.
Angela Constance is our new Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care. I congratulate her. It is hard to imagine a more important job. As Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, she released hundreds of prisoners on to the streets early to tackle overcrowding in our prisons; I wonder whether she will adopt the same tactic to tackle delayed discharge.
When it comes to ambition, few can match Scotland’s new Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport, Stephen Flynn. We all saw Mr Flynn’s struggle to get into Bute house yesterday. That was perhaps a sign of things to come—but do not worry, First Minister, Mr Flynn has said that he is right behind you. Whether that is a statement of support or a threat, people can draw their own conclusions.
A colleague of mine remarked that the new Cabinet looks like the cast list for a production of “Macbeth” at Holyrood. If you ask me, they look a lot more like the usual suspects. The greatest trick that John Swinney ever pulled was trying to present this as a fresh start for Scotland: “Meet the new Cabinet—they look an awful lot like the old Cabinet”. Nonetheless, we look forward to working with them to deliver for Scotland.