First Minister of Scotland

**First Minister of Scotland** is the leader of the government of Scotland. The First Minister is usually the person who is the leader of the political party with the most seats in the Scottish Parliament.

The current First Minister of Scotland is John Swinney of the Scottish National Party, since 8th May 2024. The first was Donald Dewar, who died in office in 2000. The official residence of First Minister is Bute House in Edinburgh, Scotland.

## List of First Ministers of Scotland

- Political parties

- Status

- Legend

|rowspan=2||rowspan=2|Portrait|rowspan=2|Name|colspan=3|Term of office|colspan=2 rowspan=2|Party|rowspan=2|Election|rowspan=2|Government|rowspan=2|Deputy|rowspan=2|Monarch|rowspan=2|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**1**||**Donald Dewar**|17 May 1999|11 October 2000†||bgcolor=||Labour|1999 (1st)|Dewar|Jim Wallace|rowspan=12|**Elizabeth II** <small>(1952–2022)</small>||||||||||
|**(—)**||**_Jim Wallace** _|_11 October 2000_|_27 October 2000_|__|bgcolor=||_Liberal Democrat_|_— (1st)_|_Caretaker_|_Vacant_||||||||||||
|**2**||**Henry McLeish**|27 October 2000|8 November 2001||bgcolor=||Labour|— (1st)|McLeish|Jim Wallace||||||||||||
|**(—)**||**_Jim Wallace** _|_8 November 2001_|_27 November 2001_|__|bgcolor=||_Liberal Democrat_|_— (1st)_|_Caretaker_|_Vacant_||||||||||||
|rowspan=3|**3**|rowspan=3||rowspan=3|**Jack McConnell**|rowspan=3|27 November 2001|rowspan=3|16 May 2007|rowspan=3||rowspan=3 bgcolor=||rowspan=3|Labour|— (1st)|McConnell I|rowspan=2|Jim Wallace||||
|rowspan=2|2003 (2nd)|rowspan=2|McConnell II||||||||||||||||||||
|Nicol Stephen|||||||||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=2|**4**|rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Alex Salmond**|rowspan=2|17 May 2007|rowspan=2|18 November 2014|rowspan=2||rowspan=2 bgcolor=||rowspan=2|SNP|2007 (3rd)|Salmond I|rowspan=2|Nicola Sturgeon|rowspan=2|||
|2011 (4th)|Salmond II||||||||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=4|**5**|rowspan=4||rowspan=4|**Nicola Sturgeon**|rowspan=4|20 November 2014|rowspan=4|28 March 2023|rowspan=4||rowspan=4 bgcolor=||rowspan=4|SNP|— (4th)|Sturgeon I|rowspan=4|John Swinney|rowspan=4|||
|2016 (5th)|Sturgeon II||||||||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=2|2021 (6th)|rowspan=2|Sturgeon III||||||||||||||||||||
|rowspan="4"|**Charles III** <small>(2022–present)</small>||||||||||||||||||||||
|rowspan="2"|**6**|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|**Humza Yousaf**|rowspan="2"|29 March 2023|rowspan="2"|7 May 2024|rowspan="2"||rowspan=2 bgcolor=||rowspan="2"|SNP|rowspan="2"|— (6th)|Yousaf I|rowspan="2"|Shona Robison|rowspan="2"||
|Yousaf II|||||||||||||||||||||||
|rowspan="2"|**7**|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|**John Swinney**|rowspan="2"|8 May 2024|rowspan="2"|_Incumbent_|rowspan="2"||rowspan=2 bgcolor=||rowspan="2"|SNP|rowspan="2"|— (6th)|Swinney|rowspan="2"|Kate Forbes|rowspan="2"||

## Caretaker First Ministers of Scotland

- Jim Wallace (Scottish Liberal Democrats) - 11 October 2000 – 27 October 2000
- Jim Wallace (Liberal Democrats) – 8 November 2001 – 27 November 2001

## Deputy First Ministers of Scotland

- Jim Wallace (Scottish Liberal Democrats) – 19 May 1999 – 23 June 2005
- Nicol Stephen (Scottish Liberal Democrats) – 27 June 2005 – 17 May 2007
- Nicola Sturgeon (Scottish National Party) – 17 May 2007 – 19 November 2014
- John Swinney (Scottish National Party) – 21 November 2014 – 29 March 2023
- Shona Robison (Scottish National Party) – 29 March 2023 – 8 May 2024
- Kate Forbes (Scottish National Party) – 8 May 2024 – present

## Residence

The official residence of the First Minister is **Bute House**. It is located in Edinburgh.

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: First Minister
- **body**: Scotland
- **image**: John Swinney - First Minister (53720492021) (cropped).jpg
- **incumbent**: John Swinney
- **incumbentsince**: 8 May 2024
- **status**: Head of government and Minister of the Crown
- **style**: First Minister and Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, Keeper of the Scottish Seal
 (formal)
First Minister
(informal)
Right Honourable, The Right Honourable
(UK and Commonwealth)
Excellency, His/Her Excellency
(international)
- **department**: Office of the First Minister
Scottish Government
Scottish Cabinet
Scottish Parliament
- **reports to**: Scottish Parliament
- **residence**: Bute House
- **seat**: St Andrew's House, Edinburgh
- **nominator**: Scottish Parliament
- **appointer**: Monarchy of the United Kingdom, The Monarch
- **termlength**: At His Majesty's pleasure
- **termlength qualified**: (following nomination by the Scottish Parliament)
- **salary**: £165,678 per annum
(including £67,662 Member of the Scottish Parliament, MSP salary)
- **inaugural**: Donald Dewar
- **deputy**: Deputy First Minister of Scotland
- **flag**:
Flag of Scotland
- **flagborder**: yes
- **insignia**: Coat of arms of the United Kingdom in Scotland.svg
- **insigniacaption**: Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom, Royal Coat of Arms used by the Monarch in Scotland