Secretary of State for Scotland

The **Secretary of State for Scotland** is the main minister responsible for Scotland in the Government of the United Kingdom. They sit in Cabinet and run the Scotland Office.

### Secretaries of state for Scotland (1926–)

|colspan=3|Secretary of State|colspan=2|Term of office|Party|colspan=2|Ministry|||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="background-color:"|||**John Gilmour**|26 July 1926|4 June 1929|Unionist|style="background-color:"||Baldwin II||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**William Adamson**|7 June 1929|24 August 1931|Labour|style="background-color:"||MacDonald II||||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Archibald Sinclair**|rowspan=2|25 August 1931|rowspan=2|28 September 1932|rowspan=2|Liberal|style="background-color:#ddd"||National I|
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:#ddd"||rowspan=2|National II||||||||||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Godfrey Collins**|rowspan=2|28 September 1932|rowspan=2|29 October 1936|rowspan=2|Liberal National||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:#ddd"||rowspan=2|National III )||||||||||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Walter Elliot**|rowspan=2|29 October 1936|rowspan=2|6 May 1938|rowspan=2|Unionist||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:#ddd"||rowspan=2|National IV )||||||||||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**John Colville**|rowspan=2|6 May 1938|rowspan=2|10 May 1940|rowspan=2|Unionist||||
|style="background-color:#ddd"||Chamberlain War )|||||||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Ernest Brown**|14 May 1940|8 February 1941|Liberal National|rowspan=2 style="background-color:#ddd"||rowspan=2|Churchill War|||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Thomas Johnston**|8 February 1941|23 May 1945|Labour|||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Harry Primrose** 6th Earl of Rosebery|25 May 1945|26 July 1945|Liberal National|style="background-color:#ddd"||Churchill Caretaker||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Joseph Westwood**|3 August 1945|7 October 1947|Labour|rowspan=3 style="background-color:"||rowspan=3|Attlee|||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Arthur Woodburn**|7 October 1947|28 February 1950|Labour|||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Hector McNeil**|28 February 1950|26 October 1951|Labour|||||||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**James Stuart**|rowspan=2|30 October 1951|rowspan=2|13 January 1957|rowspan=2|Unionist|style="background-color:"||Churchill III|
|style="background-color:"||Eden|||||||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**John Maclay**|13 January 1957|13 July 1962|Unionist|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2|Macmillan|||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Michael Noble**|rowspan=2|13 July 1962|rowspan=2|16 October 1964|rowspan=2|Unionist||||
|style="background-color:"||Douglas-Home|||||||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Willie Ross**|18 October 1964|19 June 1970|Labour|style="background-color:"||Wilson||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Gordon Campbell**|20 June 1970|4 March 1974|Conservative|style="background-color:"||Heath||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Willie Ross**|5 March 1974|8 April 1976|Labour|style="background-color:"||Wilson||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Bruce Millan**|8 April 1976|4 May 1979|Labour|style="background-color:"||Callaghan||||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**George Younger**|rowspan=2|5 May 1979|rowspan=2|11 January 1986|rowspan=2|Conservative|style="background-color:"||Thatcher I|
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2|Thatcher II||||||||||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Malcolm Rifkind**|rowspan=2|11 January 1986|rowspan=2|28 November 1990|rowspan=2|Conservative||||
|style="background-color:"||Thatcher III|||||||||||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Ian Lang**|rowspan=2|28 November 1990|rowspan=2|5 July 1995|rowspan=2|Conservative|style="background-color:"||Major I|
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2|Major II||||||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Michael Forsyth**|5 July 1995|2 May 1997|Conservative|||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Donald Dewar**|2 May 1997|17 May 1999|Labour|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2|Blair I|||||
|style="background-color:"|||**John Reid**|17 May 1999|25 January 2001|Labour|||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Helen Liddell**|25 January 2001|13 June 2003|Labour|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2|Blair II|||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Alistair Darling**|rowspan=2|13 June 2003|rowspan=2|5 May 2006|rowspan=2|Labour||||
|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2|Blair III||||||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Douglas Alexander**|5 May 2006|28 June 2007|Labour|||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Des Browne**|28 June 2007|3 October 2008|Labour|rowspan=2 style="background-color:"||rowspan=2|Brown|||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Jim Murphy**|3 October 2008|11 May 2010|Labour|||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Danny Alexander**|12 May 2010|29 May 2010|Liberal Democrat|rowspan=3 style="background-color:#ddd"||rowspan=3|Cameron–Clegg|||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Michael Moore**|29 May 2010|7 October 2013|Liberal Democrat|||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Alistair Carmichael**|7 October 2013|8 May 2015|Liberal Democrat|||||||||
|rowspan=3 style="background-color:"||rowspan=3||rowspan=3|**David Mundell**|rowspan=3|11 May 2015|rowspan=3|24 July 2019|rowspan=3|Conservative|style="background-color:"||Cameron II|
|style="background-color:"||May I|||||||||||||
|style="background-color:"||May II|||||||||||||
|rowspan=4 style="background-color:"||rowspan=4||rowspan=4|**Alister Jack**|rowspan=4|24 July 2019|rowspan=4|5 July 2024|rowspan=4|Conservative|style="background-color:"||Johnson I|
|style="background-color:"||Johnson II|||||||||||||
|style="background-color:"||Truss|||||||||||||
|style="background-color:"||Sunak|||||||||||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Ian Murray**|5 July 2024|5 September 2025|Labour|style="background-color:"||rowspan=2|Starmer|||||
|style="background-color:"|||**Douglas Alexander**|5 September 2025|Incumbent|Labour|style="background-color:"||||||||

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: Secretary of State for Scotland
- **insignia**: Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (Government in Scotland).svg
- **insigniacaption**: Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, Royal Arms of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's Government in Scotland
- **department**: Scotland Office, Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland
- **image**: Official portrait of Douglas Alexander MP crop 2, 2024.jpg
- **incumbent**: Douglas Alexander
- **incumbentsince**: 5 September 2025
- **style**: **Scottish Secretary**

The Right Honourable

- **type**: Minister of the Crown
- **status**: Secretary of State (United Kingdom), Secretary of State
- **reports to**: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, The Prime Minister
- **seat**: Westminster
- **nominator**: The Prime Minister
- **appointer**: Monarchy of the United Kingdom, The Monarch
- **termlength**: At His Majesty's pleasure
- **formation**: * 1 May 1707

* 17 August 1885

* 26 July 1926 :

- **salary**: £159,038 per annum
(including £86,584 Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP salary)
- **deputy**: Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland
- **website**: [http://www.scotlandoffice.gov.uk Scotland Office]