Second Salmond government

Following the 2011 general election to the 4th Scottish Parliament, the Scottish National Party, led by Alex Salmond, formed the second Salmond government on 18 May 2011. This was the first single-party majority government in the history of the devolved parliament.

Second Salmond government
6th devolved government of Scotland
2011–2014
Date formed	18 May 2011
Date dissolved	20 November 2014
People and organisations
Monarch	Elizabeth II
First Minister	Alex Salmond
First Minister's history	2007–2014
Deputy First Minister	Nicola Sturgeon
Member party	Scottish National Party
Status in legislature	Majority 69 / 129 (53%)
Opposition party	Scottish Labour Party
Opposition leader	Iain Gray (2011) Johann Lamont (2011-14) Jackie Baillie (2014)
History
Election(s)	2011 general election
Legislature term(s)	4th Scottish Parliament
Predecessor	First Salmond government
Successor	First Sturgeon government

Salmond announced his resignation as leader of the Scottish National Party on 19 September 2014 following the Scottish independence referendum; his resignation as SNP Leader took effect on 14 November when Nicola Sturgeon was elected unopposed to replace him.

Salmond offically resigned the office of First Minister on 18 November 2014. Nicola Sturgeo was elected his successor the following day. Sturgeon formed her first government after being officially sworn into office on 20 November.

History

On 19 May 2011, after Salmond was re-elected as first minister, his cabinet was increased in size, from five cabinet secretaries to eight.[1][2]

List of ministers

Cabinet[3]
Post	Minister	Term
First Minister	The Rt Hon. Alex Salmond MSP	2007–2014
Deputy First Minister	Nicola Sturgeon MSP	2007–2014
Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy		2007–2012
Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities		2012–2014
Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth	John Swinney MSP	2007–2014
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning	Michael Russell MSP	2009–2014
Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy	Bruce Crawford MSP	2011–2012
Cabinet Secretary for Justice	Kenny MacAskill MSP	2007–2014
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment	Richard Lochhead MSP	2007–2014
Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs	Fiona Hyslop MSP	2011–2014
Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment	Alex Neil MSP	2011–2012
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing		2012–2014
Cabinet Secretary for Training, Youth and Women’s Employment	Angela Constance MSP	2014
Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights	Shona Robison MSP	2014

Junior ministers[3]
Post	Minister	Term
Minister for External Affairs and International Development	Humza Yousaf MSP	2011–2014
Minister for Public Health	Michael Matheson MSP	2011–2014
Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism	Fergus Ewing MSP	2011–2014
Minister for Local Government and Planning	Aileen Campbell MSP	2011
	Derek Mackay MSP	2011–2014
Minister for Children and Young People	Angela Constance MSP	2011–2014
	Aileen Campbell MSP	2011–2014
Minister for Learning and Skills	Dr Alasdair Allan MSP	2011
Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's Languages		2011–2014
Minister for Parliamentary Business and Chief Whip	Brian Adam MSP	2011–2012
Minister for Parliamentary Business	Joe FitzPatrick MSP	2012–2014
Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs	Roseanna Cunningham MSP	2011–2014
Minister for Environment and Climate Change	Stewart Stevenson MSP	2011–2012
	Paul Wheelhouse MSP	2012–2014
Minister for Housing and Transport	Keith Brown MSP	2011–2012
Minister for Transport and Veterans		2012–2014

Law officers[3]
Post	Name	Term
Lord Advocate	The Right Hon. Frank Mulholland QC	2011–2014
Solicitor General for Scotland	Lesley Thomson QC	2011–2014

References

1. "First minister Alex Salmond unveils enlarged cabinet". BBC News. 19 May 2011.
2. Black, Andrew (20 May 2011). "At-a-glance: Scottish government cabinet". BBC News.
3. "Ministers, Law Officers, Parliamentary Liaison Officers by Cabinet: Session 4" (PDF). www.parliament.scot. Scottish Parliament. 2 September 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2017.