Alex Salmond formed the second Salmond government on 19 May 2011 following his Scottish National Party's landslide victory in the 2011 election to the 4th Scottish Parliament. This was the first single-party majority government in the history of the devolved parliament. Salmond's second government ended on 18 November 2014 upon his resignation as First Minister of Scotland.
History
2011 to 2012 On 18 May 2011, after Salmond was re-elected as first minister, his cabinet was increased in size, from five cabinet secretaries to eight. Nicola Sturgeon was re-appointed as Deputy First Minister and Health Secretary. John Swinney, Kenny McAskill and Richard Lochhead all remained in cabinet, with Fiona Hyslop returning, having served as Education Secretary from 2007 to 2009. Bruce Crawford and Alex Neil were promoted to cabinet.
2012 to 2013 In September 2012, Salmond made a snap reshuffle in light of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Neil switched roles, with Sturgeon taking on responsibility for the independence referendum. Bruce Crawford announced his retirement from government.
2013 to 2014 In 2014, Shona Robison and Angela Constance were promoted to cabinet. Robison oversaw relations for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and Constance saw matters of employment.
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.
On the 18 November, Salmond officially resigned as first minister and two days later Sturgeon formed her first government, dissolving Salmond's cabinet.
Cabinet
May 2011 to September 2012 CabinetPostMinisterPortraitTermFirst MinisterThe Rt Hon. Alex Salmond MSP 2007–2014Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP 2007–2014Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy2007–2012Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable GrowthJohn Swinney MSP 2007–2014Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong LearningMichael Russell MSP 2009–2014Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government StrategyBruce Crawford MSP 2011–2012Cabinet Secretary for JusticeKenny MacAskill MSP 2007–2014Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the EnvironmentRichard Lochhead MSP 2007–2014Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External AffairsFiona Hyslop MSP 2011–2014Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment Alex Neil MSP 2011–2012
September 2012 to November 2014 CabinetPostMinisterPortraitTermFirst MinisterThe Rt Hon. Alex Salmond MSP 2007–2014Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP 2007–2014Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Cities2012–2014Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable GrowthJohn Swinney MSP 2007–2014Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong LearningMichael Russell MSP 2009–2014Cabinet Secretary for JusticeKenny MacAskill MSP 2007–2014Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the EnvironmentRichard Lochhead MSP 2007–2014Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External AffairsFiona Hyslop MSP 2011–2014Cabinet Secretary for Health and WellbeingAlex Neil MSP2012–2014Cabinet Secretary for Training, Youth and Women’s EmploymentAngela Constance MSP 2014Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' RightsShona Robison MSP 2014
Junior ministers Junior ministersPostMinisterTermMinister for External Affairs and International DevelopmentHumza Yousaf MSP 2011–2014 Minister for Public HealthMichael Matheson MSP 2011–2014 Minister for Energy, Enterprise and TourismFergus Ewing MSP 2011–2014 Minister for Local Government and Planning Aileen Campbell MSP 2011 Derek Mackay MSP 2011–2014Minister for Children and Young PeopleAngela Constance MSP 2011–2014 Aileen Campbell MSP 2011–2014Minister for Learning and SkillsDr Alasdair Allan MSP 2011 Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's Languages 2011–2014 Minister for Parliamentary Business and Chief WhipBrian Adam MSP 2011–2012Minister for Parliamentary BusinessJoe FitzPatrick MSP 2012–2014Minister for Community Safety and Legal AffairsRoseanna Cunningham MSP 2011–2014 Minister for Environment and Climate ChangeStewart Stevenson MSP 2011–2012 Paul Wheelhouse MSP 2012–2014 Minister for Housing and TransportKeith Brown MSP 2011–2012 Minister for Transport and Veterans2012–2014
Scottish law officers Law officersPost Name Term Lord AdvocateThe Right Hon. Frank Mulholland QC 2011–2014 Solicitor General for ScotlandLesley Thomson QC 2011–2014
References