Swinney hails ‘phenomenal contribution’ of senior ministers set to step down
Finance Secretary Shona Robison and Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop have both said they will not stand for election in 2026.
John Swinney has hailed the “phenomenal contribution” made by two senior members of his Cabinet as they announced plans to step down at next year’s Holyrood election.
The Scottish First Minister said he is “very sorry” Finance Secretary Shona Robison and Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop are to leave at the May 2026 election.
He said the women, who have both been MSPs since 1999, are “significant players within the Scottish Government” who have “made a phenomenal contribution to the work of the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Government over the years”.
With more than a dozen SNP MSPs – including former first minister Humza Yousaf and current further and higher education minister Graeme Dey – now having announced they will not run again in May 2026, Mr Swinney insisted the party has a “very strong talent base” from which to select candidates.
Ms Robison, who has previously served as deputy first minister, said her decision comes after “careful consideration and reflection”, while Ms Hyslop said she wants to spend more time with her family, particularly her seven-month-old grand-daughter.
Ms Robison said: “By the time of the next election, I will have been an MSP for 27 years and I believe now is the right time for me to take on some new challenges and contribute to public life in a different way.”
The MSP for Dundee City East has served in a variety of roles in the Scottish Government, including as health secretary when Nicola Sturgeon was first minister.
Before that she was in charge of preparations for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games in Alex Salmond’s government as a minister, before stepping up to join the Scottish Cabinet during his time in charge.
She was social justice secretary when the Parliament passed controversial gender recognition reforms, which despite being approved by MSPs were blocked by the then Conservative government at Westminster.
She became deputy first minister when Mr Yousaf took over as first minister, holding the finance brief in the Scottish Government at the same time.
She retained the role of Finance Secretary when Mr Swinney took the leadership last year.
She said she is “deeply proud of my ministerial contributions and achievements”, including overseeing preparations for the 2014 Games and implementing minimum unit pricing for alcohol – hailing this as a “world-leading policy that has saved hundreds of lives”.
Ms Robison also highlighted her role “delivering and more than doubling the ‘game-changing’ Scottish child payment, as part of our journey to eradicate child poverty in Scotland”.
Despite her achievements in Government, she added: “The best moments over my time at Holyrood have come from representing and supporting my constituents.
“I will forever be grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to serve them over the many years I have represented the city.”
She thanked them for allowing her to “speak up for them and our city”, and added: “Although I will no longer serve in Parliament, I will continue to campaign for and support the SNP, alongside my lifelong goal of delivering independence for Scotland.”
Ms Hyslop has also served a number of roles in the Scottish Government, including as education secretary, culture secretary and economy secretary.
She stepped down from the Government from this role in 2021, but later returned in 2023 to take charge of the transport brief, first as a minister and then as a cabinet secretary.
The Linlithgow MSP said it had been “an enormous honour to serve as an SNP MSP since the Scottish Parliament was reconvened in 1999”.
But she added: “After much careful thought and consideration, I have decided that the time is right for me to retire, which means that I will not be seeking re-election in the forthcoming 2026 election to the Scottish Parliament.
“The decision to retire is entirely personal and I do it for positive reasons. I recently became a grandmother and having served 26 years as an MSP – 27 years at the next election – with 16 of those in Government at Cabinet level, I have decided that this is the right election for me to retire and it is a decision which will give me the valuable opportunity to spend more time with my family and loved ones.”
She highlighted her work to end tuition fees for Scots who study at university in Scotland as well as efforts where she “championed our culture sector and showcased our world-class culture sector to the world”.
While she said the transport brief is “one of the most challenging roles in Government”, she said in the job she had “secured major investment in the rail network for the next five years”, and had brought the Caledonian Sleeper service into public ownership.
Ms Hyslop said she will “of course continue as an MSP” until May 2026, and will “continue to be an activist” for the SNP.
She added: “There is still a great deal of work to be done to elect an SNP government in 2026, and I remain passionate about securing a better future for Scotland as an independent nation.”
