Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...

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 is a list of members (MSPs) returned to the fourth Scottish Parliament at the 2011 general election. Of the 129 MSPs, 73 were elected from first past the post constituencies with a further 56 members being returned from eight regions, ...

. This was the first single-party majority government in the history of the devolved parliament. Salmond's second administration ended on 19 November 2014 in the aftermath of 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 Richard Neilson Lochhead (born 24 May 1969) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who is Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work and has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Moray since 2006. He was prev ...

all remained in cabinet, with

Fiona Hyslop Fiona Jane Hyslop (born 1 August 1964) is a Scottish politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been a Member of the Scottish Parliame ...

returning, having served as Education Secretary from 2007 to 2009.

Bruce Crawford Robert Hardie Bruce Crawford (born 16 February 1955) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy from 2011 to 2012, having held the junior ministerial positi ...

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 Shona McRory Robison (born 26 May 1966) is a Scottish politician serving as the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish ...

and

Angela Constance Angela Constance (born 15 July 1970) is a Scottish politician serving as Minister for Drug Policy since 2020, having previously served in the Scottish Cabinet from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the M ...

were promoted to cabinet. Robison over saw relations for the

2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

and Constance saw matters of employment. Salmond announced his resignation as

leader of the Scottish National Party The Leader of the Scottish National Party is the head of the SNP. The incumbent is Nicola Sturgeon who was elected unopposed in November 2014, succeeding Alex Salmond as party leader and First Minister of Scotland. History The post was offi ...

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 administration, dissolving Salmond's cabinet.

Cabinet

May 2011 to September 2012

September 2012 to November 2014

Junior ministers

Scottish law officers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salmond ministry, Second Salmond, second 2011 establishments in Scotland 2014 disestablishments in Scotland Ministries of Elizabeth II