Shona Robison replaces Kate Forbes as finance secretary in new cabinet

By Bill Heaney

Updated on March 30 at 14.02

Shona Robison is to replace Kate Forbes as Scotland’s finance secretary after new First Minister Humza Yousaf announced his first cabinet.

Ms Robison has been given the finance brief as well as serving as deputy first minister.

She is a close friend of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and the consensus amongst MSPs and Holyrood watchers is that this is the only reason she has been given this important job along with the post of Deputy First Minister.

Ms Robison was responsible for introducing the controversial gender reforms in her previous role as social justice secretary, which has back-fired on the SNP and was one of the main factors why their membership slumped so badly.

It may also have been one of last “old pal’s act” gestures so common in politics since Ms Robison, previously employed Mr Yousaf’s wife Nadia El-Nakla in her constituency office.

She quit the government in 2018 after coming intense pressure as health secretary when everything she touched went politically septic.

Appointed to the brief in 2014, she resigned on the eve of a reshuffle following weeks of criticism about NHS failings, including at her local Tayside health board.

She certainly did nothing to improve the situation at the Vale of Leven Hospital which critics feel is badly under-used.

The fact that she sat on her hands while a local GP was dismissed unjustly from his practice at Dumbarton Health Centre – he was later cleared completely by an Employment Tribunal – despite a petition to keep him signed by more than 1,000 of his dismayed patients. This did nothing to help her profile.

The only thing that illustrated was that the SNP and the West Dunbartonshire Council-linked Health and Social Care Committee has little no regard for public opinion.

As health secretary Ms Robison also infamously promised to eradicate delayed discharge in 2015 — and look where that’s gone.

How big her involvement was with the troubled Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, which cost almost £1 billion, but fell foul of a dirty water scandal and children’s illnesses and even deaths, we will not find out until a judge-led inquiry into that takes place.

Her successor at Health,  Jeanne Freeman, pictured left, and former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon have been officially called to give evidence at that inquiry

She returned to parliament though as social justice secretary after the 2021 Holyrood election.

Observers believed before the election that they could not get anyone worse than Humza Yousaf, who has been slated from all quarters for his record in the post, must be dismayed at the appointment.

“He probably appointed her to make himself look good,” one cynical observer told The Democrat.

Ms Robison replaces Kate Forbes, who narrowly lost to Mr Yousaf in the SNP leadership contest, and who quit the government rather than accept a demotion to Rural Affairs.

The announcement came as Mr Yousaf unveiled his new cabinet team after being formally sworn as first minister in a brief ceremony at the Court of Session.

Other key appointments include Michael Matheson taking over from Mr Yousaf as health secretary, while former transport minister Jenny Gilruth will join the full cabinet for the first time as education secretary.

Another cabinet newcomer, Mairi McAllan, pictured with Nicola Sturgeon, will be the next zero and just transition secretary at the age of just 30.

And Neil Gray, who led Mr Yousaf’s SNP leadership campaign, also joins the cabinet after being given responsibility for the well-being economy, fair work and energy briefs.

The SNP’s deputy leader, Keith Brown, who handled the Clydebank trans gender person person being sent to a woman’s prison debacle, has been replaced by Angela Constance as the country’s justice secretary. Ms Constance presided over the issue of Scotland’s drugs deaths.

The remaining three members of the nine-strong cabinet team are:

The full list of 18 non-cabinet ministerial roles was also announced on Wednesday, including a new post of minister for independence which will be filled by Jamie Hepburn.

The co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, Dumbarton man Patrick Harvie and Money Back on the Bottle queen Lorna Slater have been reappointed to the roles they held under Nicola Sturgeon as part of the partnership agreement with the SNP.

There is no role in Humza Yousaf’s government for defeated SNP leadership candidate Ash Regan, left, who had promised to push the case for Independence by making it the SNP government’s first priority. Politics can be a poisonous business.

Kate Forbes, who was narrowly defeated by Mr Yousaf in the contest, had announced on Tuesday that she was leaving the government.

She had been offered a new role by Mr Yousaf that would have given her Ms Gougeon’s rural affairs job rather than finance – which would generally be viewed as a demotion – but turned it down.

The new cabinet team has five members under the age of 40 and, for the first time, has a majority of women.

Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon will be forced to give evidence at the UK-wide Covid Inquiry early next year as it will probe her decision-making in Scotland.

And her loyal lieutenants during that time, John Swinney and Jeanne Freeman will also be issued with a Rule Nine request- which is a demand for a written statement which can even request other documentation and for the recipient to provide oral evidence.

Ms Sturgeon and Ms Freeman’s handling of care homes during the early stages of the pandemic are bound to come under scrutiny.

It will concentrate on why hundreds of untested older people were transferred from hospitals to care homes.

Some 4,295 Scottish care home deaths were caused by Covid with 1,899 (44 per cent) of those occurring within the first 12 weeks of the crisis.

The UK-wide Covid Inquiry is running separately to one in Scotland, although it will hold hearings north of the border in January next year.