Scottish finance secretary Shona Robison to step down at next election

Former deputy first minister Shona Robison has announced she will step down at the next election.

The finance secretary, who represents Dundee City East, was first elected in 1999, when the Scottish Parliament was first convened.

On Wednesday, she confirmed she will not stand for re-election in May 2026.

Robison is the latest senior SNP politician to announce she is standing down. On Monday, veteran nationalist Annabelle Ewing, who is also one of Holyrood’s deputy presiding officers, confirmed she would not run for re-election.

In January, former minister Joe FitzPatrick, MSP for Dundee City West, announced he would be stepping down.

It came after, former first minister Humza Yousaf and business minister Richard Lochhead have confirmed they will not run again.

In November, former drugs and alcohol minister Elena Whitham announced she would also be stepping down.

The MSP first held a ministerial role in 2007 and has held a number of positions including deputy first minister during Humza Yousaf’s tenure between March 2023 and May 2024.

Robison said she has made the decision to step down after 27 years following “careful consideration and reflection”.

The MSP said: “It has been a great privilege to serve as an SNP MSP since the Scottish Parliament was first reconvened in 1999, and as a Minister and Cabinet Secretary in successive SNP governments since 2007.

“After careful consideration and reflection, I have decided that I will not seek re-election at the Scottish Parliament election next year. 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.

“I am deeply proud of my ministerial contributions and achievements – overseeing Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games in 2014, implementing Minimum Unit Pricing, a world-leading policy that has saved hundreds of lives, and delivering a more than doubling of the ‘game-changing’ Scottish Child Payment, as part of our journey to eradicate child poverty in Scotland.

“And I am particularly proud of steering the Scottish Budget through Parliament earlier this year. It is a budget for Scotland that delivers record funding for our NHS and local Councils, action to effectively scrap the cruel two-child cap, and restores a universal winter heating payment for every pensioner household.”

Although she will no longer serve at Holyrood, the MSP says she will continue to support the SNP in a bid to achieve her “lifelong goal of delivering independence”.