First Minister John Swinney criticised for £20,000 pay rise for SNP ministers

The First Minister has been criticised for approving a near-£20,000 pay increase for SNP ministers.

John Swinney lifted the 16-year pay freeze implemented by former first minister Alex Salmond in 2009.

It means all Scottish Government ministers will receive an additional £19,126.

In total, the rise will see junior SNP ministers paid £100,575 and cabinet secretaries paid £116,125.

Ministerial pay had been capped at £96,999 since 2009 – with pay rises in excess being donated back to the public purse.

This has seen more than £2.2m extra made available for public spending.

Ministers will now receive their full MSP salary plus the 2009 level of their ministerial pay – £41,618 for cabinet secretaries and £26,068 for junior ministers.

The First Minister, however, has said he will forego the rise.

The Scottish Conservatives have accused SNP ministers of wanting to “boost their pensions and payoffs” at the expense of taxpayers “on their way to the exit” at the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections next year.

“The huge salary increase John Swinney has given SNP ministers can’t be related to their performance in office, which has been uniformly dismal,” Tory shadow secretary for finance and local government Craig Hoy said.

“That’s why so many Nats expect to be turfed out if they stand in at the next election, and many have already thrown in the towel,” Hoy said.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton criticised the timing of the pay rise in the face of a cost of living crisis that has “never gone away”.

“SNP ministers may regret the timing of this pay overhaul, given the extra costs that households and businesses are counting this month,” he said.

“Scotland deserves better than SNP ministers who have been in power too long and have a derisory record of looking after your money, wasting millions on projects from the ferries fiasco to the botched deposit return scheme.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie similarly said that while Scots are struggling, the SNP Ministers are “being rewarded for their failure”.

“As the bill for ministerial salaries rises, Scots will be more frustrated than ever to see services continue to decline on the SNP’s watch,” Baillie said.

“This tired and out of touch SNP government simply is not delivering for the people of Scotland – we need a new direction and Scottish Labour is ready to deliver it.”

Ministerial and MSP salaries are set and paid by the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government has no role in this.

Salaries are agreed by the whole Parliament in line with proposals put forward by the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body.

However, the decision to remove the cap on the minister’s pay was decided by the First Minister.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The MSP element of pay for ministers for 2025-26 will be identical to that of other MSPs.

“The Ministerial element of pay has been frozen for 16 years at 2008-09 levels and this will remain in place for 2025-26.

“The First Minister has made clear that he will forego the equalisation of the MSP element of his salary in order to avoid any perception that he benefits from his own decisions.”