SNP minister Angus Robertson will steer the party’s Holyrood election campaign, it has been announced.
The External Affairs and Culture Secretary will chair the SNP’s election campaign committee for the 2026 poll.
Robertson is an experienced operator in the SNP, having served as an MP for 16 years, a decade of which he spent as the party’s Westminster leader.
He ran the SNP’s 2007 and 2011 Holyrood election campaigns, taking the party into government for the first time and then winning the first and to date only outright majority in the Scottish Parliament.
But Robertson has also found himself the subject of controversy, including facing questions over expensing a home cinema system while he was an MP.
He also faced criticism for an op-ed published in The National in 2020, in which he claimed support for independence was rising because No voters were dying off – something he later defended as “simple statistical facts”.
More recently, Robertson (above) faced criticism for a hushed-up meeting with the Israeli ambassador to Britain, which critics in his own party saw as undermining the SNP’s position on Gaza.
The SNP are predicted to win 44 seats in the next Holyrood election, according to Ballot Box Scotland’s opinion tracker.
That would be their worst result since 2003 but they would still be the largest party in Scotland, with Labour predicted to pick up 36.
Robertson said: “The SNP government has a strong record of delivering for people across Scotland and taking steps to build a stronger, fairer country for everyone – and next week’s budget will demonstrate these values and the ambitions we have for Scotland.
“I look forward to supporting our First Minister and party leader, John Swinney, as he ensures the SNP rebuilds trust with people across Scotland and offers Scotland the hopeful and optimistic future it deserves.”
