Scotland’s new first minister, Humza Yousaf, has revealed a majority-female cabinet, with half its members under the age of 40, as his attempts to unite the party stalled after a divisive leadership contest.
Kate Forbes, whom Yousaf narrowly beat to secure the SNP leadership on Monday, confirmed on Tuesday evening she would be leaving the Scottish government rather than accept a cabinet demotion.
Allies of Forbes described the offer of the rural affairs and islands portfolio – a significant step down from her previous position as finance secretary – as “an insult”, while one of her early supporters, the business minister, Ivan McKee, also resigned from government on Wednesday morning after being offered what he considered to be a demotion.
Yousaf unveiled the new cabinet team after he was officially sworn in as first minister at the court of session in Edinburgh on Wednesday morning, and said it reflected “the priorities that we will pursue as a government – including tackling child poverty, improving public services and building a fairer, greener economy”.
He split Forbes’ previous role, giving the finance brief to his newly appointed deputy, Shona Robison, a key Sturgeon ally whom the former first minister entrusted to steer through her gender recognition reform bill, while his campaign manager, Neil Gray, joins cabinet for the first time as the secretary for wellbeing economy, fair work and energy.
Robison, who is based in Dundee, stood down as health secretary in 2018 after months of intense criticism over her handling of NHS funding crises. Yousaf also lives in Dundee with his family, although he is MSP for the Glasgow Pollok constituency.
Yousaf also promoted a number of younger colleagues, including Màiri McAllan, who becomes net zero and just transition secretary, and former teacher Jenny Gilruth, who takes over the education brief.
He sacked the party’s deputy leader, Keith Brown, from his justice role, days after Brown set out a detailed manifesto for internal party change in an article for the Daily Record.
Yousaf also promoted the former net zero and transport secretary Michael Matheson to the health brief, one of the most challenging roles in cabinet as the country faces record cancer and surgery waiting lists and record A&E delays.
However, the profound divisions that emerged in the SNP leadership contest appeared to cement themselves despite Yousaf’s insistence during the campaign that he would depart from Nicola Sturgeon’s “inner circle” leadership style, promising a “big tent” approach.
One of Forbes’s leading supporters, the former SNP minister Alex Neil, described Yousaf’s treatment of her as “an insult and not a real attempt to unite” after he narrowly beat Forbes to the leadership by 52% to 48% on second preferences.
Robison insisted on Wednesday morning that Forbes had taken the decision to step back for personal reasons. She told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “The very first meeting that the first minister had was with Kate, and he made clear that he wanted Kate to be in government.
“They spoke on a number of occasions over the last two days and I understand that the discussion was very cordial and was very much centred on what Kate’s thoughts were. She had reflected upon how hard the campaign had been for family life and her desire for better life-work balance and that she decided that time out of the spotlight would be best, to spend time with [her] family.”
Forbes is still technically on maternity leave until the end of the Easter recess, and gave birth to her first baby last August.
Robison denied what was construed as a demotion was a signal to the 48% of the SNP membership who voted for Forbes that he was ignoring their views.
After rejecting the role, Forbes tweeted that the new first minister had her “full support”, saying: “I have full confidence he will appoint a talented cabinet and ministerial team, able to meet the challenges facing the country.”
• This article was amended on 30 March 2023. An earlier version referred to the newly appointed health secretary, Michael Matheson, as the former “transport minister” and said he had previously held the health brief. To clarify: he is the former cabinet secretary for net zero, energy and transport, and was minister for public health from 2011-2014.
