Shona Robison
MSP
Official portrait, 2023
Deputy First Minister of Scotland
Assumed office
29 March 2023
First MinisterHumza Yousaf
Preceded byJohn Swinney
Cabinet Secretary for Finance
Assumed office
29 March 2023
First MinisterHumza Yousaf
Preceded byKate Forbes
Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government[lower-alpha 1]
In office
20 May 2021 – 28 March 2023
First MinisterNicola Sturgeon
Preceded byAileen Campbell
Succeeded byShirley-Anne Somerville
In office
22 April 2014 – 21 November 2014
First MinisterAlex Salmond
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byAlex Neil
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport
In office
21 November 2014 – 26 June 2018
First MinisterNicola Sturgeon
Preceded byAlex Neil
Succeeded byJeane Freeman
Junior ministerial offices
Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport
In office
19 May 2011 – 22 April 2014
First MinisterAlex Salmond
Preceded byOffice created
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Minister for Public Health and Sport
In office
17 May 2007 – 19 May 2011
First MinisterAlex Salmond
Preceded byLewis Macdonald
Succeeded byMichael Matheson
Parliamentary offices
Member of the Scottish Parliament
for Dundee City East
Dundee East (2003–2011)
Assumed office
1 May 2003
Preceded byJohn McAllion
Majority13,337 (41.1%)
Member of the Scottish Parliament
for North East Scotland
(1 of 7 Regional MSPs)
In office
6 May 1999 – 1 May 2003
Personal details
Born
Shona McRory Robison

(1966-05-26) 26 May 1966
Redcar, North Riding of Yorkshire, England
Political partyScottish National Party
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1997; div. 2017)​
[1]
Children1
Alma mater
Websiteshona.robison.scot

Shona McRory Robison (born 26 May 1966) is a Scottish politician serving as Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Cabinet Secretary for Finance since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Dundee City East since 2003[lower-alpha 2] and was an additional member for the North East Scotland region from 1999 to 2003.

Born in England, Robison studied at the University of Glasgow and Jordanhill College. She was an active member of the SNP's youth wing and worked in Glasgow City Council's Social Work Department, until her election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

Robison served as Minister for Public Health and Sport from 2007 to 2011. She then oversaw the Scottish Government's preparations for the 2014 Commonwealth Games as Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport from 2011 to April 2014, when she was promoted to the Scottish Cabinet by Alex Salmond as Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights. When Nicola Sturgeon succeeded Salmond as First Minister in November 2014, she appointed Robison the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport.

In 2018, she resigned from government during a cabinet reshuffle after being widely criticised for her poorly received tenure as Heath Secretary.[3][4][5] She returned to the backbenches, where she served on the justice and health committees. In 2021, Robison returned to Sturgeon's government as the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government. During her tenure in the position, she oversaw the government's efforts to pass the controversial Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. Following Sturgeon's resignation as first minister in 2023, Robison was appointed Deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary by Humza Yousaf in his new government.

Early life

Shona McRory Robison was born in Redcar, North Yorkshire, England, on 26 May 1966.[6] She attended Alva Academy in Clackmannanshire.[7] She gained a Master of Arts in Social Science at the University of Glasgow in 1989. The following year, she gained a Postgraduate Cert in Community Education at Jordanhill College.[8]

Robison joined the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 1988.[9] She was an active member of the party's youth wing the Young Scottish Nationalist, now known as Young Scots for Independence, where she met the likes of Nicola Sturgeon and Fiona Hyslop.[10]

Before being elected to the Scottish Parliament, she worked in Glasgow City Council's Social Work Department.[11][12]

Early parliamentary career

SNP in opposition; 1997 to 2007

Official parliamentary portrait, 1999

Robison contested in the first election to the Scottish Parliament for the Dundee East constituency. Although she was unsuccessful, having came second to Scottish Labour's John McAllion, she was elected as an additional member for the North East Scotland region. In her first term, she was member of the Health and Community Care Committee and was the Deputy Convenor of the Equal Opportunities Committee.[13]

She served in the SNP's opposition cabinet as the shadow deputy minister for health and community care.

In the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, Robison successfully defeated McAllion by just 100 votes in Dundee East. She served as the Shadow Minister for Health and Social Justice in the SNP's opposition benches.[14] Robison was a member of the Health Committee.[11]

Junior ministerial career; 2007 to 2014

Robison with Nicola Sturgeon at am Active Nation reception in Kirkcaldy, 2011

After the SNP's victory in the 2007 election, Robison was appointed as the Minister for Public Health.[15] In 2009, she added Sport onto her portfolio.[16] In the 2011 election, Robison was re-elected into the newly drawn, Dundee City East constituency. She was appointed Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport.

In the run up to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, Robison wrote to the University of Dundee to complain that a Dundee professor had chaired an event for the Better Together campaign. Robison insisted that Christopher Whatley's involvement in the Five Million Questions project about the implications of the referendum meant he should have taken a neutral stance on the constitutional issue.[17] However, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: "I'm not sure this kind of bullying and intimidation is the best advert for the SNP's vision of a future separate Scotland. In fact, it is chilling."[18]

In April 2014, Alex Salmond promoted her to the full Cabinet position of Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights.

Health Secretary; 2014 to 2018

Robison speaking at the Parliament of Canada, 2014

On 21 November 2014, Robison was appointed by Sturgeon as Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport, in Sturgeon's first government. Following the 2016 election, she was reappointed into Sturgeon's cabinet as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport.[19] In January 2018, during an appearance at Holyrood's Health and Sport Committee, she was warned by Labour MSP Neil Findlay of a "drugs disaster".[20] In 2018, Scotland went on to record the highest number of drug deaths per head in the European Union, at a rate nearly three times higher than the UK average.[21]

On 26 June 2018, she announced her intention to resign from Cabinet. Shortly after a cabinet reshuffle was made by Sturgeon.[22] BBC political correspondent Glenn Campbell wrote after the reshuffle: "The most widely anticipated departure was t/hat of health secretary, Shona Robison. She's been under considerable pressure over NHS performance. She stood down on the day the Scottish government confirmed its worst cancer waiting times for six years."[3]

Backbencher; 2018 to 2021

Following her resignation from government, Robison returned to the backbenches. She served on the Parliament's Justice Committee and Social Security Committee. Amid the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, she served as a member of the COVID-19 Committee.

In February 2021, Audit Scotland published a report that concluded the Scottish Government had not prepared adequately for a pandemic. The watchdog also noted that recommendations from pandemic planning exercises during Robison's time as Health Secretary had not been fully implemented. One particular failure it highlighted was that not enough had been done to ensure Scottish hospitals and care homes had enough personal protective equipment (PPE). Overall, it concluded that ministers "could have been better prepared to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic". Nicola Sturgeon said there were "lots of lessons to learn".[23][24]

Social Justice Secretary; 2021 to 2023

Official portrait as Social Justice Secretary, 2021

On 20 May 2021, Sturgeon announced her third government, with Robison returning as Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government. Robison held the position of Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice until the election of Humza Yousaf as First Minister in March 2023. Following a cabinet reshuffle, Yousaf appointed Shirley-Anne Somerville as Robison's replacement and promoted Robison to Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance.

During Robison's tenure in the Social Justice department, she oversaw the implementation of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill which was received with backlash from many fearing it was jeopardising the safety of women. Robison reassured MSPs and the public that the bill did "not conflict with work to advance women's rights and equality" and that she was "conscious that some of the details of the proposed reforms have become lost within the wider discussions around trans rights and the perceived conflict with the rights of women and girls".[25] The bill intended to introduce a process of self-declaration for transgender people, allowing them to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC), thus removing the need for a psychiatric diagnosis of gender dysphoria before being allowed to change their gender legally.[25] In December 2022, 150 amendments had been put forward to the Scottish Parliament regarding the bill which saw MSPs sit and debate the bill in the Scottish Parliament chamber long into the evening.[26] Robison wrote to three individual MSPs claiming that their amendments put the bill "at serious risk".[26]

The bill was blocked by the UK Government, with Robison stating that she would "vigorously contest" any attempt by the UK Government to block the gender reform legislations which the Scottish Parliament has control over.[27] Under Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak blocked the implementation of the gender reform bill. This marked the first time that the UK Government had blocked a piece of legislation from being passed since devolution.[28]

Deputy First Minister (2023–present)

Robison (front right) at a cabinet meeting of the Yousaf government, March 2023
Robison (right) meets National Advisory Council on Women and Girls Co-Chairs with the First Minister

On 28 March 2023, newly elected First Minister Humza Yousaf announced Robison as his deputy first minister of Scotland.[29][30] She was officially sworn into office the next day and was appointed finance secretary in Yousaf's new government.[31]

In July 2023, Robison intervened in the speculation over Inverclyde Royal Hospital being downgraded. Robison issued a statement through an interview with The Telegraph on the issue, stating that the hospital would not be downgraded or lose its casualty department, citing the fact that the Emergency Department at Inverclyde Royal Hospital was "one of the best performing A&E's in Scotland, certainly within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.[32] Robison committed further money for improvements to both NHS Scotland services and facilities, citing proposals set out to be met by 2026.[32]

Cabinet Secretary for Finance

Robison said that her immediate priorities as Finance Secretary was "more efficient public services and fair work" being at the heart of the Economy of Scotland. In April 2023, Robison launched the Scottish Government's Portfolio Prospectus which sets out a number of economic actions to be achieved by 2026. These include proposals for creating the UK's most progressive tax system to assist in the delivery of Scottish public services, new opportunities to tackle poverty and measures to grow the wellbeing economy whilst increasing the number of employees earning the real living wage, while narrowing the gender pay gap. Additionally, the Scottish Government has an ambition of spearheading Scotland as a leading European start-up nation for the creation of new businesses as well as developing Scotland's existing international exports while developing into new international trading market. Robison also recognising the importance of re-developing Scotland's infrastructure and economy to allow it to be more sustainable in the future, with plans for laying foundations to produce 5 Gigawatts (GW) of hydrogen production by 2030, as part of a Scottish hydrogen supply chain. As Finance Secretary, Robison will commit to implementing a "New Deal" for Scottish local authorities.[33]

Robison delivered her first Medium–Term Financial Strategy to the Scottish Parliament in May 2023.[34] Robison highlighted the importance of "sound public finances" being "key to ensuring we can tackle poverty and build a fair, green and growing economy whilst improving our public services".[34] Robison claimed that the current economic situation in Scotland had "been amongst the most challenging since devolution", citing global issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and soaring inflation being driving factors directly impacting the Scottish economy.[34] Robison was also critical of UK Government policy and decision making that had impacted on Scotland, including Brexit and its association economic impact, "a decade of austerity" and the September 2022 United Kingdom mini-budget.[34]

Personal life

She was married to Stewart Hosie,[35] who is the Westminster MP for Dundee East and was previously the SNP's Depute Leader. They have one daughter. Robison experienced a miscarriage in 2007.[36] It was announced on 15 May 2016 that the couple had separated.[37] This was followed by reports that Hosie had had an affair with Westminster-based freelance journalist Serena Cowdy.[38]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights in 2014.
  2. ↑ The constituency was known as Dundee East until 2011, when it was renamed and redrawn as part of the First Periodical Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Clegg, David (17 May 2019). "SNP infighting more like Game of Thrones plot than conduct of political party". dailyrecord. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  2. ↑ "First Periodical Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries, Boundary Commission for Scotland website, accessed 20 December 2008". Archived from the original on 17 February 2008. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  3. 1 2 "Shona Robison quits as Nicola Sturgeon reshuffles cabinet". BBC News. 26 June 2018. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  4. ↑ "Tom Peterkin: Shona Robison is a lame duck Health Secretary | The Scotsman".
  5. ↑ "A dignified end to Robison's tricky time as Health Secretary". The National.
  6. ↑ "Shona Robison". Scottish National Party. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  7. ↑ "Shona Robison MSP". www.parliament.scot. Archived from the original on 7 August 2002. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  8. ↑ "Profile: Shona Robison". 26 June 2018. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  9. ↑ "Shona Robison MSP". Scottish Parliament. 26 February 2000. Archived from the original on 26 February 2000. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  10. ↑ "Shona Robison MSP | Dundee City East | SNP". Shona Robison MSP. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  11. 1 2 "Shona Robison MSP". www.gov.scot. Archived from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  12. ↑ "The Scottish Parliament: MSP Biography – Shona Robison MSP". Scottish Parliament. Archived from the original on 3 June 2004. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  13. ↑ "Shona Robison". www.parliament.scot. Archived from the original on 24 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  14. ↑ "Previous MSPs: Session 2 (2003–2007): Shona Robison MSP". Scottish Parliament. Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  15. ↑ "The Scottish Executive". The Herald (Glasgow). 17 May 2007. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  16. ↑ "Previous MSPs: Session 3 (2007–2011): Shona Robison MSP". Scottish Parliament. Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  17. ↑ McIntosh, Lindsay. "SNP minister in 'chilling bid to gag academics'". Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  18. ↑ "SNP ministers 'waging dangerous campaign to gag university academics'". www.telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  19. ↑ "Scottish cabinet reshuffle: John Swinney becomes education secretary". BBC News. 18 May 2016. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  20. ↑ "Health Secretary Shona Robison warned of 'drugs disaster' by Labour MSP". HeraldScotland. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  21. ↑ "1,187 drug-deaths in 2018: up 27% in a year - gov.scot". www.gov.scot. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  22. ↑ "Shona Robison quits as Nicola Sturgeon reshuffles cabinet". BBC News. 26 June 2018. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  23. ↑ "Covid in Scotland: Inadequate preparations for Covid, says watchdog". BBC News. 17 February 2021. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  24. ↑ Brooks, Libby (17 February 2021). "Scottish government inadequately prepared for Covid – watchdog". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  25. 1 2 Brooks, Libby (9 December 2022). "Scottish government seeks to reassure MSPs over gender law reform". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  26. 1 2 "MSPs debating changes to gender reforms". BBC News. 19 December 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  27. ↑ "Scottish Government vows to 'vigorously contest' Westminster over gender reform". The National. 23 December 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  28. ↑ "Statement on the UK Government's decision to block Scotland's Gender Recognition Reform Bill". Stonewall. 16 January 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  29. ↑ Brooks, Libby (28 March 2023). "Humza Yousaf says FM vote sends 'strong message' but SNP unity bid stumbles". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  30. ↑ Hutcheon, Paul (28 March 2023). "Shona Robison appointed Deputy First Minister by Humza Yousaf". Daily Record. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  31. ↑ "Shona Robison replaces Kate Forbes as finance secretary in new cabinet". BBC News. 29 March 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  32. 1 2 "Inverclyde Royal Hospital 'will not be downgraded' says deputy first minister". Greenock Telegraph. 24 July 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  33. ↑ "A fair economy supporting Scotland's people". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  34. 1 2 3 4 "Medium-Term Financial Strategy: Ministerial statement". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  35. ↑ "International Women's Day Debate". House of Commons Hansard Debates. 6 March 2008. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  36. ↑ Mandy Rhodes. "We must ease this silent sorrow: Former health secretary Shona Robison on the grief of losing a baby and why it is time to talk about miscarriage". The Sunday Post. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  37. ↑ "SNP husband and wife Stewart Hosie and Shona Robison separate". The Scotsman. 16 May 2016. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  38. ↑ Reporters, Telegraph (17 May 2016). "SNP MPs Stewart Hosie and Angus MacNeil split from wives over alleged affairs with same woman". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
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