John Swinney to be sworn in, then unveil new Scotland cabinet

John Swinney is set to be sworn in as Scotland’s first minister and then move quickly to assemble a new cabinet, a reset that will be read far beyond Holyrood as a test of whether the Scottish National Party can steady itself after years of turbulence.

The Scottish Parliament confirmed that Swinney, the SNP MSP for Perthshire North, has been elected First Minister of Scotland and will now select ministers for appointment to the Scottish Government. Those appointments are due to go before MSPs for approval at the Parliament’s next sitting on Thursday, placing the shape of the new administration at the centre of the opening days of the fresh session.

The stakes are unusually high. Swinney is not just filling posts; he is trying to project authority, competence and continuity at a moment when the SNP’s credibility has been under sustained pressure. His cabinet choices will signal whether the party is seeking renewal after a bruising period, or doubling down on a familiar inner circle that critics have long accused of narrowing the government’s reach.

That judgement will be sharpened by the scale of turnover in the chamber. The 2026 Scottish Parliament election returned 64 new MSPs, the largest intake since devolution began in 1999. Before that, the biggest influx was 51 new members in 2016. With so many new faces arriving at Holyrood, Swinney’s early choices will shape how the government is seen by voters, by his own backbenchers and by opposition parties preparing to challenge him from the start.

The Parliament’s election guidance also makes clear that this session begins with a legislative reset. The First Minister will choose ministers, committees will be established, and bills that fell at the end of the last session can be reintroduced. That gives Swinney a narrow window to set priorities and show that the government is ready to move from transition to delivery.

As First Minister, Swinney will hold responsibility for the overall development, implementation and presentation of government policy. He previously formed a new Scottish Cabinet in May 2024, setting out priorities including child poverty, economic growth and the climate emergency. This time, the composition of his top team will carry a different message: whether the SNP is prepared to confront its recent instability with visible change, or whether the new term begins as a retrenchment wrapped in the language of renewal.