Presiding Officer, Alison Johnstone MSP
Alison was elected to the role of Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament in May 2021. In this role Alison chairs the Parliamentary Bureau and the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body.
Alison has represented Lothian region in the Scottish Parliament since 2011 and prior to that was a City of Edinburgh Councillor 2007-2012. As an MSP and Councillor Alison campaigned on issues of environmental justice, health and wellbeing, sport, equality human rights and animal welfare.
First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon MSP
Born in Irvine in 1970 and educated at Greenwood Academy, Nicola Sturgeon studied law at the University of Glasgow where she graduated with LLB (Hons) and Diploma in legal practice.
Before entering the Scottish Parliament as a regional MSP for Glasgow in 1999 she worked as a solicitor in the Drumchapel Law and Money Advice Centre in Glasgow.
She is currently MSP for Glasgow Southside having been, before boundary changes, MSP for Govan between 2007 and 2011.
In government she served as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing between May 2007 and September 2012 and then Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities with responsibility for government strategy and the constitution until November 2014. Throughout this period she also served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland.
She became leader of the Scottish National Party on November 14, 2014 and was sworn in as First Minister on November 20, 2014. She lives in Glasgow with her husband Peter Murrell.
John Swinney MSP
Born in 1964, John Swinney joined the Scottish National Party in 1979 and went on to graduate from Edinburgh University with an MA (Hons) in Politics. He has worked for the Scottish Coal Project, Development Options and Scottish Amicable.
Prior to his election as Westminster MP for North Tayside in 1997, he held a number of posts in the SNP at local and national level. In 1999, he became the MSP for Tayside North, remaining as the constituency's MP until standing down from Westminster at the 2001 General Election.
From 1998 to 2000, he served as deputy leader of the SNP, and then as party leader between 2000 and 2004. He was re-elected as an MSP at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election and appointed Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth. He was appointed as Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy in November 2014. In 2016 he was appointed Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills.
Andrew Murphy
Andrew Murphy is Chief Operating Officer of the John Lewis Partnership, the parent group of Waitrose supermarkets, John Lewis Department Stores and John Lewis Financial Services.
Reporting to the Partnership's Executive Chair, Dame Sharon White, Andrew is responsible for directing the organisation’s assets and resources to deliver its business transformation and its operating plan, and also leads the group functions of Supply Chain, Technology, Property and Business Continuity.
Andrew previously held Group roles as Chief Information Officer and Group Productivity & Change Director before which, as Retail Director, he played a central role in establishing John Lewis as the UK’s leading omni-channel retailer.
Andrew is a Board Director of Clicklink - one of the UK’s leading eFulfilment logistics providers, Chair of the Scottish Government’s Retail Industry Leadership Group, a member of the Bank of England’s Central Bank Digital Currency Engagement Forum and the former Chair of the Scottish Retail Consortium.
Andrew was brought up in Penicuik and now lives in Linlithgow with his wife and three children.
Claire Baker MSP
Claire Baker is a Scottish Labour Party and Scottish Co-operative Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for Mid Scotland and Fife, first elected in 2007. She is Labour’s Shadow Minister for Drugs Policy, Convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Economy and Fair Work Committee and a Member of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.
Claire has previously been Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment and Shadow Minister for Education.
Prior to being elected for the Mid Scotland and Fife region in May 2007, Claire Baker worked in a variety of research and policy posts. This included working as a Research Officer for the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Group, Research Officer for the trade union Amicus and a similar role for the Royal College of Nursing.
Immediately prior to being elected to the Scottish Parliament, she was Policy Manager for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, the umbrella body for charities and community and voluntary organisations in Scotland.
Maggie Chapman MSP
Maggie Chapman is the Scottish Green Party MSP for North East Scotland and the Green spokesperson for Justice, Equalities and Human Rights, Economy, International Development and Social Security. She is vice convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, a member of the Economy and Fair Work Committee, and a member of the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body.
Prior to her election as an MSP in 2021, she worked for feminist women’s organisations and a disability charity, and had been a lecturer in human geography for over a decade. She was Rector of the University of Aberdeen from 2015-2021, and previously had been a City Councillor in Edinburgh for 8 years.
Maggie has been a long-time advocate of workers’ rights, being the first Scottish politician to call for the payment of the Living Wage, and argued for the devolution of employment law as part of the Smith Commission following the Independence Referendum in 2014. She is also a passionate peace and social justice campaigner, and has worked to improve understanding of intersectionality, supporting trans-inclusion in feminism and mentoring women and young people.
Liz Smith MSP
Liz Smith was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2007 as a Member for Mid Scotland and Fife and was re-elected in 2011, 2016 and 2021.
Following her long-serving role as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, she was appointed Chief Whip in February 2020 and, in August 2020, she was appointed Shadow Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform. After the 2021 Scottish Parliament election she was appointed Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy. She chairs three cross party committees; those on Colleges and Universities, Sport and Outdoor Education. She currently has a Member’s Bill in Parliament seeking to ensure that all young people in Scotland have an opportunity to experience residential outdoor education.
After the 2021 Scottish Parliament election she was appointed Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy. She chairs three cross party committees; those on Colleges and Universities, Sport and Outdoor Education. Liz lives at Madderty in South Perthshire and was a teacher for 16 years prior to politics. She currently has a Member’s Bill in Parliament seeking to ensure that all young people in Scotland have an opportunity to experience residential outdoor education.
Liam McArthur MSP
Liam McArthur has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Orkney since 2007 and was elected as one of two Deputy Presiding Officers at Holyrood in 2021.
Liam previously worked as a Special Adviser to the former Deputy First Minister, Jim Wallace in the Lib Dem-Labour coalition government during the first two sessions of parliament. Since being elected in 2007, he has served on various Committees, including Finance; Rural Affairs & Environment; Education & Culture; and Justice.
He is currently the Scottish Liberal Democrats spokesperson on Justice and the Climate Emergency.
Liam was born in Edinburgh and brought up on the island of Sanday in Orkney. He is a politics graduate of Edinburgh University, where he also captained the First XI football team.
Daniel Johnson MSP
Daniel Johnson was first elected in 2016 to represent Edinburgh Southern in the Scottish Parliament. He currently serves as Scottish Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy and has previously served as Shadow Justice Secretary and Shadow Education Minister.
He was formerly a member of the Criminal Justice Committee and is currently the Deputy Convenor of the Finance and Public Administration Committee. Daniel is also a member of several Cross-Party Groups in the Scottish Parliament, including Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Autism, Independent Convenience Stores, Outdoor Education, and the USA. His political interests include: enterprise, skills, justice, ADHD and other neurodevelopmental disorders.