The Dundee City East SNP MSP confirmed she will not seek re-election next year.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison will quit Holyrood at the Scottish Parliament election next year.
The Dundee City East SNP MSP confirmed she will not seek re-election next year. Robison said it was the “right time” for her to step down and seek new challenges.
She announced on Facebook: “It has been a great privilege to serve as an SNP MSP since the Scottish Parliament was first reconvened in 1999, and as a Minister and Cabinet Secretary in successive SNP governments since 2007. After careful consideration and reflection, I have decided that I will not seek re-election at the Scottish Parliament election next year.
“By the time of the next election, I will have been an MSP for 27 years, and I believe now is the right time for me to take on some new challenges and contribute to public life in a different way.
“I am deeply proud of my ministerial contributions and achievements – overseeing Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games in 2014, implementing Minimum Unit Pricing, a world-leading policy that has saved hundreds of lives, and delivering a more than doubling of the ‘game-changing’ Scottish Child Payment, as part of our journey to eradicate child poverty in Scotland.
“And I am particularly proud of steering the Scottish Budget through Parliament earlier this year. It is a budget for Scotland that delivers record funding for our NHS and local Councils, action to effectively scrap the cruel two-child cap, and restores a universal winter heating payment for every pensioner household.
“However, the best moments over my time at Holyrood have come from representing and supporting my constituents. I will forever be grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to serve them over the many years I have represented the city.”
She added: “Be in no doubt that although I will no longer serve in Parliament, I will continue to campaign for and support the SNP, alongside my lifelong goal of delivering independence for Scotland.”
A number of Nationalist MSPs, including former First Minister Humza Yousaf, business minister Richard Lochhead and former minister Joe FitzPatrick announced they will leave Holyrood next year. Other SNP MSPs who will stand down at the next election include Elena Whitham and Ruth Maguire. Sturgeon is expected to quit, but has not confirmed her plans.
Robison was among the first MSPs elected in 1999.
She 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.
Following Sturgeon’s resignation in 2023, Robison was appointed Deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary by Humza Yousaf.
When Yousaf resigned and during the appointment of John Swinney as First Minister in 2024, Robison resigned as Deputy First Minister but retained her finance portfolio in Cabinet, with additional responsibility for local government.
Fellow Sturgeon ally and 1999 intake MSP Fiona Hyslop also announced on Wednesday that she was stepping down next year.
The Transport Secretary said: “It has been an enormous honour to serve as an SNP MSP since the Scottish Parliament was reconvened in 1999 and to serve my home constituency in West Lothian.
“However, after much careful thought and consideration, I have decided that the time is right for me to retire, which means that I will not be seeking re-election in the forthcoming 2026 election to the Scottish Parliament.”