McAllan to tackling housing emergency in Swinney reshuffle
Màiri McAllan is returning to the Scottish cabinet with an instruction to tackle Scotland's housing problems.She has been appointed housing secretary by First Minister John Swinney, with responsibility for all aspects of policy including heat in buildings.McAllan, who is returning to government after maternity leave, replaces Paul McLennan in the housing portfolio. A statement said he requested to leave the Scottish government.Gillian Martin, who stood in for McAllan, will now assume the climate action and energy role on a permanent basis.
Swinney also named Maree Todd as his new drug and alcohol minister, following the death of Christina McKelvie earlier this year.After a morning of meetings at Bute House, the first minister's official residence, Tom Arthur was appointed as social care and mental wellbeing ministerActing Climate Action Minister Alasdair Allan will leave government at the end of this week, having indicated that he only wished to serve on an interim basis.The mini-reshuffle means, excluding law officers, the overall size of government decreases from 27 in May last year to 23.Swinney said: "Màiri McAllan has been tasked with tackling the housing emergency, including ensuring we have energy efficient homes to help bring down bills and tackle the climate emergency. "These are two of the biggest challenges facing people across the country and I want them to know they have a government firmly on their side and focused on delivering real change."
SNP vow to 'learn lessons'
The changes come a week after Scottish Labour's Davy Russell won an unexpected victory in McKelvie's Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse seat.Swinney later defended his prediction that the contest would be a "two-horse race" between the SNP and Reform.And he vowed the party would learn lessons from the result ahead of the Holyrood election next year.McAllan served as the minister for environment, biodiversity and land reform from 2021 to 23 and as the minister for transport, net zero and just transition from 2023 until February 2024.She went off on maternity leave last July, with Gillian Martin stepping in to cover her net zero and energy brief.McAllan is the second Scottish government minister to take maternity leave after Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes' pregnancy in 2022.
The first minister will no doubt be relieved to have Màiri McAllan back in government after her maternity leave. He clearly views her as something of a protégée, a bright and capable woman, a potential future leader of the SNP.It was she who introduced John Swinney when he became leader of the party in May last year. And it was Màiri McAllan who was entrusted with the introductions when the SNP unveiled their candidates a year out from the next Holyrood election.Nicola Sturgeon faced criticism for not doing enough succession planning. It seems John Swinney is determined not to make the same mistake and is eyeing up the Clydesdale MSP for future advancement.
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The Independent
15 minutes ago
- The Independent
Minister ‘hopeful' for ‘positive' announcement on Grangemouth soon
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The Guardian
22 minutes ago
- The Guardian
British politics is in a loop and it's Farage's vision that's stuck on repeat
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The Independent
29 minutes ago
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