Holyrood 2021 election: Which MSPs are standing down?
- Published
Holyrood's current group of MSPs were elected in 2016
Scots will go to the polls to elect MSPs to Holyrood on 6 May. However a total of 34 members decided not to run again, including several former party leaders and government ministers. Who are they?
SNP
The SNP is in government at Holyrood. They ended the term with 61 of the parliament's 129 MSPs.
Jeane Freeman
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has confirmed she will not seek re-election in 2021. The Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley MSP said she would be in her 70s by the end of the next term and had "more she wanted to do".
Since being elected in 2016, she has held two ministerial offices - currently she is the cabinet secretary for health, during which time she has overseen the Scottish government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Prior to this she served as social security minister and was charged with setting up Scotland's first social security service.
Michael Russell
Michael Russell first served the Scottish government as the minister responsible for the environment. He now has responsibility for the Constitution, Europe and External Affairs - a brief that includes Brexit.
He has been an MSP since 1999, with the exception of one term when he lost his seat. He currently represents Argyll and Bute.
Mr Russell joined the SNP in 1974 and worked his way up to becoming the party's first full-time chief executive in 1994.
He says it is now time for someone younger to take over as he will be 67 by May's election.
Roseanna Cunningham
The government's current environment secretary, Roseanna Cunningham was elected as an MP in 1995 before becoming an MSP in 1999, representing the constituents of Perth and Kinross.
The former solicitor has held three different cabinet positions, including environment, having previously covered the fair work and community safety briefs.
She was SNP deputy leader between 2000 and 2004, and ran against Alex Salmond when he was elected party leader that year.
Next year's Holyrood election will take place two months before her 70th birthday.
Aileen Campbell
Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said she will step down, external so she can spend more time with her family.
The Clydesdale MSP, who has two sons in primary school, said she hoped to achieve "a better work-life balance".
Ms Campbell has been an MSP since 2007 and was previously minister for children and young people and also minister for public health and sport. She was the first member of the government to take maternity leave.
Stewart Stevenson
Stewart Stevenson, who represents Banffshire and Buchan Coast for the SNP, will also leave parliament at the election.
He is 74 and has been an SNP activist since 1961. He has served in the Scottish parliament since 2001.
Alex Neil
Alex Neil, 69, has been an MSP for 21 years and is a former cabinet secretary for social justice. He has been the constituency MSP for Airdrie and Shotts since 2011.
Mr Neil said he was "tempted" to stand again but wanted to spend more time with his family.
Angus MacDonald
Angus MacDonald was elected to represent Falkirk East at Holyrood in 2011, after a career in agriculture.
The MSP, who was born in Stornoway, said he wanted to "return to his roots in the Western Isles to explore other opportunities"., external
Bruce Crawford
Bruce Crawford has served as an MSP since 1999. The SNP politician first represented the Mid Scotland and Fife region until 2007, and has represented Stirling as a constituency MSP since then. Mr Crawford has also served in the cabinet.
He said he looked forward to spending more time with his three young grandchildren after the election.
Gail Ross
Gail Ross, who represents the Caithness, Sutherland and Ross constituency, said the demands of travelling to Edinburgh and being away from her family and young son every week were too high.
She said MSPs facing similar challenges should be offered the chance to use technology rather than having to attend meetings and voting in person.
Gil Paterson
Clydebank and Milngavie MSP Gil Paterson is also to stand down.
He has been an MSP since the Scottish Parliament reconvened in 1999.
Sandra White
Ms White has been an SNP MSP since 1999. First elected as an MSP for the Glasgow region, she won her current seat in 2011.
She has said she has "no doubt that we will see independence for Scotland in my lifetime".
Linda Fabiani
The former minister was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as an MSP for Central Scotland.
Since 2011 she has served as MSP for East Kilbride.
She also currently acts as one of Holyrood's deputy presiding officers.
Richard Lyle
The Uddingston and Bellshill MSP joined the SNP in 1966 when he was just 16.
He was elected to Holyrood in 2011 as an SNP MSP for Central Scotland and won his current seat in 2016.
Maureen Watt
Aberdeen South and North Kincardine MSP Maureen Watt has been a member of parliament since spring 2006. But she said now it was time for another woman to take her place.
She has served as minister for schools and skills, public health and was also the first dedicated minister for mental health.
Scottish Conservatives
The largest opposition party at Holyrood is the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party. In the election, their leader Douglas Ross hopes to win a seat in the Scottish Parliament. He is currently serving as an MP at Westminster.
Ruth Davidson
The former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, has said she will stand down in April.
She had already handed over the party's leadership reins to Jackson Carlaw, but when he resigned and MP Douglas Ross was elected as the new leader, Ruth Davidson agreed to step in temporarily until May.
Ms Davidson will then take up a seat in the House of Lords.
Adam Tomkins
Prof Adam Tomkins was elected to Holyrood as one of Glasgow's regional MSPs in 2016, after campaigning for Better Together in the independence referendum.
Prior to being elected, he taught constitutional law at Glasgow University.
Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Mitchell has served as a Conservative regional MSP for Central Scotland since 2003. Reflecting on how her party's fortunes have changed in Scotland since then, she told a local newspaper, external that in 2003 she was the only Conservative representing the region, and that most of the time there were no Tory councillors on North Lanarkshire Council.
Leaving the role, she said she had two Conservative parliamentary colleagues in the region and there were eight NLC councillors.
Peter Chapman
Peter Chapman will not seek re-election as a Conservative MSP for the North East Scotland region.
Prior to being elected to Holyrood, the farmer served as vice president of the National Farmers Union, as well as being on the board of Scottish Natural Heritage. He was also an Aberdeenshire councillor.
Tom Mason
Tom Mason entered Holyrood in 2017 as a regional list member for North East Scotland, after Ross Thomson switched to Westminster in that year's general election.
Mr Mason had been elected an Aberdeen City councillor earlier that year, and also served as deputy provost of the council.
Bill Bowman
Bill Bowman was elected to Holyrood in 2016, via the North East regional list - entering parliament in December following the death of longstanding Tory MSP Alex Johnstone.
A former chartered accountant, he served on the public audit committee and was the Conservative spokesman for taxation, but decided not to contest the 2021 election.
Alison Harris
Alison Harris was elected to Holyrood in 2016 via the Central Scotland regional list.
A former chartered accountant, she served as deputy convener of the public audit committee, and was Conservative spokeswoman for taxation and financial sustainability.
Scottish Labour
With 23 seats at Holyrood, Scottish Labour is the third biggest party in the parliament.
Ken Macintosh
Mr Macintosh presides over debates in the Scottish Parliament chamber
Mr Macintosh has been an MSP since the opening of the parliament in 1999 - first for the Eastwood constituency and later as a regional member for the West of Scotland.
He was elected as the parliament's fifth presiding officer - a politically neutral role similar to the Speaker in the House of Commons - in 2016, but announced in September that he would not be seeking re-election as an MSP.
Mr Macintosh served in various front bench roles for Scottish Labour before becoming presiding officers, and twice stood as an unsuccessful candidate for the party leadership.
Iain Gray
Former Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and served in Jack McConnell's government.
He lost his seat to Scottish Conservative leader David McLetchie in 2003, but returned to Holyrood as MSP for East Lothian in 2007 and became Scottish Labour leader the following year.
He became his party's leader in 2008, but stepped down following the party's poor performance in the 2011 elections - during the campaign he famously sought refuge in a sandwich shop after being targeted by protestors.
He retained his seat in East Lothian and was briefly acting party leader in 2015 after Jim Murphy's resignation, and is currently Labour's education spokesman at Holyrood.
Johann Lamont
Another former Scottish Labour leader leaving Holyrood is Johann Lamont. She was first elected to Holyrood in 1999, and served as a junior minister in government from 2004 to 2007.
After Mr Gray's resignation in 2011, Ms Lamont stood for the party's leadership and triumphed over Mr Macintosh and MP Tom Harris.
The Glasgow MSP was a key figure in the Better Together campaign in the 2014 independence referendum, but resigned her post weeks after the vote complaining that Scottish Labour was treated "like a branch office of London".
She continued as a Glasgow MSP post-leadership, convening the public petitions committee and campaigning on topics including womens rights.
Neil Findlay
Mr Findlay announced his intention not to seek re-election at the same time as he quit as Scottish Labour's Brexit spokesman in May 2019, external.
He quit following calls from some in the party to examine what went wrong with the European election campaign, which was organised by himself. However, he insisted that "I'm not quitting because of the European election", saying he had been considering his position for months and had made up his mind in March.
Mary Fee
Mary Fee was elected to Holyrood in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.
She announced last year that she would be retiring, external, saying it was time for a new generation of Labour MSPs with "real life and work experience... to reinvigorate the party".
Jenny Marra
Jenny Marra was elected in 2011 and went on to become the convener of the public audit committee.
She gave birth to her second child in April and told her local party branch she would not stand in the 2021 election because her role meant she spent too much time away from her family.
Elaine Smith
Elaine Smith told her constituency party back in 2018 that she would not be standing in 2021, due to ill health.
She was first elected to Coatbridge and Chryston in 1999 and served as the constituency's MSP until 2016, when she became an MSP for the Central Scotland region.
David Stewart
David Stewart, a regional MSP for the Highlands and Islands, is also retiring - he will turn 65 the day before polling day.
During his political career he has served as an MP and a councillor.
Lewis Macdonald
Meanwhile Lewis Macdonald has announced he will stand down in May after 22 years at Holyrood.
First elected in 1999 to represent Aberdeen Central, he has been an MSP on the North East list since 2011. He served in a number of deputy minister roles in the Labour-Lib Dem coalition years, and has more recently served as a deputy presiding officer of the parliament.
Scottish Greens
The Scottish Greens won six seats at Holyrood in 2016, and one of those MSPs has announced he will be standing down in 2021.
John Finnie
John Finnie began his Holyrood career as an SNP MSP in 2011.
But he resigned from the SNP in October 2012 over the party's decision to support Nato membership in an independent Scotland, because he is opposed to membership of a "first-strike" nuclear alliance.
Following his resignation, Mr Finnie stood as an independent MSP before joining the Scottish Greens in October 2014.
Having been re-elected in 2016, he currently serves as a regional MSP for the Highlands and Islands.
Scottish Lib Dems
The Lib Dems
Mike Rumbles
With the exception of one term, Mike Rumbles, external has served as a Lib Dem MSP since the Scottish Parliament reconvened in 1999.
A former Army major, he represented Aberdeenshire West for the first three terms of parliament, and returned to Holyrood via the North East list in 2016.
Independent
The Presiding Officer, Ken McIntosh (who was elected as a Labour MSP), is classed as having no party affiliation because presiding officers are required to resign from their party once they are elected.
Two MSPs elected for the SNP left the party and saw out the term as independent members - and neither are seeking election again in May.
Derek Mackay
Derek Mackay, a former leader of Renfrewshire Council, was elected an SNP MSP in 2011. He was quickly promoted into government, first as local government minister, then transport minister, and then from 2016 as Scottish finance secretary.
He also had a senior role within the party, serving as the party's business convener - chairing conferences and national executive meetings and coordinating election campaigns - between 2011 and 2018.
Mr Mackay resigned from government on the eve of his budget speech in February 2020 after a newspaper revealed he had sent hundreds of text messages to a teenage boy, and was suspended from the SNP.
Mark McDonald
Mark McDonald is also not seeking re-election. The former childcare minister quit the SNP in 2018 after sending a woman an inappropriate text message which referenced a sex act.
The Aberdeen Donside MSP was briefly suspended from Holyrood after the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life concluded that the case amounted to sexual harassment, but continued to sit as an independent thereafter.
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