Nicola Sturgeon hosts final cabinet meeting as FM
- Published
Ms Sturgeon was flanked by John Swinney, who will also quit the government next week, in her final cabinet meeting
Nicola Sturgeon has chaired a meeting of the Scottish government's cabinet for the final time as first minister.
Ms Sturgeon told her team that "lots of really important things" had been achieved around the cabinet table.
After being given a round of applause, she joked she had spent the night working out it was the 637th cabinet meeting since the SNP came to power.
The winner of the contest to succeed Ms Sturgeon as SNP leader will be revealed on Monday afternoon.
They will then face a vote in the Scottish Parliament the next day before being confirmed as first minister.
Ms Sturgeon has served in the role since November 2014 and as a cabinet minister and deputy first minister under her predecessor Alex Salmond since 2007.
Speaking as she opened the meeting, she highlighted minimum unit pricing for alcohol as one of the policies she was most proud of - pointing to new research which estimated that it had saved 156 lives a year.
A spokesman for the first minister said the meeting had "allowed colleagues to thank the first minister and deputy first minister for their tireless commitment to public service and to making Scotland a better country for all of those who call this nation home.
"The FM and DFM in turn thanked colleagues for their unstinting backing - and also made clear they will continue to offer their support from the backbenches as a new generation takes up the baton to take Scotland forward and complete the country's journey to independence."
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf was the only one of the three leadership candidates to attend the meeting at the first minister's Bute House residence in Edinburgh.
Kate Forbes is still officially on maternity leave from her finance secretary role with Deputy First Minister John Swinney, who will also quit the government next week, standing in for her.
However she visited the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday morning for the first time since the birth of her daughter in August.
Humza Yousaf was the only leadership candidate to attend the cabinet meeting
The third candidate in the contest, Ash Regan, has never held a cabinet post and quit as the government's community safety minister - a junior ministerial role - last year in protest over its gender recognition reforms.
Ms Sturgeon is due to make a formal apology in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday over forced adoption, which saw tens of thousands of unmarried mothers in Scotland being shamed and coerced into handing over their babies in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
She will then face opposition leaders at First Minister's Questions for the last time on Thursday, before making a final statement to MSPs. Her last official engagement as first minister will be on Friday.
Ms Sturgeon has not officially backed any of the candidates to replace her, but Mr Yousaf is widely assumed to be her preferred choice.
The outgoing first minister made a thinly-veiled attack on Ms Forbes over her stance on social issues such as gay marriage, abortion and gender recognition reforms at the start of the contest, with Ms Sturgeon saying that Scotland is a "progressive country" and the views of the next first minister therefore matter.
Ms Forbes subsequently hit back at the first minister's record during a TV debate, when she claimed that "more of the same" would be an "acceptance of mediocrity".
The leadership contest has exposed deep divisions within the SNP, with both Ms Forbes and Ms Regan casting doubt over the fairness and transparency of the election process.
A framed photograph of Ms Sturgeon sits next to her predecessors as first minister in Bute House
Ms Sturgeon's husband, Peter Murrell, was forced to quit as the party's chief executive on Saturday over his role in the media being given misleading information about the number of members who are eligible to elect its next leader.
The party had consistently claimed to have more than 100,000 members but was eventually forced to admit that the true figure was 72,000 - meaning more than 50,000 have left since its membership peaked at 125,000 in 2019.
Speaking on the Loose Women programme on Monday, Ms Sturgeon denied the party was in a mess and insisted it was merely going through "growing pains" which she said were "necessary but difficult".
She also said it was important for the party not to "throw the baby out with the bath water" and lose things that have made them successful in the past.
Meanwhile, opposition parties said they had "thwarted" an attempt by the SNP to have first minister's questions cancelled next Thursday - which would have meant the new leader would not have to take questions in the Scottish Parliament until 20 April because of the Easter recess.
Minister for parliamentary business George Adam made the proposal to the presiding officer, but it was dropped in the face of criticism from rival parties.
Scottish Conservative chief whip Alexander Burnett claimed that the move was a "shameful attempt to hide the first minister from scrutiny" and pointed out that Ms Sturgeon took part in FMQs for the first time on 20 November 2014 - the day after becoming first minister.