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Winnie Ewing
Born
Ewing's win at the Hamilton by-election in 1967, overturning a Labour majority of over 16,000, made the SNP a force at Westminster and frightened both main parties into taking Scottish self-government seriously; Edward Heath's 'Declaration of Perth' backing an assembly followed in 1968. She later served in the European Parliament and, as the oldest member, opened the new Scottish Parliament in 1999 with the words 'The Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th day of March 1707, is hereby reconvened.'
More about Winnie Ewing2
Tam Dalyell
Born
A Labour opponent of devolution, Dalyell posed the 'West Lothian question' in 1977: why should a Scottish MP vote on English matters when English MPs could not vote on the same matters in Scotland? He and George Cunningham, whose amendment required 40 per cent of the whole electorate to approve the 1979 referendum, helped sink the first devolution scheme, which won a narrow Yes vote but missed the threshold. His question was never answered, and 'English votes for English laws' was tried and abandoned decades later.
More about Tam Dalyell3
John Smith (Labour Party leader)
Born
As a young minister Smith piloted the ill-fated Scotland Act 1978 through the Commons, and as Labour leader from 1992 he called a Scottish parliament 'the settled will of the Scottish people' and committed Labour to delivering it. His death in 1994 meant he never saw it, but his commitment bound his successors, and Tony Blair, less enthusiastic, kept the promise while adding the condition of a two-question referendum.
More about John Smith (Labour Party leader)4
Kenyon Wright
An Episcopal canon, Wright chaired the executive of the Scottish Constitutional Convention from 1989, which brought Labour, the Liberal Democrats, churches, unions and local councils together (the SNP and Conservatives stayed out) to draft the scheme that became the 1998 Scotland Act. His most quoted line answered a Thatcherite veto: 'What if that other voice we all know so well responds by saying, We say no, and we are the state? Well, we say yes, and we are the people.' The convention's blueprint, including proportional representation, was largely enacted.
More about Kenyon Wright5
Michael Forsyth, Baron Forsyth of Drumlean
Born
The most articulate opponent. As Conservative Scottish Secretary from 1995, Forsyth argued that a parliament would be a 'slippery slope' to independence and campaigned for the 'tartan tax' warning, which forced Labour to add a separate referendum question on tax-varying powers. He also tried to defuse demand by returning the Stone of Destiny to Scotland in 1996 and giving the Scottish Grand Committee more work. The Conservatives lost every Scottish seat in 1997, and his warnings shaped the referendum design rather than the outcome.
More about Michael Forsyth, Baron Forsyth of Drumlean6
Donald Dewar
Born
As Scottish Secretary from 1997, Dewar wrote the white paper, won the referendum by 74 per cent for a parliament and 63 per cent for tax powers, and steered the Scotland Act 1998 through the Commons. Its key design choice, listing only the powers reserved to Westminster so that everything else was devolved, gave Holyrood a broad remit. He became the first First Minister in 1999 and died in office in 2000. His one obvious misjudgement was the Holyrood building, whose cost rose roughly tenfold.
More about Donald Dewar7
David Steel
Born
Steel co-chaired the Scottish Constitutional Convention for the Liberal Democrats, securing proportional representation in exchange for his party's support, which guaranteed that no single party would easily dominate the new parliament. He then became its first Presiding Officer from 1999 to 2003, setting procedures and conventions for a chamber with no precedents, including a more consensual, committee-centred style than Westminster's. He was later caught up in criticism over his handling of the Holyrood building costs.
More about David Steel8
Jim Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness
Born
As Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy First Minister from 1999 to 2005, Wallace made the first Holyrood coalitions work and three times served as acting First Minister. The partnership agreements he negotiated produced the abolition of up-front university tuition fees in Scotland and free personal care for older people, the first big policy divergences from England, and proportional representation for Scottish council elections. He showed that the parliament's electoral system would make coalition the norm. He died in 2026.
More about Jim Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness9
Jack McConnell
Born
First Minister from 2001 to 2007, McConnell used devolved powers for the smoking ban in enclosed public places, introduced in March 2006 ahead of England, and the Fresh Talent scheme to attract migrants to Scotland. His government's quiet competence after the turbulence of Dewar's death and Henry McLeish's resignation helped establish that the new institution could govern day to day. His Labour administration was narrowly defeated by the SNP in 2007, ending Labour's dominance of Scottish politics.
More about Jack McConnell10
Alex Salmond
Born
Salmond took the SNP into government in 2007 as a minority administration, then won the outright majority in 2011 that the electoral system was supposed to prevent, which led to the Edinburgh Agreement with David Cameron and the 2014 independence referendum, lost 55 to 45. He used devolution as a stepping stone to independence rather than an end in itself. His later trial and acquittal on sexual offence charges, and his bitter split from Sturgeon, divided the movement. He died in October 2024.
More about Alex Salmond11
Kenneth Calman
Born
A former Chief Medical Officer, Calman chaired the commission set up in 2008 by the unionist parties at Holyrood to review devolution after ten years. Its 2009 report recommended that the Scottish Parliament set its own rate of income tax, with Westminster's rate in Scotland cut by ten pence, plus borrowing powers and some smaller taxes. Most of it became the Scotland Act 2012. It marked the moment devolution moved from spending money to raising it, though the SNP dismissed it as too timid. He died in 2025.
More about Kenneth Calman12
Alistair Darling
Born
The former Chancellor led Better Together, the cross-party campaign against independence in 2014, uniting Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats on one platform. His television debates with Salmond, where he pressed on the currency question, are widely seen as having shaped the campaign. The cross-party alliance cost Scottish Labour heavily: many Yes-voting Labour supporters switched to the SNP, and Labour lost 40 of its 41 Scottish seats in 2015. He died in 2023.
More about Alistair Darling13
Gordon Brown
Born
In the last days of the 2014 referendum campaign, with polls tightening, Brown, then a backbench MP, set out a timetable for further powers that the three unionist party leaders then endorsed in 'The Vow' printed on the Daily Record's front page. It committed them to extensive new powers and to the permanence of the Scottish Parliament. Whether it changed votes is debated, but it bound Westminster to the Smith Commission that followed, and arguments over whether the Vow was honoured have continued since.
More about Gordon Brown14
Robert Smith, Baron Smith of Kelvin
Born
A businessman who had chaired the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Lord Smith of Kelvin chaired the commission that turned the Vow into specifics in just ten weeks, getting all five Holyrood parties, including the SNP and Greens, to sign one report in November 2014. Its agreement gave Holyrood full control of income tax rates and bands, a share of VAT, powers over some welfare benefits and the permanence of the parliament in law. The Scotland Act 2016 enacted it, and the new Social Security Scotland agency grew out of it.
More about Robert Smith, Baron Smith of Kelvin15
Margo MacDonald
Born
Margo MacDonald won the Glasgow Govan by-election for the SNP in 1973, then spent her later career as an independent MSP for the Lothians from 2003, re-elected twice without a party machine. She led the criticism of the Holyrood building's spiralling costs, which prompted the Fraser Inquiry, and tried twice to legalise assisted dying through members' bills. She showed that the proportional list system allowed a determined independent to thrive at Holyrood in a way Westminster rarely allows.
More about Margo MacDonald16
Nicola Sturgeon
Born
Sturgeon was First Minister from 2014 to 2023, the longest-serving holder of the office, and the first to run the new tax and welfare powers from the Smith settlement: Scotland's own income tax bands from 2018, the Scottish Child Payment and Social Security Scotland. Her bid for a second referendum ended when the Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that Holyrood could not legislate for one alone, and the UK government blocked her gender recognition reform under section 35 of the Scotland Act. Both defined the limits of devolution.
More about Nicola Sturgeon17
Ruth Davidson
Born
The Scottish Conservatives had opposed devolution in 1997, and Davidson, leader from 2011 to 2019, completed their reconciliation with it, backing the Smith Commission's tax powers and positioning the party as the defender of both Holyrood and the Union. She took them to second place in 2016 and 13 Westminster seats in 2017. Her success showed that devolution had created a Scottish political arena with its own competition, rather than a one-party state.
More about Ruth Davidson18
John Swinney
Born
Swinney was the first finance secretary to use Holyrood's new tax powers, introducing land and buildings transaction tax in 2015, and has been First Minister since 2024. At the May 2026 election the SNP won 58 of 129 seats, short of a majority, with Reform UK and Labour tied for second; he was re-elected First Minister after three rounds of voting and now governs relying on other parties. The hung parliament is a return to the bargaining the system was designed for.
More about John Swinney
