‘Continuity Cabinet’ or some subtle but impactful changes?

FIRST Minister John Swinney has named his new Scottish Cabinet.

The consensus was clear after the full list of cabinet positions in the new SNP minority government was released: not a whole lot has changed.

Of the 11 members in the Cabinet, which is majority female, there is only one new addition – albeit a big one.

Kate Forbes is Scotland’s new Deputy First Minister, also taking the economy portfolio and responsibility for Gaelic.

Forbes had been the only other SNP politician to publicly state that she was considering a leadership bid against the now First Minister.

But after a discussion last week, she publicly backed him – and her return to the inner fold is a key tactical move from Swinney to unite the left and right of the SNP.

Shona Robison (pictured), meanwhile, who Forbes replaces as deputy first minister, will take on the finance and local government briefs.

The rest remain almost entirely unchanged.

Given that the last reshuffle was not that long ago, perhaps this is unsurprising. But it does open up the opportunity – as Anas Sarwar already has done – of labelling it the “continuity Cabinet”.

But a closer look at the details does reveal some small but potentially crucial differences.

For one, this is the first time the Scottish Government has specifically mentioned Gaelic within its own Cabinet brief – which will no doubt delight Gaelic-speaking groups and communities.

Minister for Gaelic was previously a junior post but was discontinued under the second Nicola Sturgeon government, coming under the remit of the education secretary.

Forbes attended a Gaelic school and is fluent in the language – even giving entirely Gaelic speeches at Holyrood.

It would be surprising if this development wasn’t one of Forbes’s conditions for not standing as SNP leader – especially given she blasted her own party for axing funding for Gaelic development officers just two months ago. It is an issue she cares deeply about.

Another difference is the omission of “wellbeing” in Forbes’s new economy brief. McAllan previously held the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy position but drops the former in her new role.

The Scottish Government has previously been very vocal about a transition to a wellbeing economy – one that seeks to shift away from purely utilising GDP figures as a barometer of success and incorporate other measures too.

The lack of explicitly mentioning it in a Cabinet brief could signal a move away from it.

Another change is to Neil Gray’s brief.

The former cabinet secretary for NHS recovery, health and social care has dropped “NHS Recovery” entirely.

While perhaps implicit in the health brief anyway, it could signal a more deliberate policy change.

THE SNP’s Westminster leader has told the Labour Party to “show some standards” after Tory MP Natalie Elphicke’s defection. The Dover MP crossed the floor in the Commons moments before Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday as she hit out at Rishi Sunak’s “incompetence”.

Elphicke was previously suspended from the Commons for one day for trying to influence the judge in a case linked to her former partner Charlie Elphicke, who was found guilty on multiple counts of sexual assault.

She also previously hit out at footballer Marcus Rashford, claiming he was “playing politics” with his work on food poverty.

“From small boats to biosecurity, Rishi Sunak’s government is failing to keep our borders safe and secure,” she said yesterday after revealing her defection.

“Lives are being lost in the English Channel while small boat arrivals are once again at record levels. It’s clear they have failed to keep our borders secure and cannot be trusted.”

Elphicke said the “key deciding factors” in her defection were housing issues and “the safety and security of our borders”.

Speaking to reporters in Starmer’s parliamentary office after Prime Minister’s Questions, she said: “In 2019, the Conservatives stood on a manifesto that was very much centre ground, but under Rishi Sunak they’ve abandoned the centre ground and broken many election promises.

“Meanwhile, under Keir Starmer, Labour have changed. And I think that change is going to bring a much better future for our country, and that’s why I was so keen to join the Labour Party and play my part in bringing that important future forward.”

A year ago, Elphicke used a newspaper column to claim “not only have Labour got no plan of their own to tackle illegal immigration, they simply do not want to” and said Sir Keir “has pledged to rip up our worldleading partnership to remove illegal migrants to Rwanda”.

Asked about her previous criticism of Labour over immigration policy, she said Sunak “was the man who said he would stop the boats” but so far this year there had been “record numbers of small boats arrivals”.

“So, he’s not stopping the boats and he’s letting the country down.

“Meanwhile under Labour, they are clear that it is important to have defence and they want to make sure that they have good national security. So I think we should have confidence that Labour are the party who will tackle this issue of the small boats crossings.”

Elphicke is standing down at the general election and denied that she had been offered a peerage by Labour.

The MP could take on an unpaid role working on housing policy with Labour, aides suggested.

Following the defection, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said on Twitter/X, “show some standards”, followed by the sick emoji.

Even some Tory MPs were struggling to understand the news with Wycombe MP Steve Baker commenting: “I have been searching in vain for a Conservative MP who thinks themselves to the right of Natalie Elphicke.

“One just quipped, ‘I didn’t realise there was any room to her right’.”

In a separate post, Flynn shared an old tweet from Elphicke in which she called on Tory members to vote for Liz Truss.

Elsewhere, National contributor Owen Jones said: “Come on, Starmer supporters! Let’s hear you loudly cheer on your new Labour MP, hard-right exTory MP Natalie Elphicke.

“With her track record of refugee bashing, Marcus Rashford bashing, union bashing, what’s not to be proud of?”