John Swinney scraps independence minister role

John Swinney has removed the role of independence minister from his frontbench team.

The new First Minister quietly ditched the controversial position by failing to mention it in a Scottish Government press release listing that announced the appointment of junior ministers.

Jamie Hepburn, who previously filled the post, was named as the new parliamentary business minister but no replacement for him was declared.

The decision raises hopes that Mr Swinney will finally put a stop to the Scottish Government’s independence campaign, nearly a decade after its clear defeat in the 2014 referendum.

Holyrood’s Unionist parties welcomed the decision to remove the role, which they have repeatedly criticised as a waste of taxpayers’ money after Humza Yousaf created it last year.

Mr Hepburn was paid an extra £33,989 to be independence minister but it was unclear what his daily duties involved. His few media appearances involved unveiling a series of civil service papers on separation, which made little public impact.

Nationalists were unhappy at the move to scrap the role, however, and Alex Salmond’s Alba Party has accused Mr Swinney of making “the decision to deprioritise independence in order to try broaden support” in Holyrood for his minority Government.

Mr Swinney insisted his Government remained “committed to independence” and said he expected all his ministers to make the case for separation.

‘Obsession with independence must go’

Chris McEleny, the party’s general secretary, said: “Instead of appealing to Unionists, the First Minister should be reaching out to Alba Party’s Holyrood leader Ash Regan MSP to turbo charge efforts to drive forward the case for independence.”

Alyn Smith, the SNP MSP for Stirling, said that having Mr Hepburn as independence minister had been “really effective to focus Government on getting the independence white papers out of the door”.

He told BBC Radio Scotland: “There has been a series of them, which I think need a much wider audience and a greater attention.” Mr Smith said the role’s responsibilities would be taken on by Angus Robertson, the Constitution Secretary.

Craig Hoy, the Scottish Tory chairman, said: “While it’s welcome that this divisive and wasteful post has been axed, the SNP Government’s obsession with independence needs to go with it – and we know that will never happen.

“John Swinney has doubled down on the SNP’s separation fixation, as his campaign slogan – uniting for independence – illustrates.”

Willie Rennie, the former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, welcomed Mr Hepburn, who is the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth MSP, being given a different job.

He said: “For months I have been campaigning to free the Cumbernauld One from the drudgery of producing independence paper after independence paper that no one reads. I am delighted to say that goal has now been achieved.”

Pamela Nash, the chief executive of campaign group Scotland in Union, said: “The Scottish Government has finally seen sense and abolished this wasteful and costly role – but John Swinney should go further.

“Now the Independence Minister jersey has been retired, the First Minister should commit to publishing no more papers on separation, and promise to redeploy the civil servant team to more important matters.”

Mr Swinney announced the junior minister roles in his government after unveiling his new Cabinet, which was identical to Humza Yousaf’s bar the addition of Kate Forbes.

He appointed Ms Forbes as Deputy First Minister and Economy Secretary after she agreed not to stand against him for the SNP leadership, following Mr Yousaf’s sudden resignation last week.

In addition, he reduced the number of junior ministers, with George Adam, Emma Roddick and Joe FitzPatrick leaving government.

Ivan McKee, a close ally of Ms Forbes, was surprisingly given the public finance brief after he warned last week that the party backing a “continuity” candidate such as Mr Swinney was “eerily reminiscent” of the decision last year to back Mr Yousaf. He added: “and we all know how well that turned out.”