The SNP has appointed a woman to chair the party for the first time.
Former MP Kirsten Oswald takes on the business convener role, succeeding Derek Mackay MSP, after being nominated by Nicola Sturgeon.
She will now be responsible for overseeing operational party matters and chairing the National Executive Committee and National Conference.
Ms Oswald said: “I am thrilled and honoured to be appointed business convener for the SNP at this crucial point in Scottish and UK politics.
“With the UK Tory government hellbent on dragging our country off a job-destroying Brexit cliff edge it is more vital than ever that Scotland’s voice is heard.
“To make that voice louder and more powerful it is vital that all of our members have every opportunity to have their say – and that enhanced member power will be my priority.
“The SNP’s vision of hope and ambition – and our actions in government making Scotland fairer and ready to join Europe’s successful small, independent countries – is in stark contrast to the inward-looking doom, despair and chaos of Westminster.”
Bruce Crawford and Angus Robertson have previously held the position, which was created in 2004.
Finance Secretary Mr Mackay was in the role for the last seven years.
He said: “The past seven years has been an incredible period of growth for the SNP. It has also been the most dynamic period in modern Scottish political history.
“We have won the last three Scottish parliamentary elections, won the previous two Westminster elections in Scotland and delivered an independence referendum which was the biggest democratic event in our nation’s history.
“These achievements, along with the fact that we consistently hold a double-digit leads in polls, show that we are undoubtedly the most successful party in the UK – and arguably the most successful political party in Europe.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel