John Swinney has axed the minister for independence post created by his predecessor.

The First Minister has appointed Jamie Hepburn, who held the brief, to be his Minister for Parliamentary Business.

The decision has angered some independence supporters, with Alba accusing the new SNP leader of "deprioritising" the constitution.

Details of the junior government roles were released just before 10pm on Thursday night.

Mr Swinney’s full team now consists of 11 cabinet secretaries and 14 ministers, down from the 10 Cabinet Secretaries and 18 ministers in Humza Yousaf's administration.

READ MORE: 'Continuity cabinet': John Swinney keeps Humza Yousaf's ministers

Other posts to be scrapped include the two held by the Scottish Greens and the Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development.

Kaukab Stewart who held the post is now Minister for Equalities.

Mr Swinney has also brought Ivan McKee back into government.

He quit last year after Mr Yousaf offered him "a smaller job".

The Glasgow Provan MSP - who was briefly Kate Forbes’s campaign manager during 2023’s SNP leadership contest - will be Public Finance Minister.

That post was previously held by Tom Arthur. He has been moved to work under Ms Forbes as the Minister for Employment and Investment.

While there has been little movement at the top level of government, with Mr Swinney keeping all of Mr Yousaf's Cabinet Secretaries, there have been casualties among the junior ranks. 

Emma Roddick, who was minister for equalities, migration and refugees, Joe Fitzpatrick, who had been minister for local government empowerment and planning, and George Adam, who was previously minister for parliamentary business, have all "stepped down from their previous roles."

MSPs are set to vote on the appointment of the ministers in Parliament this afternoon. 

READ MORE: Brian Wilson: Opposition's duty is to work to remove Swinney as soon as possible

The creation of the minister for independence post was one of Mr Yousaf’s pledges during the SNP leadership contest.

Responsibilities included “independence strategy, parliamentary co-ordination and liaison regarding devolution, independence and Scotland’s constitutional future, communication with people, businesses and organisations regarding devolution, independence and Scotland’s constitutional future”.

However, the position - which came with a £32,000 salary uplift for Mr Hepburn - had proved controversial. 

One of Mr Hepburn’s main roles was in the production of the Building a New Scotland series of papers. It is not clear if these will continue now that the position - only ever held by the  MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth - has gone.

Earlier in the day, after announcing his cabinet, the First Minister suggested that all of his ministers would, in effect, be ministers for independence. 

He said that while he believed that "Scotland’s future is best served as an independent country" he recognised "more people need to be convinced of that before independence can be achieved."

He added: "My Cabinet will also focus efforts on reaching out to those who remain unconvinced, with respect and courtesy, to ensure that the people of Scotland have the democratic right to choose their own future.”

The decision to scrap the brief just months out from the tenth anniversary of the 2014 referendum was criticised by Alex Salmond’s Alba.

Chris McEleny, the party's general secretary said: “Humza Yousaf created the role of Minister for independence so that it looked like his Government was taking action on independence. 

"We are currently at a constitutional logjam. John Swinney has said his independence strategy is the same as Humza Yousaf’s - a strategy that the SNP’s longest serving MP Peter Wishart labelled ‘a total mess’. 

“The new SNP Government has made the decision to deprioritise independence in order to try broaden support for itself within parliament.

"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." 

The decision was welcomed by the Lib Dems. 

Willie Rennie 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.

“The Scottish Government needs to have a laser focus on the issues that really matter, like tackling long waits for healthcare and violence in our schools.”