why he’s powerful

• why is the first minister powerful? - they are the leader of the scottish government

  E. the first minister makes the final decision on what each department of the government does, they are very powerful as they can approve and reject polices E. for example nicola sturgeon will have approved the Scottish governments responses to the covid 19 pandemic which was sometimes different from those in england.
• why is the first minister powerful? - they represent scotland

  E. this means as the head of scottish politics the FM represents scotland at home and abroad to negotiate with foreign ministers and the UK prime minister to put scotland’s needs forward this makes him powerful as he can push for the needs of scotland

  E. for example in 2024 john swinney met with PM keith starter to discuss a better working relationship between the UK and scottish parliaments.
• why is the first minister powerful? - they can appoint and remove cabinet members

  E. as the first minister it is one of his roles to appoint who is in charge of each government department

  this makes him powerful as he can reward those loyal to him and punish or remove m those who he doesn't think are good enough

  E. for example Shona Robison was appointed the cabinet for finance and local government secretary in 2023.