Deputy First Minister of Scotland

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The Deputy First Minister of Scotland is the deputy to the First Minister of Scotland. The post is currently held by Nicol Stephen.

The post is not recognised in statute (in comparison with the post of First Minister which is established by the Scotland Act 1998), and its holder is simply an ordinary member of the Scottish Executive, but the post has existed in practice since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive in 1999.

The Additional Member System used to elect Members of the Scottish Parliament makes it difficult for a single party to have an absolute majority, and the Scottish Executive has since 1999 been formed by a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition. The First Minister is appointed from the majority coalition partner (Labour) and the Deputy First Minister from the minority partner (Liberal Democrats).

During the illness of the first First Minister, Donald Dewar, the Deputy First Minister took over the running of the Executive.

It has been pointed out that the title is not in line with traditional Scottish usage, which uses the form "Depute" in preference to "Deputy".