Powers of the first Minister

Fill out the ‘explain’ & ‘example’ column of the table given. You must summarise the slide IN YOUR OWN WORDS!!! It is the only way you will actually remember this information!!

Power of appointment- Hiring and firing Ministers: It is their responsibility to appoint Ministers an also Cabinet Secretaries. The FM also has the power to fire Ministers who were not doing their job effectively. As well as re-shuffling Cabinet. This must all be approved by Parliament however, it is ultimately up to the FM to appoint. This is an extremely important power as these Cabinet Secretaries are the heads of government departments. The way they run their department has a direct impact on our country, due to their implementation of legislation and policy. For example: Humza Yousaf the former Transport Minister was appointed the role of Cabinet Secretary for Justice in June 2018. The First Minister had a major cabinet re-shuffle stating the new line-up would bring “fresh talent” to the Scottish Government

Chairing the Cabinet and setting the Cabinet agenda: The FM chairs cabinet meetings as they are the head of the executive. As leader of the Cabinet they also gets to set the agenda for Cabinet meetings, this means they can decide what is discussed in Cabinet, and the amount of time that each issue is discussed for. This is an important power, because it means that they decide on what the most important issues the government has to deal with are, and they can leave off the agenda anything they do not wish to have discussed. They can set the priorities for government and manage the discussion of Ministers For example: For example, Nicola Sturgeon can decide the Cabinet’s strongest focus such as enabling a second independence referendum and direct discussion towards these areas.

POWER TO INFLUENCE THROUGH THE MEDIA As the head of the executive the FM is the face of Scottish Government, due to this they receive a great deal of media attention and scrutiny. The FM can have great power in the sense that they can organise interviews or press conferences to highlight issues they wish to push forward on the agenda. The FM can also appeal to voters through the attention they get through media as well as social media. This can significantly boost a parties votes when it comes to election time. For example: The current First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has 924,000 twitter followers. The FM can be extremely influential as by utilising social media the FM can highlight issues or policies which they wish to push forward on the agenda.

KU PRACTICE QUESTIONS Describe, in detail, two powers of the First Minister of Scotland. 6 Explain, in detail, why the First Minister is very powerful. You should give a maximum of three reasons in your answer. 8

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