Michael Stephen Matheson (born 8 September 1970) is a Scottish politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport since 2018. He previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2014 to 2018 and Minister for Public Health from 2011 to 2014. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, first representing the Central Scotland region and, since 2007, the Falkirk West constituency. A graduate of the

Queen Margaret University Queen Margaret University is a university, founded in 1875 and located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Scottish Queen Saint Margaret. History The university was founded in 1875, as ''The Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic ...

and

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

, Matheson worked as an

occupational therapist Occupational therapists (OTs) are health care professionals specializing in occupational therapy and occupational science. OTs and occupational therapy assistants (OTAs) use scientific bases and a holistic perspective to promote a person's abi ...

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

, before his election to Holyrood in the

1999 Scottish Parliament election The first election to the devolved Scottish Parliament, to fill 129 seats, took place on 6 May 1999. Following the election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats formed the Scottish Executive, with Labour Member of the Scottish Parliam ...

. He served successively as the SNP's shadow deputy minister for justice and rural development and shadow minister for culture and sport. Matheson ran unsuccessfully, twice, for the Falkirk West constituency, however, remained as an additional member for the Central Scotland region until the 2007 election, when he was third time lucky. He sat on the SNP's

backbenches In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of ...

from 2007 until 2011, when he was appointed Minister for Public Health in

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...

's second government, supporting Nicola Sturgeon, and later Alex Neil, in their role as Health Secretary. Following the appointment of Sturgeon as First Minister, she appointed Matheson to the Scottish Cabinet as the Justice Secretary. In a 2018 Scottish Cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed to the new post of Cabinet Secretary of Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity. The office was retitled as the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport in Sturgeon's third administration, as part of her government's effort to tackle the climate emergency.

Early life

Birth and education

Michael Stephen Matheson was born on 8 September 1970 in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. He was raised in the Toryglen district and educated at

John Bosco Secondary School John Bosco Secondary School was a Catholic Secondary School in the Oatlands area of Glasgow in Scotland. Named in honour of John Bosco, it was located at Wolseley Street, close to Richmond Park. The campus was designed by architect John Morton ...

in the city. He then attended

where he graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in occupational therapy in 1991. He later went on to graduate from the

with both a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree and a

Postgraduate diploma A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PG, PDE) is a postgraduate qualification awarded after a university degree, which supplements the original degree and awards them with a graduate diploma. Countries that award pos ...

in applied social sciences. Following graduation, he worked as a community occupational therapist for eight years, until his election to the Scottish Parliament.

Early political career

Matheson worked for

Highland Regional Council Highland ( gd, A' Ghàidhealtachd, ; sco, Hieland) is a council areas of Scotland, council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at ...

Central Regional Council Central Region (''Roinn Meadhanach'' in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic) was a Local government of Scotland, local government Local government areas of Scotland 1973 to 1996, region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996, one of twelve such bodies across the ...

and

Stirling Council Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, ...

. He first stood as a parliamentary candidate for the SNP in the 1997 general election, standing for the newly created Hamilton North and Bellshill constituency.

Political career

Election to Holyrood

In the 1999 Scottish parliamentary election, Matheson contested the Falkirk West constituency, which was won by the independent

Dennis Canavan Dennis Andrew Canavan (born 8 August 1942) is a Scottish politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Falkirk West from 1974 to 2000 (known as West Stirlingshire from 1974 to 1983), first as a member of the Labour Party, and then as an I ...

, who had been rejected by the Labour Party. However, Matheson was ranked third on the SNP's regional list for Central Scotland and was one of the five SNP candidates elected in the region.

SNP in opposition: 1999–2007

He served as Shadow Deputy Minister for Justice from May 1999 until September 2004, and as Shadow Deputy Minister for Rural Development from October 2001 until September 2004. Matheson also served on the Equal Opportunities Committee, the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, and the Justice 1 Committee between 1999 and 2004. During the 2000 SNP deputy leadership election, he was the campaign manager for

Roseanna Cunningham Roseanna Cunningham (born 27 July 1951) is a retired Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform from 2016 to 2021. She was previously Cabinet Secretary for Fair Wor ...

. He contested the Falkirk West constituency again at the 2003 Scottish parliamentary election, and although it was won again by Denis Canavan, Matheson was re-elected as one of three SNP MSPs for Central Scotland. In the parliament's second session he served on the Justice 1 Committee, the Enterprise and Culture Committee and the Justice 2 Committee. From September 2004 until September 2006, he was Shadow Minister for Culture and Sport.

Backbencher: 2007–2011

Matheson won the constituency in the 2007 election with a majority of 776 votes over Labour, after Canavan stepped down. (Canavan later endorsed Matheson for re-election in 2011). Matheson was a member of the Health and Sport Committee from June 2007 until March 2011 and was the Deputy Convener of the European and External Relations Committee from March 2009 until July 2010. He was also a member of the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill Committee. Before becoming a Minister, Matheson was actively involved in a number of Parliamentary Cross-Party Groups, including those on

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

, Alzheimer's disease, International development,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. At the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election, he retained his seat with an increased majority of 5,745 votes over Labour.

Salmond admistartion: 2011–2014

He was appointed as Minister for Public Health after the SNP landslide in 2011, a position he held until the November 2014 reshuffle which saw him promoted to cabinet rank as Cabinet Secretary for Justice.

Justice Secretary: 2014–2018

Following the appointment of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister of Scotland, she appointed Matheson as the Cabinet Secretary for Justice on 21 November 2014. In Sturgeon's 2016 cabinet reshuffle, he remained in the post of Justice Secretary. Matheson was supported by the Minister for Community Safety, Paul Wheelhouse, and later, Annabelle Ewing.

Crime and policing

Matheson supported efforts to merge

British Transport Police , nativename = , abbreviation = BTP , patch = , patchcaption = , logo = British Transport Police Logo.svg , logocaption = Logo of the British Transport Police , badge = , badgecaption = , f ...

with

Police Scotland Police Scotland ( gd, Poileas Alba), officially the Police Service of Scotland (), is the national police force of Scotland. It was formed in 2013, through the merging of eight regional police forces in Scotland, as well as the specialist service ...

. He also proposed for the criminal justice system in Scotland to move from

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

towards rehabilitation in a bid to reduce re-offending rates.

Criminal misconduct within police authorities

The justice system in Scotland was claimed to have been in a "state of chaos" amid criminal misconduct of high ranking officials in

and the

Scottish Police Authority The Scottish Police Authority (SPA), ( gd, Ùghdarras Poilis na h-Alba), is a public body of the Scottish Government which holds Police Scotland, the national police service, to account. Both bodies were established on 1 April 2013 following a ...

. The scandal erupted following the absence leave of chief constable of Police Scotland Phil Gormley, who was accused pf bullying. He resigned and was succeeded by his deputy Iain Livingston. The chief executive and chair of governing body the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) also resigned. In 2018, a BBC Scotland investigation raised concerns that "bad practices and unlawful behaviour in the previous eight regional forces had continued" after Police Scotland was established in 2013. Matheson was accused of being "invisible" and "closing down questions" amid allegations of gross misconduct and leader of the Scottish Conservatives,

Ruth Davidson Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (born 10 November 1978), is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the Scottish ...

, raised the possibility he may have acted unlawful. Scottish Labour also claimed Matheson was unlawful after ignoring recommendations by the SPA not to allow Gormley to return from his suspension.

Transport Secretary: 2018–present

In a cabinet reshuffle in 2018, he was shifted to Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity. In 2021, his portfolio changed, with infrastructure and connectivity being replaced with net zero and

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

, becoming Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport.

Personal life

Matheson has been married to Susan Totten since 2005. They have three sons; Sean, James and Daniel.

Notes

References

External links

*
Michael Matheson MSP
official constituency website
Scottish National Party – Falkirk District
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matheson, Michael 1970 births Living people Alumni of Queen Margaret University Members of the Scottish Cabinet Scottish National Party MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2011–2016 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 Justice ministers of Scotland Politicians from Glasgow People associated with Falkirk (council area)