Long-serving Edinburgh and Lothian MSP Sarah Boyack to stand down at 2026 Scottish Parliament elections

One of the original members of the new Scottish Parliament elected in 1999, she was made Minister for Transport and Environment in the first Scottish Cabinet

She was MP for Edinburgh Central from 1999 until 2011 and then a Lothian list MSP from 2011 until 2016.

Lothian MSP and Scottish Labour politician Sarah Boyack

And although she lost her seat at the 2016 election, she returned to the parliament three years later, again as a Lothian list MSP, after Kezia Dugdale stood down. And she was re-elected in 2021.

Announcing her decision to step down, Ms Boyack said it had been “the honour of my life” to serve as an MSP for almost 25 years. And she pledged that, although she would not be a candidate, she would work tirelessly for a Labour victory next year.

Before politics, Ms Boyack worked as a town planner and then became a lecturer at Heriot-Watt University. But politics and devolution were in her blood - her father Jim Boyack was prominent in the Labour Party and a leading figure in the Campaign for a Scottish Assembly.

Looking back last year on 25 years of the parliament, she told the Evening News she had never harboured ambitions for high office when she stood as candidate in Edinburgh Central in 1999.

"The ambition for me was getting elected and I was thinking maybe I could be on a committee on a topic I care about, so to go in and become a Cabinet Secretary was unexpected and very exciting."

Ms Boyack is the only current MSP who served in Donald Dewar’s first Cabinet. In her role, in charge of transport, environment and planning, she was responsible for passing some of the Scottish Parliament’s early landmark legislation, including free bus passes for the over 60s and the establishment of Scotland’s first national parks.

She continued in the role under new First Minister Henry McLeish after Donald Dewar’s death, but she was not reappointed to the Cabinet when Jack McConnell took over in 2001.

In 2003, she became convener of the Scottish Parliament’s environment and rural development committee before returning to government in 2007 as Deputy Minister for the Environment and Rural Development.

Following Labour’s heavy defeat in the 2011 Holyrood election, she co-chaired a review along with Jim Murphy of the Labour party in Scotland. And in 2014 she stood for the Scottish party leadership, finishing third in a race with Jim Murphy and Neil Findlay.

Since returning to the parliament in 2019, she has served in multiple roles on the Labour front bench, most recently as spokesperson for Net Zero, Energy and Just Transition.

And she also launched a member’s bill to establish a Future Generations Commissioner for Scotland that is currently making its way through parliament.

Ms Boyack said: “It has been the honour of my life to serve as an MSP in the Scottish Parliament. I am proud of what I have achieved, both in my time in government and in my local campaigns for issues that matter to my constituents.

“It is great to see progress being made on issues such as a new eye pavilion for Edinburgh, funding for the King’s Theatre and the Filmhouse, but not least on my Member’s Bill to ensure a more sustainable future for all of Scotland.

“I will also continue to support causes close to my heart from Edinburgh’s housing crisis to the battle to ensure we remain one of the cultural capitals of the world.

“Although I am not standing again, I will work tirelessly in the election to achieve a Scottish Labour victory in 2026.

“I have loved my time representing this amazing community and I hope to see Anas Sarwar as First Minister champion these causes and more to achieve a more prosperous, sustainable and just Scotland.”