Douglas Alexander to remain Scottish Secretary as Burnham confirms cabinet

Douglas Alexander will remain in his role as Secretary of State for Scotland, after the new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham unveiled his cabinet.

Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, replaced Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister on Monday after becoming Labour leader last week.

A host of cabinet ministers in the Starmer government confirmed they were leaving their jobs, including Peter Kyle, Rachel Reeves and David Lammy.

Alexander, who left Downing Street shortly after 23:00 on Monday, said he was "very happy" to keep his job.

In a statement posted on social media, he said: "It is an honour to be asked to continue my work as Secretary of State for Scotland.

"In these challenging times, I am determined to be Scotland's voice around the Cabinet table, working constructively to solve problems and seize opportunities on behalf of the Scottish people.

"I am delighted to have the new prime minister's confidence in the role and work we have been doing for the past year. His desire to decentralise power to enable communities to shape their own futures rather than being directed from the centre will chime with Scottish sentiment as much as the rest of the UK."

Alexander was first appointed to the Scottish Secretary job from 2006 to 2007.

A former minister in the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown governments, he was first elected to represent Paisley and Renfrewshire South in 1997.

He was favoured by the leadership for his intellect and presentational skills, and as campaign co-ordinator he played a central role in delivering Labour's 2001 general election victory.

But the Labour veteran lost his seat to the SNP's Mhairi Black in 2015, only returning to politics at the 2024 general election.

He returned to the Scottish Secretary job in September last year after the sacking of Ian Murray in a government reshuffle.

Alexander had previously served as Keir Starmer's Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security.

Since taking on the Scottish Secretary role, his focus has been on investment, defence manufacturing, exports and energy policy.

Last month, he faced criticism from the SNP after it emerged there had been a delay in reporting a meeting with Peter Mandelson's lobbying firm just weeks after Alexander's appointment as a trade minister in 2024.

The Department for Trade and Business said it was an "administrative error" that was corrected as soon as it was noticed.

Pat McFaddden, who was born in Paisley and raised in Glasgow, is another Scot in Andy Burnham's government, remaining as Work and Pensions Secretary.

After beginning his political career in Scotland, he became a senior adviser to Tony Blair in the 1990s and is regarded as an influential figure in the party.

Burnham was the only candidate to run for the UK Labour leadership after Keir Starmer signalled his intention to resign as prime minister in June.

Pressure from within Labour had been mounting on Sir Keir to outline a timetable for his departure following Burnham's victory in the Makerfield by-election.

Discontent towards Starmer's leadership had also been rising before a poor set of election results in England, Wales and Scotland in May.

This included over his decision to change direction on three major policies in a month after pressure from within his own party.

Sir Keir's decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US also led to questions about his judgement and the wider Downing Street operation.

Mandelson was sacked after new information came to light about the depth of his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Earlier, First Minister John Swinney congratulated Burnham on becoming prime minister.

Swinney said his government would "engage constructively" on the devolution of responsibilities to Scotland.

He said he would push Burnham for the power to hold a second independence referendum, however Burnham recently confirmed he would maintain the UK government's opposition to a second poll.

Swinney also said he wanted Burnham to devolve energy and economic powers to Scotland.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said he was confident that Burnham would deliver on the change "our country so desperately needs".

"We must re-empower those communities that have been forgotten about and left behind, and re-industrialise every part of our great country," he added.

Sarwar had previously called on Burnham's predecessor Sir Keir to stand down in February, saying "too many mistakes" had been made during Starmer's premiership.

Reform UK Scotland leader Malcolm Offord wished Burnham well, but called for action instead of "empty promises".

Meaanwhile the Scottish Greens urged the new prime minister to rule out new North Sea drilling, and "invest in communities" and deliver a "genuinely just transition".

Douglas Alexander is one of the very few Scottish Labour MPs who actually knows Andy Burnham.

They go back a long way having served in the Blair and Brown governments together.

As well as his experience, Alexander is super smart and has an extensive network that spans the globe.

On the down side, he is not popular with some of his party colleagues and was co-director of Labour's recent Holyrood election campaign which saw the party's MSP group shrink further.

Alexander is robust in his dealings with SNP ministers. They say his original appointment marked a significant deterioration in Scottish and UK government relations after a period of better co-operation in the early days of the Starmer government.