‘politics is a hard business’ after losing Holyrood seat

SNP campaign director Angus Robertson admitted that “politics is a really, really hard business” after losing his seat at Holyrood to the Scottish Greens.

Mr Robertson, who had been the constitution, external affairs and culture secretary in the Scottish Government , added however that his four-year-old daughter was “apparently absolutely delighted I will have more time to take her to the park”.

He spoke to journalists after what was his second electoral defeat in less than a decade, having previously lost his Westminster seat.

As SNP Westminster leader and the party’s depute leader, he lost the Moray seat in the House of Commons to then Scottish Tory chief Douglas Ross in 2017.

Four years later he was back in elected politics, when he won the Edinburgh Central seat at Holyrood for the SNP – with then first minister Nicola Sturgeon appointing him constitution, external affairs and culture secretary when she announced her cabinet after the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

But after five years – and some boundary changes in the constituency – he once again finds himself out of elected office, this time being ousted by the Scottish Greens.

Mr Robertson said afterwards: “The seat was quite changed and I think that is a significant contributory factor.

“But at the end of the day what matters most is who gets the most votes and that wasn’t me.”
He continued: “I think one of the most important lessons in politics is to treat people on the way down the way you treat them on the way up.

“Because politics is a really, really hard business.”
Mr Robertson has attracted controversy during his time in Holyrood, over issues including his handling of the most recent census and a meeting with an Israeli diplomat.

He apologised after a 2024 meeting with the Israeli deputy ambassador, accepting afterwards that the talks should have been strictly limited to calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

However Mr Robertson said Daniela Grudsky had raised a number of issues which did not relate to the conflict including energy, tourism and economic co-operation.

He faced a backlash from within his own party in the aftermath of the meeting, with then SNP MSP Christine Grahame branding him a “liability”.

Swinney ‘certain’ SNP will be largest party at Holyrood after election
Scottish Greens ‘no longer wasted vote’ as party gains first constituency MSPs
SNP campaign director Angus Robertson loses own seat in Holyrood election
Art After Dark is back with an exciting calendar of cultural events
He also faced criticism for the Government’s funding of the arts after Creative Scotland had its budget cut in 2023, reversing a previous commitment given by ministers.

At the time, Mr Robertson said “massive additional and unforeseen pressures” on the Scottish Government finances due to public sector pay deals had meant “tough choices” had to be made.

Meanwhile opposition MSPs said he had “botched” the most recent census – with the population-wide survey taking place a year later in Scotland than it did in other parts of the UK.

Concerns about low return rates meant the deadline for householders to complete the 2022 Scottish census had to be extended – and while this increased the return rate to 89%, in England and Wales 97% took part in the research.

In January this year Mr Robertson refused to say if he had confidence in the board of heritage body Historic Environment Scotland (HES) after the organisation was embroiled in a series of controversies.

That came after the Culture Secretary was accused of a “shocking lack of oversight” of HES after Scotland’s public spending watchdog found in December there were “unacceptable weaknesses” in the leadership of the organisation.