PRIME MINISTER Andy Burnham has reappointed Douglas Alexander as Scottish secretary, despite criticisms of his failure in May’s Holyrood elections.

Mr Alexander, who masterminded Labour’s 2015 election campaign in which it lost 58 seats, including his own, returned to Parliament in 2024 to be appointed Scottish secretary by Sir Keir Starmer the following year, going on to be the linchpin in the 2026 Holyrood campaign which saw Labour plunge to a new low of 17 seats.

The Lothian East MP said he was “delighted to have the new Prime Minister’s confidence in the role,” vowing to be “Scotland’s voice around the Cabinet table, working constructively to solve problems.”

First Minister John Swinney, with whom Mr Alexander has repeatedly clashed, said that “the Prime Minister’s got to make his choices about his own team.”

But SNP MSP David Linden claimed Mr Alexander had “pulled the wool over Starmer’s eyes and it seems he’s repeated the trick with Burnham.”

“His first instruction to Douglas Alexander should be to respect the democratic will of the Scottish Parliament and give the Scottish people the right to decide our constitutional future,” he said.