Kenny MacAskill

Kenny MacAskill
Official portrait, 2011
Acting Leader of the Alba Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 October 2024
Preceded by	Alex Salmond
Depute Leader of the Alba Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 September 2021
Leader	Alex Salmond Himself (acting)
Preceded by	Office established
Cabinet Secretary for Justice
In office 17 May 2007 – 21 November 2014
First Minister	Alex Salmond
Preceded by	Cathy Jamieson
Succeeded by	Michael Matheson
Member of Parliament for East Lothian
In office 12 December 2019 – 30 May 2024
Preceded by	Martin Whitfield
Succeeded by	Douglas Alexander
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh Eastern Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (2007–2011)
In office 3 May 2007 – 24 March 2016
Preceded by	Susan Deacon
Succeeded by	Ash Denham
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Lothians (1 of 7 Regional MSPs)
In office 6 May 1999 – 3 May 2007
Personal details
Born	(1958-04-28) 28 April 1958 (age 66) Edinburgh, Scotland
Political party	Alba[1]
Other political affiliations	SNP (1978–2021)
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh
Profession	Solicitor
Website	www.kennymacaskillmp.scot

Kenneth Wright MacAskill (born 28 April 1958) is a Scottish politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2007 to 2014 and was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2016. A former member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he defected to the Alba Party in 2021 and currently serves as the party's acting leader, following former leader Alex Salmond's death in October 2024.

Born in Edinburgh and educated at Linlithgow Academy, MacAskill studied law at the University of Edinburgh and was a senior partner in a law firm in Glasgow. He was a long-standing member of the SNP's National Executive Committee and served as treasurer and vice convener of policy, before being elected at the 1999 Scottish Parliament election. He was convener of the Scottish Parliament Subordinate Legislation Committee from 1999 to 2001.

Following the SNP's victory in 2007, MacAskill was appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Justice in the Scottish Government. In this role, he oversaw the controversial transfer of convicted terrorist Abdelbaset al-Megrahi to his native Libya. MacAskill left office in November 2014 in the Cabinet reshuffle which followed the appointment of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister of Scotland and stood down from the Scottish Parliament at the 2016 election.

After standing down from the Scottish Parliament, MacAskill was elected to the House of Commons as MP for East Lothian at the 2019 general election, gaining the previously Labour-held seat from Martin Whitfield. In March 2021, MacAskill defected from the SNP to the Alba Party. At the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, he stood on the Alba Party's Lothian regional list but neither he nor his party succeeded in gaining a seat.

At the 2024 general election MacAskill stood in the Alloa and Grangemouth seat. He received 1.5% of the vote share with 638 votes.