Alex Salmond has appointed Keith Brown (pictured), formerly Minister for Skills and Lifelong learning, to replace Stewart Stevenson as Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.
The brief for Climate Change, which Stevenson held before, has been added to the portfolio of Roseanna Cunningham, who becomes Minister for the Environment and Climate Change.
Angela Constance takes on Brown's previous post of Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning. Alex Salmond announced the appointments today.
Here's Keith Moon's professional biog:
"Keith Brown has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Ochil Constituency since May 2007. Before his election he served for eleven years as a councillor in Clackmannanshire, and held the post of Council Leader from 1999 to 2003. He has also been since 1999 a member of the European Union's Committee of the Regions, serving as President (2004-2006) of the Union for a Europe of the Nations - European Alliance (UEN-EA) group on that body.
Keith worked for fifteen years as a local government professional in neighbouring Stirling, where he was also an active trade union representative with UNISON. He is a graduate of Dundee University and a former Marine who served in the Falklands. Originally from Edinburgh, Keith now lives in Dollar with his three children."
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Action Points for the New Transport Minister
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While many may have some sympathy for Stewart Stevenson, he did act with honour and resigned - something to be welcomed among politicians generally as it seems to be going out of fashion - more's the pity!
But it is good to see a man of action coming in as Transport Minister; with his Royal Marines background, one would hope that Keith Brown will stand no nonsence from anyone. He seems to have some sensible ideas for dealing with the next bout of bad weather and should be able to be relied on to stick close to the Operations Room when there is any hint of a crisis brewing.
He has another urgent task to deal with - this is the shambles of the Edinburgh Trams project. He will be well aware that some £500 million of Government money has been squandered by Edinburgh City Council and that the city may only get less than half the original length of the line. He needs to take a firm grip of Transport Scotland and Audit Scotland as well as banging together the heads of Tie and the City Council. No more public money must be wasted and the city must not be allowed to bankrupt itself by borrowing excessively and also ruining the excellent Lothian Bus network.