Angela Constance is a Scottish politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Almond Valley since 2007.
Born in West Lothian, Constance studied at the University of Glasgow and University of Stirling, before working as a social worker in the Lothians. She served as a councillor for West Lothian Council, where she was a spokesperson for children's services and lifelong learning. In the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, Constance was elected as a member of the Scottish Parliament for the Livingston constituency. As an SNP backbencher she served as a member of the Scottish Commission for Public Audit and justice committee.
Constance was appointed to the Scottish Government in 2010 and served under First Minister Alex Salmond as the minister for skills and lifelong learning and the following year she was reshuffled as the minister for children and young people. She later served as the youth employment minister, before the portfolio was expanded and promoted to cabinet-level in 2014 as the Cabinet Secretary for Training, Youth and Women's Employment. Following the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as depute leader of the SNP when she announced her candidacy for leader, Constance ran unsuccessfully in the 2014 depute leadership contest, losing to Stewart Hosie.
Sturgeon was successful in her bid for leader and was subsequently sworn in as first minister and appointed Constance as education secretary. In a cabinet reshuffle in 2016, she was appointed the equalities secretary and oversaw the introduction of social security powers in Scotland. Constance left government in 2018 to sit as a backbencher. In 2020, Sturgeon appointed her to the new portfolio of drugs policy minister after record high drug deaths in Scotland. On 29 March 2023, newly appointed First Minister Humza Yousaf re-appointed Constance to cabinet as the justice secretary.
