SNP business minister Richard Lochhead will step down as the MSP for Moray at the next Holyrood election.
The veteran nationalist, aged 55, says it is “time to pass on the torch” as he makes the announcement following a major health scare.
Mr Lochhead underwent emergency surgery to replace his heart valve last May after he was diagnosed with sepsis.
The Moray MSP, who lives in Elgin, told The Press and Journal he was initially unable to talk and had to learn to walk again.
Mr Lochhead said he was “lucky to be here” and credited the NHS with saving his life.
The SNP minister returned to Holyrood following last year’s summer recess, but now wants to seek “fresh challenges” outside frontline politics.
He was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 in the North East region, and then became the constituency MSP at a 2006 by-election.
Mr Lochhead said: “Come the 2026 election, I will have had the absolute privilege of representing Moray for 20 years.
“After much reflection I’ve decided it is time to pass on the torch, and to seek fresh challenges outwith frontline politics.
“When I joined the SNP as a school boy I could not have imagined that I would have the honour to represent such a wonderful constituency for so many years.”
He added: “I’ve witnessed the SNP move from the fringes to where we are now.”
Mr Lochhead has held a number of senior ministerial posts during his time in Holyrood.
He became the SNP’s rural affairs chief when the party first won power in 2007 and held that post until 2016.
He then returned to government as a junior education minister in 2018.
Three years later Nicola Sturgeon made him the just transition and employment minister.
He took up his current post in 2023 when Humza Yousaf became SNP leader.
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