It ended on 20 May 2003 following the 2003 election to the 2nd Scottish parliament, which saw McConnell returning to office as first minister to form a second government.

Henry McLeish resigned as first minister and leader of Scottish Labour in the aftermath of the Officegate scandal, which centred on expenses claimed for his Glenrothes constituency office.

Cathy Jamieson, Mike Watson, Malcolm Chisholm, Iain Gray, Patricia Ferguson and Andy Kerr were all promoted to cabinet.

[5] Richard Simpson resigned from his post as Deputy Justice Minister on 26 November 2002, and was replaced by Hugh Henry.

[8] In the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, the Labour–Liberal Democrat coalition was renewed and Jack McConnell returned to a second term as first minister and formed a second administration.