ENVIRONMENT Secretary Roseanna Cunningham has announced she will not be seeking re-election next year.

The SNP MSP has served in the Scottish Parliament since 1999, and before that represented Perth as an SNP MP.

The Perthshire South and Kinross-shire MSP served in Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon’s governments, becoming minister for the environment in 2009, before taking on the role of minister for the environment and climate change a year later.

Following the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, in which the SNP gained a landslide victory, Cunningham became the minister for community safety, with a focus on tackling sectarianism, and was then promoted to the position of Fair Work Secretary in 2014.

Cunningham has held the Environment Secretary position since 2016.

In a statement posted to social media, the MSP said it had been a “tough call” but she would not seek re-election in 2021.

READ MORE: Veteran SNP MSP to stand down at 2021 Holyrood election

“It has been a massive honour to have represented my constituents in both Westminster and the Scottish Parliament for the past 25 years and to have been able to serve my country as a Cabinet Secretary in the Scottish Government,” she said.

“I have always been hugely grateful to those who have put their faith in me. In the first instance, the local members of the SNP for selecting me as their candidate and working so hard during and between election campaigns but, above all, the voters of the constituencies I have represented through various boundary changes for voting for me and the party.”

She went on: “After a quarter of a century as an election politician, and with another election fast approaching, I have had to do some hard thinking. By the time of the next election I will be less than two months away from my 70th birthday and further, by the end of that parliamentary term I would be nearly 75.

“This year, of all years, has made age a rather more relevant factor than it may otherwise have been.”

READ MORE: Tory MSP Adam Tomkins to step down from Scottish Parliament next year

Addressing her hopes for the future, Cunningham said: “There is much work still to be done to transform our country in the fair, green, just country I would like it to be – some of that work will need independence for it to be accomplished – but there have been great advances that have benefitted the country and my constituency – I am proud to have played a part.”

She concluded: “Finally, I may be stepping back from elected office next year, but I won’t be giving up politics. As I have done almost my entire life, I will continue to fight for independence and look forward to the next referendum – which we will win!”