LAST week marked a few ‘firsts’ for me.

I made my first speech in Parliament since stepping down as First Minister.

It was also my first speech ever as a backbench MSP – even in opposition, I was always on my party’s frontbench.

And I was speaking in a debate on this year’s Programme for Government, the first in 17 years that I had not been involved in as either Deputy First Minister or First Minister.

All in all, it was an interesting experience. Making a speech from four rows back in the Scottish Parliament rather than from the front bench even feels different – the chamber doesn’t look the same from back there!

However, the change in my perspective on politics over the past few months is much more fundamental than that.

I cannot claim to be objective, obviously, but there is no doubt that being away from the trenches of the political frontline is allowing me to see and assess certain things a bit more clearly.

I was impressed with the Programme for Government. It is important for new first ministers to stamp their authority on a government’s agenda – just as I had to do back in 2014 – and I think Humza Yousaf did so admirably, while continuing to build on strong foundations. That’s not an easy balance to strike but, in my view, he pulled it off.

Two of my proudest achievements as First Minster relate to tackling child poverty – the £25 per child per week Scottish Child Payment, which is unique in the UK, and the doubling of early years education and childcare to 1140 hours a year.

I was pleased to see these feature strongly in Humza’s statement. The announcement about further extending the childcare offer to children from nine months old is hugely positive and will make a big difference, both to the lives of children and the finances of parents, which are under so much pressure as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

I welcomed that announcement warmly but make no apology for urging the quickest possible progress from a pilot in six local authority areas to mainstreamed provision across the whole country.

I also spoke about two issues that I gave priority to as First Minister and which remain very close to my heart now. One of these is the need to accelerate the green transition so that we play our full part in protecting the planet for the generations who come after us – and also fulfil our obligation to support the poorest countries as we do so.

And the other was the need to stay laser focused on delivering The Promise to our care experienced young people. Much of the attention around The Promise is on improving the lives of young people in care – and that is vitally important. But The Promise was also about supporting families better so that fewer young people need to go into care in the first place.

To that end, I hope to see the Government make rapid progress in fully funding and implementing the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund, which was established to help do exactly that.

I look forward to speaking out about these issues – and many more – in the months to come.

However, one of the points I was keenest to make in my speech related less to what we do in politics and more how we do it.

Polarisation in politics is a problem we are all aware of. It has coarsened the tone of our debates and made us all much less likely to seek common ground with people we have disagreements with.

As someone who has held a position of leadership in Scotland for almost 20 years, through some of the most tumultuous times in our recent history, I am all too aware of the responsibility I carry for this state of affairs – but that makes me all the more determined to play a part, if I can, in tackling it.

Polarisation creates many problems, but one of the most concerning is the paralysis of action that it can result in.

That would be of concern at any time, but the scale of the challenges the world faces today – for example, on inequality, climate and sustainable growth – means that we simply can’t afford a stalemate. Now is a time for action on many fronts.

The fact is the challenges that confront us today demand tough decisions. And tough decisions are by definition controversial.

They are often unpopular too. And inevitably they will meet strong resistance from those who benefit from the status quo.

We are witnessing that dynamic on a number of issues just now.

To be clear, I am not arguing that those voices – or any voices – should be ignored.

But I am arguing that they are not allowed to be an automatic veto on the change that is necessary.

Politicians have a duty to face up to the defining issues of our time, even if that means rocking the boat.

I hope that this next term of the Scottish Parliament will do just that.