Scotland's Power100 - 1-10

1 Nicola Sturgeon

Scotland's first female First Minister is arguably the UK's most envied politician. Although the Scottish people voted No in the recent referendum, the SNP's membership has since sky-rocketed to more than 85,000, making it the UK's third-largest party. It has seemed at times that the SNP, having been in power now for two parliaments and still going from strength to strength, is almost invincible.

Taking over at the helm of both her party and the Scottish government earlier this month, Sturgeon, 44, has come into her own, though no one watching her front the Yes campaign or, previously, oversee the NHS, can have been left in any doubt about her formidable talent.

In 2012, she assumed responsibility for overseeing the independence referendum, as well as becoming Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities. She has been the figurehead for the SNP's incursion into former Labour bastions in the west of Scotland, first winning Glasgow Govan and then increasing her majority in the redrawn Glasgow south side seat. Glasgow and North Lanarkshire voting Yes in the referendum underlines the extent of the metamorphosis currently transforming the Scottish political landscape.

While perhaps lacking the effortless chutzpah of her predecessor, the former lawyer is hugely respected as a minister within the civil service, where she is seen as hard-working and reasonable, and across the political spectrum and wider society as a politician. She has won this newspaper's prestigious Politician of the Year award three times (she clinched the title for the third time last week).

With the polls pointing to significant and possibly epoch-making gains for the SNP at the forthcoming General Election, assisted by Scottish Labour's travails, political momentum is still very much on
Sturgeon's side and reinforces her growing profile, not just within ­Scotland but as a force in UK politics. Yet there are serious tests ahead. The SNP's defiance of the usual pattern of incumbent governments by becoming more popular the longer they are in power is partly due to the current devolution set-up, where the Scottish parliament has very limited control over how much it can spend and can blame funding constraints on Westminster.

But the Smith Commission on Scottish Devolution will almost certainly result in Holyrood having greatly enhanced power to raise the cash it spends. This will give the Scottish Government responsibility for difficult financial decisions which may not always be popular.

Sturgeon has made it clear the NHS will be her priority, but it is entering a phase of severe funding constraint, which is likely to become a defining issue of her premiership.

Watch out for: A showdown with Labour at the polls in May 2015.

2 Sir Stephen House

Sir Stephen House is more powerful and influential than any police officer in Scotland has ever been. When the new single force was created last year and Sir Stephen was appointed its chief constable, he was put in operational control of every police officer in the country, from the tiniest rural office to the busiest city headquarters, and he has exerted that control decisively although sometimes controversially.

His style is Alpha male. Born in Glasgow, and with experience on the Met and as chief constable of Strathclyde Police, the first commander of the first Scottish police force runs things the old-school way, making up his mind and making sure his staff know what to do. It is not a democracy; it is an institution being made in the image of the one of the country's most experienced and confident police officers.

His influence in Scotland lies in the fact that he has the power to create a new culture among the police and has unapologetically set out to do so. It means he is not liked by some ordinary officers, particularly those worried about losing what they see as their autonomy on the ground, and he also been criticised by those who valued the old local police forces. But from the start, 57-year-old Sir Stephen has made clear his priorities, especially road safety and domestic violence, and defended his power to implement those priorities without interference.

Could he be better at communicating his priorities to the wider community, on armed police for instance? Possibly. But he also has a potentially great achievement within his grasp: to establish a national standard of policing across the country that applies to every man, woman and child in Scotland.

Least likely to say: The police force is far too hierarchical.

3 Alex Salmond

Salmond has been Scotland's dominant political figure for years and not only through holding the office of First Minister for the last seven. His remarkable gifts as a leader, a tactician and an antagonist of Westminster politicians have ensured that his party and the cause of independence have steadily gained ground in post-devolution Scotland when many predicted the advent of Holyrood would spell their demise.

Though the people of Scotland voted against independence, the huge upsurge of support for it in the last two months of the campaign pushed the pro-UK parties to signal their support for a transformative package of more devolution that looks set to go further than it would otherwise have done. That can be seen largely as Salmond's doing.

Salmond's decision to step down from the top job is not the end for a politician who has already made one comeback, giving up the SNP leadership in 2000 only to be re-elected in 2004. He turns 60 on Hogmanay, but has hinted at an interest in standing again for the House of Commons: if he did so, and the SNP did well at the General Election, he could potentially hold the UK balance of power. In spite of having previously said the referendum was a once-in-a-generation event, he has backtracked, making clear that in certain circumstances, another vote could come much sooner. Alex Salmond is by no means a spent force in British politics.

Most likely to say: "Never say never again."

4 Ross McEwan

Single-minded and hard-nosed, but then you have to be in this job: chief executive of The Royal Bank of Scotland. The 57-year-old New Zealander became chief executive in October 2013 after a long and successful career in Australian banking.

After restructuring and job losses, he recently warned that there are likely to be more nasty surprises for the bank, and, as the nearly-crash of 2008 taught us, that has the potential to affect every single one of us.

Most likely to say: Change is hard.

5 Lord Smith of Kelvin

Glaswegian Robert Smith, 70, has had the momentous responsibility of cajoling Scotland's parties to agree proposals for further extensive devolution. Fortunately, he has a formidable track record as a chairman.

The trained accountant and cross-bench peer currently chairs both energy giant SSE and the UK Green Investment Bank, and formerly chaired the organising committee of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the global engineering company the Weir Group, and the National Museums of Scotland.

He is Chancellor of Strathclyde University.

Least likely to say: "Don't be too ambitious, now, or we'll never reach agreement."

6 Sir Tom Hunter

The 53-year-old businessman proved himself as an entrepreneur long ago when he made £250m selling the sportswear business he started in the back of a van, and he now spends much of his time encouraging others to become entrepreneurs too.

His influence is not restricted to making money, though, as his charitable organisation, The Hunter Foundation, has also donated millions to good causes.

High point: He recently donated £1m to Children in Need and quoted his father: "The definition of real kindness is to helpsomeone you'll never meet."

7 Lord Gill

Lord President and Lord Justice General Brian Gill, 72, is the head of the judiciary. His recommendations for the reform of the civil justice system to make it quicker and cheaper, and to strengthen the sheriff courts, informed a new Courts Reform (Scotland) Act due to be implemented next year.

Lord Gill also chaired the public inquiry into the 2004 Stockline factory explosion in Glasgow which killed nine people, concluding that it was "an avoidable disaster".

High point: Lord Gill is Scotland's longest-serving judge, in the role since 1994.

8 JK Rowling

The Internationally best-selling novelist's Harry Potter books were not only a literary phenomenon but helped shape a generation's reading habits, and gave a kick-start to the children's publishing industry, which has never looked back.

Rowling has become increasingly vocal on social and political issues, and her £1m donation to the Better Together campaign was seen as significant in helping influence the referendum outcome. She is also a generous philanthropist and patron of charities.

High point: Founding in 2010 of the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic at the University of Edinburgh in memory of her mother.

9 Jim McColl

A powerful businessman whose power keeps on increasing. A few weeks ago, the engineering giant he founded, Clyde Blowers, acquired Ferguson Shipbuilders, but his influence is social, cultural and educational too.

The 62-year-old is working with the Scottish Government to financially support the Scottish Youth Theatre and has also announced plans for a new college in Glasgow that will offer career opportunities to young people who have struggled in the traditional academic system.

Watch out for: The first generation of McColl's graduates.

10 Pete Cashmore

Cashmore is the founder and chief executive of popular news and
technology site Mashable. He launched it while living with his parents in Aberdeenshire aged 19 and it now has 40 million unique monthly visitors.

Cashmore was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2012 and has featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, as well as being named a Young Global Leader by The World Economic Forum.

Least likely to say: "I don't see the point of Twitter."