Scottish elections 2026: Scottish parliament

The Scottish parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh is the devolved legislature of Scotland. On 7 May 2026 it will be elected for the seventh time since its establishment in 1999.  

Why was the Scottish parliament created?

The Scottish parliament was created in 1999 as part of the Labour UK government’s plans to devolve power across the UK. According to the UK government at the time, devolution was designed to give the Scottish people “a greater say over their own affairs” ⁷ https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/scottish-parliament" \l "_ftn1" \o "  and to address the “democratic deficit” felt in then Labour-dominated Scotland after a long period of Conservative rule.

There was also an aspiration that devolution could foster a more consensus-based and less executive-dominated style of politics, reflected in the use of proportional representation to elect the new Scottish parliament.

The creation of the Scottish parliament was approved in a referendum in 1997 with 74% of votes cast in its favour, on a turnout of 60%. The devolution proposals had been developed by the cross-party and civil society Scottish Constitutional Convention, which functioned from 1989 to 1995.

Previous proposals for a Scottish assembly had fallen at a referendum in 1979. Although a majority of Scottish voters had backed the plans, it failed to pass because it did not reach the required threshold of 40% of the total registered electorate. 

What powers does the Scottish parliament have?

Devolution to Scotland operates on a ‘reserved powers’ model. This means the Scottish Parliament can pass laws in any areas not specifically reserved to the UK parliament at Westminster.

The Scottish parliament thus has the power to legislate in most social policy areas including health and social care, education, and housing. It also has powers over local government, agriculture, the environment and most aspects of transport. Unlike its Welsh counterpart, the Scottish parliament is also responsible for policing, prisons, probation and the justice system as a whole.

Some elements of economic policy including local economic development are devolved, but macro-economic measures that affect the whole of the UK are reserved to the UK parliament. This includes control of monetary policy, as well as many areas of business and economic regulation. 

Most tax policy is reserved to the UK parliament, but the Scottish parliament has the most extensive tax powers of the three devolved legislatures. These include powers over local property taxes, stamp duty, landfill tax and the power to set all rates and bands of income tax other than the personal allowance.  

Some social security benefits, including disability benefits and discretionary housing benefits, are also devolved, but most of the welfare system (including universal credit and the state pension) is reserved to the UK parliament. ⁸ https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/scottish-parliament" \l "_ftn2" \o "

The Scottish Parliament has competence over some constitutional questions, including the electoral system and franchise for devolved and local elections. It does not power over matters affecting the Union as a whole, meaning for instance that it cannot legislate to hold a referendum on independence without Westminster agreement. 

How is the Scottish government funded?

The majority of the Scottish government’s funding comes from an annual block grant from the UK government, calculated using the Barnett formula. This increases or decreases devolved budgets based on changes to spending in England in comparable areas of devolved responsibility, taking into account population share. For example, if the UK government decided to increase health spending in England by £1bn, Scotland would receive an additional £97m, since its population is 9.7% the size of the population of England (although it would not necessarily have to spend this sum on health).

The Scottish government also receives income from those sources of tax revenue that are devolved. Some are collected directly by the Scottish government while others, including income tax revenue, are collected by HMRC and then allocated to Scotland. The Scottish block grant is ‘adjusted’ to account for the revenue that the UK Treasury has foregone by devolving these aspects of the tax system. 

Which parties are currently represented in the Scottish parliament?

There are currently six political parties represented in the 129-member Scottish parliament. The largest party is the Scottish National Party (SNP) with 60 MSPs, followed by the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party with 28, and Scottish Labour with 21; the Scottish Greens have seven MSPs, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have five, Reform has one, and there are six independent MSPs.

Finally, there is the presiding officer (a position similar to the Speaker of the House of Commons) who was elected as a Green MSP, but due to the impartial nature of the role holds no party affiliation in the Scottish parliament. 

How do Scottish parliament elections work?

The Scottish parliament is elected by a system known as the additional member system (AMS), in which each voter has two votes. One is used to elect a constituency MSP to represent their local area. This part of the election uses first-past-the-post (FPTP), where the candidate with the most votes is elected – as in UK general elections.

The second vote is cast for a political party, rather than an individual candidate, on a regional basis. The results of the regional element of the electoral system are used to allocate ‘top up’ members to make the composition of the Scottish parliament more proportional.

Constituencies are grouped into eight large regions which each elect seven members. Each party puts up a list of candidates in each region, but voters cannot express a preference for individual candidates. They simply vote for their preferred party.

This part of the election uses a special formula (the d’Hondt method) that takes into account the vote share for each party and balances this out against the number of seats already won in the constituency vote, to calculate the number of top-up seats each party is entitled to. This means that if a party wins most or all of the constituencies in a given region, they are unlikely to win many or any regional seats, even if they win the largest number of regional votes.

Some parties only stand on the regional list rather than in individual constituencies. 

How will a new government be formed after the 2026 Scottish parliament election?

The Scottish parliament is required to hold its first meeting within seven days and to nominate a first minister within 28 days of an election. Any MSP can stand for election as first minister as long as they receive the backing of one other MSP. If there are two or more nominations, MSPs will vote for their preferred candidate, with the winning candidate formally appointed as first minister. In practice, only the leader of the party with the most MSPs has ever successfully been selected by the Scottish parliament as first minister.

Following the May 2021 election, the Scottish parliament reconvened seven days after polling day and elected a new presiding officer. Nicola Sturgeon was re-elected as first minister on 18 May 2021, 12 days after the election. Similarly, following the resignation of her successor, Humza Yousaf, the new leader of the SNP, John Swinney, was selected as first minister against the leaders of the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats who also put their names forward. Swinney won 64 votes.

The candidate that is successful in winning the nomination vote among MSPs is then formally appointed to the post of first minister by the King.If no nominations for first minister are made or if the Scottish parliament is unable to select a new first minister within 28 days, then the process to hold an ‘extraordinary general election’ is triggered. 

Which parties could form a government after the May 2026 Scottish parliament election?

Usually, the party that wins the most seats in the Scottish parliament election would be expected to lead the Scottish government. This has been the case since the first Scottish parliament election in 1999.  

If the largest party does not win a majority, it would require the support of other parties to govern – which could come via a formal coalition, a looser support agreement (such as ‘confidence and supply’) or on a more ad hoc basis if a minority administration were formed.

For example, in the May 2021 Scottish parliament election, the SNP secured 64 seats – one seat fewer than the 65 seats required for a majority. The SNP initially formed a minority government, but in August 2021 entered a power-sharing agreement (known as the Bute House Agreement) with the eight Scottish Green MSPs, two of whom were appointed to ministerial positions. The power sharing agreement ended in April 2024.

Based on current polling, the SNP are likely to remain the largest party in the Scottish parliament following the May 2026 election, with either Labour or Reform in second place. Labour have experienced a decline in support in Scotland since July 2024, while voting intention for Reform has increased to over 15% in both constituency and regional votes. John Swinney, the leader of the SNP, has ruled out a coalition with Reform UK.

Who are the likely candidates for First Minister?

The current party leaders and likely candidates for the post of first minister are:

• John Swinney, the current first minister and leader of the SNP
• Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour
• Russell Findlay, leader of the Scottish Conservatives
• Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
• Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay, co-leaders of the Scottish Green Party

Reform UK have not yet chosen a leader of the party in Scotland. They have one sitting MSP – Graham Simpson – who defected from the Scottish Conservatives in August 2025.  

What has happened at previous Scottish parliament elections?

The Labour Party won the largest share of both votes and seats in the first two Scottish parliament elections, in 1999 and 2003. However, it did not win an overall majority, and entered a coalition with the Liberal Democrats to form the Scottish government.

In the 2007 election, the SNP increased their vote share significantly, narrowly beating Labour by 2% of the vote and one seat to become the largest party, forming a minority government with the informal support of the Scottish Greens. In 2011, the SNP won an overall majority of seats (69), enabling them to form a majority government. All three other major parties lost both seats and votes.

The SNP was again the largest party at the 2016 election, where it won 46.5% of the constituency vote and 41.7% of the regional vote, but lost its majority of seats and formed a minority government, again with the informal support of the Scottish Greens. Labour continued its decline, while the Conservatives increased their vote share and doubled their seats from 15 to 31.

Little changed following the 2021 election – none of the parties gained or lost more than two seats. The SNP increased their total of seats by one to 64, but fell one short of an overall majority.