The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021,
under the provisions of the
Scotland Act 1998
The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was o ...
. All 129
Members of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.
Electoral system
The add ...
were elected in the sixth
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The election was held alongside the
Senedd election,
English local elections,
London Assembly and
mayoral election and the
Hartlepool by-election.
The election campaign started on 25 March 2021 during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland, although Parliament would not be officially
dissolved until 5 May, the day before the election.
The main parties that ran for election are the
Scottish National Party (SNP), led by
First Minister
A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...
Nicola Sturgeon, the
Scottish Conservatives
The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...
led by
Douglas Ross,
Scottish Labour led by
Anas Sarwar
Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is a Scottish politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region since 2016, having been Member of Parliame ...
, the
Scottish Liberal Democrats
The Scottish Liberal Democrats ( gd, Pàrtaidh Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Leeberal Democrats) is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats. The party currently holds 4 o ...
led by
Willie Rennie
William Cowan Rennie (born 27 September 1967), commonly known as Willie Rennie, is a Scottish politician who served as the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2011 to 2021. He has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MS ...
, and the
Scottish Greens
The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; gd, Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Green Pairtie) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 2 ...
, led by their co-leaders
Patrick Harvie
Patrick Harvie (born 18 March 1973) is a Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights since 2021. He has served as one of two co-leaders of the Scottish Greens since 2008, and is on ...
and
Lorna Slater
Lorna Slater (born 27 September 1975) is a Canadian-born Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity since 2021. She has served as co-leader of the Scottish Greens alongside Patrick Harvi ...
. Of those five parties, three changed their leader since the
2016 election.
Newer parties set up since the last election included
Reform UK Scotland, led by
Michelle Ballantyne
Michelle Lorraine Ballantyne (' Cross; born 28 November 1962) is a British politician and former nurse who served as Leader of Reform UK Scotland from January 2021 to February 2022. She was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Sou ...
; the
Alba Party
The Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland. The party was founded in February 2021, with Alex Salmond (a former first minister of Scotland) announced as party leader shortly thereafter. Salmond lau ...
, led by former
First Minister
A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...
and SNP leader
Alex Salmond
Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...
; and
All for Unity
All for Unity (formerly Alliance 4 Unity) was a political and electoral alliance in Scotland. Founded in July 2020 by George Galloway, it was a British unionist party which opposed Scottish independence and fielded candidates at the 2021 Scottish ...
, led by
George Galloway. These parties only competed for seats on the
regional lists and all failed to win any seats.
The election concluded with the SNP winning a fourth consecutive term in government, winning 64 seats and an increase of one. The SNP gained
Edinburgh Central,
Ayr
Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...
, and
East Lothian as well as winning the largest share of the popular vote and the largest number of constituency seats in any Scottish Parliament election (62). The Greens won 8 seats, their best result to date at a Scottish Parliament election, while the Conservatives retained second place with 31 seats. Labour had its worst-ever result with 22 seats, and the lowest share of the vote in both Constituency & List votes for either Westminster or Holyrood since 1910. The Lib Dems won four seats, their worst showing at a Holyrood election to date.
The SNP and the Greens, both of which support
Scottish independence, won 72 of the 129 seats in the parliament. Unionist parties achieved a slight majority of votes in constituency contests, whilst pro-independence parties did the same in the regional list votes. Voter turnout in the election reached 63.5%, the highest ever at a Scottish Parliament election. Following the election, the
third Sturgeon government
Nicola Sturgeon formed the third Sturgeon government following her Scottish National Party's victory in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Sturgeon was nominated by a vote of the 6th Scottish Parliament for appointment to the post of Fi ...
was formed, initially consisting of just the SNP but later including the appointment of Slater and Harvie as junior ministers, after the two parties negotiated a
power-sharing agreement.
Background
Electoral events
2016 Scottish Parliament election
At the
2016 election, the ruling
Scottish National Party (SNP) lost its
parliamentary majority but was able to continue governing under
Nicola Sturgeon as a
minority administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...
.
At the same election, the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
overtook
Labour into second place, whilst the
Greens overtook the
Liberal Democrats into fourth place.
No representatives of minor parties were elected to the Parliament.
2017 local elections
The
2017 local elections saw the SNP hold its first-preference vote share compared to 2012 at 32%, finishing as the largest party in half of councils (sixteen).
The Conservatives considerably increased their vote share to 25%, an increase of 12%, as they became the largest party outright in six council areas and joint largest in one other.
Labour fell 11% to 20% and became the largest party outright in only three councils, compared to fifteen in 2012.
Independent candidates won 10% of the vote, down 1%, as the Lib Dems were marginally up, winning 7% of votes. The Greens increased their share by 2%, to earn 4% of votes.
For the first time since the electoral system was changed to the
single transferable vote
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...
in 2007, no mainland council had a majority government.
2017 United Kingdom general election
A month later, at the
2017 UK general election, the SNP lost twenty-one of its MPs, winning thirty-five seats on 37% of the vote (down thirteen percentage points). Most notably, former
First Minister
A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...
Alex Salmond
Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...
and
Angus Robertson, the party's Westminster leader, lost their seats.
The Conservatives won their highest vote share in any election in Scotland since 1979, at 29%, and their highest number of MPs since 1983, winning thirteen.
They surpassed Labour on both counts, Labour earning 28% and seven seats – both an improvement over its 2015 showing. The Lib Dems won four seats, up three, but lost nearly 1% of their national vote share. None of the smaller parties managed more than 0.2% of the vote. UKIP and the Greens heavily reduced the number of candidates compared to 2015, with UKIP down from forty-one to ten and the Greens from thirty-one to three.
2019 European Parliament election
The
2019 European election was dominated by the impending Brexit-deadline and was won in Scotland by the SNP. The party won three of the six seats, up one from 2014, in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
and increased its vote share from 29% to 38%; they were the largest party in all local authority areas, with the exception of
Orkney and
Shetland.
The
Brexit Party
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant ...
, led by former-
UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...
leader
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...
, finished second on 15% – 4% higher than UKIP achieved in 2014. The pro-remain Liberal Democrats won 14% of the vote and were the largest party in the two
Northern Isle councils.
Both the Conservatives and Labour performed badly across Britain, and finished fourth and fifth in Scotland respectively. The Tories fared relatively better in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK, achieving 12% (down 6% on 2014) in Scotland compared to 9% elsewhere. Labour lost 17% of the vote, finishing on 9%, and had its worst showing in Scotland since 1910; the Greens held level at 8%.
The Brexit Party, Lib Dems and Conservatives each won a single seat, in addition to the SNP's three. Labour (two) and UKIP (one) lost the seats they won in 2014.
2019 United Kingdom general election
The SNP increased its vote share to 45% at the
2019 general election, only 5% behind its 2015 performance, reclaiming thirteen of the seats they lost in 2017, constituting in a
landslide victory.
The Conservatives lost half the seats they gained in
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
, but retained a quarter of the vote – down 4%. The party won a majority of seats in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
across the UK, its biggest majority since
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...
. Labour recorded its worst general election result in Scotland since
1910
Events
January
* January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...
, being again reduced to a
single Scottish seat, and achieved a 19% share of the vote. Across Britain, the party suffered its worst result since
1935, with many former safe Labour seats being gained by the Conservatives.
The Liberal Democrats made no net losses, but
Jo Swinson
Joanne Kate Swinson (born 5 February 1980) is a former British Liberal Democrat politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 22 July to 13 December 2019. She was the first woman and the youngest person to hold the position, as well ...
, the party's UK leader, lost
her seat to the SNP. The party increased its share by 3%, to record just under one in ten votes. The Greens managed 1% of the vote, as they stood in twenty-two seats.
Leadership changes
Three parties underwent leadership changes during the parliamentary term. In 2017,
Kezia Dugdale
Kezia Alexandra Ross Dugdale (born 28 August 1981) is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2015 to 2017. A former member of the Scottish Labour Party and Co-operative Party, she was a Member of th ...
resigned as Leader of Scottish Labour and was
replaced by
Richard Leonard
Richard Leonard (born January 1962) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), as one of the additional members for the Central Scotland ...
. On 14 January 2021, less than four months before the election was held, Leonard resigned. The
2021 Scottish Labour leadership election
The 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election was triggered on 14 January 2021 by the resignation of Richard Leonard as leader of the Scottish Labour Party, who had led the party since 2017. Two candidates were nominated, Anas Sarwar and Moni ...
was held in February 2021, and was won by
Anas Sarwar
Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is a Scottish politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region since 2016, having been Member of Parliame ...
.
On 1 August 2019,
Lorna Slater
Lorna Slater (born 27 September 1975) is a Canadian-born Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity since 2021. She has served as co-leader of the Scottish Greens alongside Patrick Harvi ...
became
co-leader of the
Scottish Greens
The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; gd, Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Green Pairtie) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 2 ...
alongside
Patrick Harvie
Patrick Harvie (born 18 March 1973) is a Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights since 2021. He has served as one of two co-leaders of the Scottish Greens since 2008, and is on ...
.
Later in August 2019,
Ruth Davidson
Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (born 10 November 1978), is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the Scottish ...
resigned as leader of the Scottish Conservatives and was
succeeded by
Jackson Carlaw
David Jackson Carlaw (born 12 April 1959) is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2019 to 2020. He previously served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019. He has ...
. Carlaw, however, himself resigned from the leadership in July 2020, and
Douglas Ross won the subsequent
leadership election
A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party.
Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...
without opposition.
Expansion of the electorate
This is the first election after the passage of the Scottish Elections (Franchise and Representation) Act, which extended the
franchise
Franchise may refer to:
Business and law
* Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees
* Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...
to those serving prison sentences of 12 months or less.
In 2005, the United Kingdom was found in breach of Protocol 1, Article 3 of the
European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...
in regards of prisoner voting rights in the
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...
as a result of ''
Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2)''; the Act brings Scotland in line with the court ruling.
This act also allows all foreign nationals resident in Scotland to vote and all those with
indefinite leave to remain
Indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or permanent residency (PR) is an immigration status granted to a person who does not hold the right of abode in the United Kingdom (UK), but who has been admitted to the UK without any time limit on their stay ...
or equivalent status, including
pre–settled status in the United Kingdom, to stand as candidates.
A BBC News report in April 2021 said that there were around 55,000 foreign nationals who had been given the right to vote as a result of these changes, including 20,000 refugees.
[
]
Registering to vote
In order to vote by post, a person must have registered for a postal vote
Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system.
In an el ...
by 6 April 2021. Everyone seeking to vote in person on the day of the election must have registered to vote before the deadline at 11:59pm on 19 April 2021.
Date
Under the Scotland Act 1998
The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was o ...
, an ordinary general election to the Scottish Parliament would normally have been held on the first Thursday in May four years after the 2016 election, i.e. in May 2020. This would have clashed with the proposed date of a UK general election, although this became a moot point when a snap UK general election was held in June 2017 (a further UK general election was held in December 2019). In November 2015, the Scottish Government published a Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill, which proposed to extend the term of the Parliament to five years. That Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 25 February 2016 and received Royal Assent on 30 March 2016, setting the new date for the election as 6 May 2021.
The Scottish Elections (Dates) Act did not affect the legal possibilities for the Parliament to be dissolved earlier, those being;
* That the date of the poll may be varied by up to one month either way by the monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...
, on the proposal of the Presiding Officer.
* If Parliament itself resolves that it should be dissolved, with at least two-thirds of the Members
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
(i.e. 86 Members) voting in favour, the Presiding Officer proposes a date for an extraordinary general election and the Parliament is dissolved by the monarch by royal proclamation
A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...
.
* If Parliament fails to nominate one of its members to be First Minister
A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...
within 28 days, irrespective of whether at the beginning or in the middle of a parliamentary term. Therefore, if the First Minister resigned, Parliament would then have 28 days to elect a successor and if no new First Minister was elected then the Presiding Officer would ask for Parliament to be dissolved. This process could also be triggered if the First Minister lost a vote of confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
by a simple majority, as they must then resign.
Nevertheless, no extraordinary general elections have been held to date. Any extraordinary general election would be in addition to the ordinary general elections, unless held less than six months before the due date of an ordinary general election, in which case it would supplant it. This would not affect the year in which the subsequent ordinary general election would be held.
On 16 November 2020, the Scottish General Election (Coronavirus) Bill was introduced. This draft legislation stated that while the next election was intended to be held on 6 May 2021, the Presiding Officer would gain the power to postpone the election by up to six months if the spread of COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
made that date impractical. The bill also proposed to change the date of dissolution to the day before the election, meaning that the Parliament could be recalled during the election period. The bill was enacted and received Royal Assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...
on 29 January 2021. Parliament was in fact recalled on 12 April, to allow MSPs to mark the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
.
Retiring MSPs
James Dornan announced in February 2020 his intention to retire at the next Holyrood election, but reversed this decision some months later.
Parties
The SNP, Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats fielded candidates in all 73 constituencies and all eight of the regional ballots. Five other parties contested both all eight regions and at least one constituency: the Scottish Greens (12 constituencies) the Scottish Libertarian Party
, headquarters = 49 John Finnie StreetKilmarnockKA1 1NN
, party_articletitle =
, logo =
, leader1_title = Deputy Leader
, leader1_name = Calum “Caz” Paul
, colours = Buff and blue
, seats3_title ...
(9), the Scottish Family Party (7), UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...
(5) and the Freedom Alliance (4). Four parties – Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party
The Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party is a unionist single-issue political party in Scotland. It seeks to abolish the Scottish Parliament, and hand its powers to the Secretary of State for Scotland, Scottish local government, and the UK Pa ...
, Alba Party
The Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland. The party was founded in February 2021, with Alex Salmond (a former first minister of Scotland) announced as party leader shortly thereafter. Salmond lau ...
, All for Unity
All for Unity (formerly Alliance 4 Unity) was a political and electoral alliance in Scotland. Founded in July 2020 by George Galloway, it was a British unionist party which opposed Scottish independence and fielded candidates at the 2021 Scottish ...
, and Reform UK
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant p ...
– stood in all eight electoral regions, but did not contest any constituencies.
Six other parties contested some of the regions and at least one constituency: TUSC (3 regions and 3 constituencies), Restore Scotland (2 regions, 4 constituencies), Scotia Future (2 of each), the Communist Party of Britain
The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a communist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows Marxist-Leninist theory and s ...
(2 regions and 1 constituency), the Reclaim Party
The Reclaim Party is a right-wing political party in the United Kingdom. It was launched in 2020 by British actor and political activist Laurence Fox, with funding from Jeremy Hosking.
Founding
In September 2020, Fox attracted funding for a n ...
(1 of each) and the Vanguard Party (also 1 of each). Five other parties – Independent Green Voice
Independent Green Voice (IGV) is a far-right political party in Scotland. Founded by Alistair McConnachie, it was registered with the Electoral Commission in March 2003. It received 9,756 regional votes at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, th ...
(5 regions), Renew (5), the Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
(2), Women's Equality (2) and Animal Welfare (1) – contested some of the regions, but not any constituencies.
The Scottish Socialist Party
The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland.
The party was founded in 1998. It c ...
, which participated in the last election as part of the electoral alliance RISE – Scotland's Left Alliance, opted not to participate in this election, for the first time since its inception.
List of parties contesting all regional ballots
Election system, seats and regions
The total number of Members of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.
Electoral system
The add ...
(MSPs) elected to the Parliament is 129.
The Scottish Parliament uses an additional member system (AMS), designed to produce approximate proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
for each region. There are 8 regions, each sub-divided into smaller constituencies. There is a total of 73 constituencies
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
. Each constituency elects one MSP by the plurality (first past the post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
) system of election. Each region elects 7 additional MSPs using an additional member system. A modified D'Hondt method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest ...
, using the constituency results, is used to elect these additional MSPs.
The boundaries of the 73 constituencies last changed as of the 2011 Scottish Parliament election
The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.
The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the Additional M ...
, as did the configuration of the electoral regions used to elect "list" members of the Scottish Parliament. These revisions were the outcome of the First Periodical Review of the Scottish Parliament's constituencies and regions conducted by the Boundary Commission for Scotland
The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions:
* Boundary Commission fo ...
; the Review was announced on 3 July 2007 and the Commission published its final report on 26 May 2010.
The Scottish Parliament constituencies have not been coterminous with Scottish Westminster constituencies
Scottish Westminster constituencies were Scottish constituencies of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain, normally at the Palace of Westminster, from 1708 to 1801, and have been constituencies of the House of Commons of the ...
since the 2005 general election, when the 72 former UK Parliament constituencies were replaced with a new set of 59, generally larger, constituencies (see Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004). The size difference between Westminster and Holyrood boundaries was due to diverge further upon the implementation of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies
The 2013 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, also known as the sixth Review, or just boundary changes, was an ultimately unfruitful cycle of the process by which constituencies of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom are reviewe ...
, which has not been voted upon by Parliament. The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for a UK total of 650 MPs commenced in England in 2021 and will complete for the UK by 2023.
Campaign
The election campaign started on 25 March 2021. The Scottish Conservatives launched their campaign the same day, with a focus on promoting Scotland's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 26 March 2021, the Alba Party
The Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland. The party was founded in February 2021, with Alex Salmond (a former first minister of Scotland) announced as party leader shortly thereafter. Salmond lau ...
was publicly launched by former First Minister of Scotland and SNP leader, Alex Salmond
Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...
. The party announced plans to stand list
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
-only candidates. The party later gained two sitting MPs who defected from the SNP. The Action for Independence party, which had intended to pursue a similar list-only strategy, announced they would stand down their candidates in favour of Alba. Sturgeon said she would refuse to have any dealings with Salmond unless he apologises to the women who had accused him of harassment.
BBC Scotland announced that it would broadcast two debates between the main parties' leaders; the first was aired on 30 March 2021 and was moderated by the corporation's Scotland editor Sarah Smith. The debate included key questions from the audience on the COVID-19 recovery, climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
, and a second referendum on Scottish independence. The second BBC debate was held on 4 May 2021 and was moderated by BBC Scotland's political editor Glenn Campbell.
Commercial broadcaster STV held their leaders' debate on 13 April, moderated by their political editor Colin Mackay. NUS Scotland
The National Union of Students Scotland ( gd, Aonadh Nàiseanta na Oileanaich na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Union o Collegianers Scotland) is an autonomous body within the National Union of Students. It is the national representative body of aro ...
held a debate on specifically on student issues which was moderated by NUS Scotland president, Matt Crilly on 20 April which featured the three main party leaders.
On 1 April, Planet Radio announced that their Clyde 2
Clyde 2 is an Independent Local Radio station based in Glasgow, Scotland, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Glasgow and West Central Scotland.
As of September 2022, the station has a wee ...
station would be hosting a Leaders Phone-In with the main parties' leaders every Sunday before the election. Douglas Ross was the first to be interviewed on 4 April, with Willie Rennie
William Cowan Rennie (born 27 September 1967), commonly known as Willie Rennie, is a Scottish politician who served as the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2011 to 2021. He has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MS ...
following on 18 April. Whilst Nicola Sturgeon was set to be interviewed on 11 April, campaigning was delayed following the death of Prince Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
and her phone-in was instead held on 22 April. Patrick Harvie
Patrick Harvie (born 18 March 1973) is a Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights since 2021. He has served as one of two co-leaders of the Scottish Greens since 2008, and is on ...
followed on 25 April; and Anas Sarwar
Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is a Scottish politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region since 2016, having been Member of Parliame ...
had the final phone-in on 2 May.
Following Prince Philip's death on 9 April, the SNP, Conservatives, Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats said they would suspend election campaigning until further notice. After discussion between the parties, they agreed to resume campaigning after a special parliamentary session on 12 April to make tributes and to pause activities again on the day of the funeral (17 April).[
]
Election debates
Opinion polling
Graph of opinion poll results prior to the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Trendlines are 30-day moving averages.
;Key
SNP – Scottish National Party
Conservative – Scottish Conservatives
The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...
Labour – Scottish Labour
Lib Dem – Scottish Liberal Democrats
The Scottish Liberal Democrats ( gd, Pàrtaidh Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Leeberal Democrats) is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats. The party currently holds 4 o ...
Green – Scottish Greens
The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; gd, Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Green Pairtie) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 2 ...
UKIP – UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
Reform – Reform UK
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant p ...
SSP – Scottish Socialist Party
The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland.
The party was founded in 1998. It c ...
Alba – Alba Party
The Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland. The party was founded in February 2021, with Alex Salmond (a former first minister of Scotland) announced as party leader shortly thereafter. Salmond lau ...
AFU – All for Unity
All for Unity (formerly Alliance 4 Unity) was a political and electoral alliance in Scotland. Founded in July 2020 by George Galloway, it was a British unionist party which opposed Scottish independence and fielded candidates at the 2021 Scottish ...
Target seats
Below are listed all the constituencies which required a swing of less than 5% from the 2016 result to change hands. The most marginal opportunity for the Greens was in Glasgow Kelvin, which they needed a 7.1% swing to gain. The Liberal Democrats' best bet was Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, which required a 6.1% swing. The SNP ended up holding both of these constituencies.
SNP targets
Conservative targets
Labour targets
Results
Overall
Votes summary
Central Scotland
, -
! colspan="2" style="width: 150px", Party
! Elected candidates
! style="width: 40px", Seats
! style="width: 40px", +/−
! style="width: 50px", Votes
! style="width: 40px", %
! style="width: 40px", +/−%
, -
Glasgow
, -
! colspan="2" style="width: 150px", Party
! Elected candidates
! style="width: 40px", Seats
! style="width: 40px", +/−
! style="width: 50px", Votes
! style="width: 40px", %
! style="width: 40px", +/−%
, -
Highlands and Islands
, -
! colspan="2" style="width: 150px", Party
! Elected candidates
! style="width: 40px", Seats
! style="width: 40px", +/−
! style="width: 50px", Votes
! style="width: 40px", %
! style="width: 40px", +/−%
, -
Lothian
, -
! colspan="2" style="width: 150px", Party
! Elected candidates
! style="width: 40px", Seats
! style="width: 40px", +/−
! style="width: 50px", Votes
! style="width: 40px", %
! style="width: 40px", +/−%
, -
Mid Scotland and Fife
, -
! colspan="2" style="width: 150px", Party
! Elected candidates
! style="width: 40px", Seats
! style="width: 40px", +/−
! style="width: 50px", Votes
! style="width: 40px", %
! style="width: 40px", +/−%
, -
North East Scotland
, -
! colspan="2" style="width: 150px", Party
! Elected candidates
! style="width: 40px", Seats
! style="width: 40px", +/−
! style="width: 50px", Votes
! style="width: 40px", %
! style="width: 40px", +/−%
, -
South Scotland
, -
! colspan="2" style="width: 150px", Party
! Elected candidates
! style="width: 40px", Seats
! style="width: 40px", +/−
! style="width: 50px", Votes
! style="width: 40px", %
! style="width: 40px", +/−%
, -
West Scotland
, -
! colspan="2" style="width: 150px", Party
! Elected candidates
! style="width: 40px", Seats
! style="width: 40px", +/−
! style="width: 50px", Votes
! style="width: 40px", %
! style="width: 40px", +/−%
, -
Constituency seat changes compared to 2016
MSPs who lost their seats
* Michelle Ballantyne
Michelle Lorraine Ballantyne (' Cross; born 28 November 1962) is a British politician and former nurse who served as Leader of Reform UK Scotland from January 2021 to February 2022. She was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Sou ...
* Claudia Beamish
* Maurice Corry
Maurice Charles Steuart-Corry TD is a Scottish Conservative Party politician. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the West Scotland region from the 2016 Scottish Parliament election until the 2021 election. He is currently ...
* James Kelly
* Gordon Lindhurst
Gordon John Lindhurst is a former Scottish Conservative politician and practising advocate. He served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region from 2016 to 2021. Lindhurst has also been called as a barrister in Englan ...
* Joan McAlpine
Joan McAlpine (born 28 January 1962) is a former Scottish journalist and former Scottish National Party politician. She was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the South Scotland region from 2011 to 2021.
McAlpine is known for her ...
* John Scott
* Paul Wheelhouse
* Andy Wightman
Analysis
The SNP won 64 seats, falling one seat short of an overall majority. Some commentators put this down to unionists voting tactically for Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem candidates. According to psephologist John Curtice
Sir John Kevin Curtice (born 10 December 1953) is a British political scientist who is currently professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and senior research fellow at the National Centre for Social Research. He is particularly in ...
, "Denying the SNP an overall majority was, indeed, a collective effort – at least on the part of Unionist voters, who on the constituency ballot demonstrated a remarkable willingness to back whichever pro-Union party appeared to be best placed locally to defeat the SNP. ..These patterns had a decisive impact on the outcome." This was apparent in seats like Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.
Dumbarton was the ca ...
, where incumbent Labour MSP Jackie Baillie
Jacqueline Marie Baillie (' Barnes; born 15 January 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2020. She has been Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Dumbarton constituency sinc ...
saw her 0.3% majority increased to 3.9%, whilst both the Conservative and Lib Dem vote share decreased.
In '' The National'', Emer O'Toole questioned whether social media adverts with "a lack of transparency over funding" may have cost the SNP key seats as well. The day before the election, ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' reported that anti-independence groups and campaigners had "spent tens of thousands of pounds in the past week", including on Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
adverts, calling for tactical voting to prevent the SNP getting a majority. One of these groups was Scotland Matters, whose founder, Professor Hugh Pennington said, "Across the country as a whole, tactical voting is obviously one of the ways forward to basically harm the SNP, not to put too fine a point on it."
Additionally, the Greens claimed that they may have been deprived of two seats because of Independent Green Voice
Independent Green Voice (IGV) is a far-right political party in Scotland. Founded by Alistair McConnachie, it was registered with the Electoral Commission in March 2003. It received 9,756 regional votes at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, th ...
(IGV), a far-right party which has nothing to do with the Scottish Greens (who support Scottish independence) received nearly 10,000 votes, including 2,210 in Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
(where the Greens were 1,000 short of gaining a seat) and 1,690 in South Scotland (where the Greens fell 100 short). This potentially prevented pro-independence parties from having a 19-seat majority instead of 15 seats.
The ''Scottish and Welsh Election Studies 2021'', revealed on 13 June, found that around a third of Scottish voters who decided to vote differently in the run-up to the election did so to stop another party, and that 90% of those who did this did so in a bid to prevent the SNP winning the seat. Rob Johns, Professor in Politics at the University of Essex
The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...
, said: " found a lot more switching than we had expected. The polls had suggested that not much was changing and obviously the overall election result was almost eerily similar to 2016. That can mean that nobody has changed their mind or it can mean lots of people have changed their mind – but these have cancelled out as people have moved in opposing directions. We found there was quite a lot more of that than we had expected."
Campaign spending
Aftermath
Nicola Sturgeon was nominated as First Minister
A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...
by a vote of the parliament on 18 May 2021. Her cabinet was approved by the parliament two days later and thus the Third Sturgeon government
Nicola Sturgeon formed the third Sturgeon government following her Scottish National Party's victory in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Sturgeon was nominated by a vote of the 6th Scottish Parliament for appointment to the post of Fi ...
, a minority government, was formed.
On 3 August 2021, it was reported that a co-operation agreement between the SNP and the Greens was "on the brink of being finalised" and could see Green MSPs take ministerial positions in government. On 19 August, the power-sharing agreement between the two parties was announced. Under the terms of the agreement, the Greens have two MSPs appointed as junior ministers in the government who are invited to attend cabinet meetings when their portfolios are being discussed. The Greens signed up to the bulk of the SNP's policies, but in areas of disagreement such as international relations and fee-paying schools the two parties are free to publicly disagree. The agreement states that the Greens support the government on votes of confidence and supply
Supply may refer to:
*The amount of a resource that is available
**Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers
**Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission
*Supply, as in confidenc ...
.
A deal that would see Patrick Harvie
Patrick Harvie (born 18 March 1973) is a Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights since 2021. He has served as one of two co-leaders of the Scottish Greens since 2008, and is on ...
and Lorna Slater
Lorna Slater (born 27 September 1975) is a Canadian-born Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity since 2021. She has served as co-leader of the Scottish Greens alongside Patrick Harvi ...
made ministers was revealed on 26 August, subject to being voted upon by Green Party members. Two days later, members of both parties overwhelmingly voted in favour of the deal.
See also
Other elections in the UK which were held on the same day:
* 2021 London Assembly election
The 2021 London Assembly election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the members of the London Assembly, alongside the 2021 London mayoral election. The mayoral and Assembly elections were originally to be held on 7 May 2020, but on 13 March 2020 i ...
* 2021 London mayoral election
The 2021 London mayoral election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the mayor of London. It was held simultaneously with elections for the London Assembly, other local elections across England and Wales, and devolved elections in Scotland an ...
* 2021 Senedd election
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
* 2021 United Kingdom local elections
Footnotes
References
External links
Election 2021
(on the Scottish Parliament website)
{{2021 Scottish Parliament election
General elections to the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament election
2021 in Scotland
2020s elections in Scotland