Holyrood

Nicola Sturgeon has been re-elected as the first minister of Scotland by a majority of MSPs at Holyrood. The SNP leader said she wants to lead the country “to brighter and better times” and said recovery from the coronavirus pandemic was her “driving priority”. After her re-election, Sturgeon argued there was a “clear mandate” for […]

Voters are going to the polls in a by-election to choose a new MP for the Airdrie and Shotts constituency. Polling stations opened Thursday morning in the North Lanarkshire seat in the race to replace incumbent SNP MP Neil Gray. Gray stepped down to contest the same seat in the Scottish Parliament election and became […]

The SNP and Scottish Greens have hit out at plans for voter identification contained in the Queen’s Speech, while the Scottish secretary says it “delivers for Scotland”. Proposals in the UK government’s legislative programme would require voters to have photo identification in Westminster elections. Of the 33 Bills set out in the Queen’s Speech, 30 […]

The SNP will be the “leading and largest party” in the new Scottish parliament, deputy first minister John Swinney has declared – though he said it was still too early to say if the party would win an overall majority at Holyrood. Swinney, also the education secretary in the Scottish government, comfortably held his Perthshire […]

Pollsters have said that “razor-thin margins” will determine whether Nicola Sturgeon wins an overall majority at Holyrood on Thursday. Research by Opinium found support for the SNP was down slightly in both the constituency and regional list section of the ballot. In the constituency vote, support for the SNP was at 51%, a drop of […]

For those dreading a return to the pitched battles of IndyRef1, the Scottish Labour leader may offer the best hope There are two schools of thought in Scotland about the conduct of the 2014 independence referendum. One is that it was a festival of democracy, a carnival of marches, song, poetry and political awakening. The […]

Among the many complex issues that Scottish independence would throw up would be where to draw a line between English and Scottish waters. Should Scotland vote for independence at some point in the coming years, the issue of where its land border with England should lie will be among the simplest of subjects to resolve. The matter […]

Alex Salmond’s Alba Party is on course to win eight seats at next week’s Holyrood election, according to a new poll. The survey also suggests the Scottish Greens will return 11 MSPs, with the SNP, Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour all losing seats. Polling by Panelbase for the Scot Goes Pop website found 6% of […]

Douglas Ross has said that offensive comments attributed to Boris Johnson are “indefensible” but stopped short of calling for the prime minister’s resignation. Johnson has denied accusations that he said “no more ****ing lockdowns – let the bodies pile high in their thousands” in a furious Downing Street rant. Asked about his boss’ behaviour, Ross said […]

The SNP could miss out on a majority at the Holyrood election, according to a new poll. The Savanta ComRes survey for The Scotsman predicts the party will return 63 MSPs – two short of a majority and the same number as in 2016. However, there would still be a pro-independence majority at Holyrood, with […]

The Scottish Tory leader has been accused of sharing a “nonsense” excuse for Boris Johnson’s absence in the Holyrood election campaign. Douglas Ross cited coronavirus restrictions as a reason for the prime minister’s absence, despite the fact he visited Scotland in February to tour vaccination centres. The SNP branded the accusations as “nonsense” and said Johnson […]

Outgoing SNP MSP Alex Neil has urged his party to work with Alex Salmond’s Alba Party to achieve a “supermajority” of MSPs in Holyrood in support of independence. Neil, who served as a minister under Salmond, said in a statement on Friday that a supermajority is needed to “force Boris Johnson’s hand” on an independence […]

Alex Salmond has claimed his Alba party is being censored by the broadcasters ahead of the Scottish elections. The former first minister said the broadcasters “are simply failing in their democratic duty” because Alba has been excluded from the televised debates featuring leaders of parties who currently have MSPs at Holyrood. Salmond took umbrage with […]

The UK government has referred two Bills passed unanimously by the Scottish parliament to the Supreme Court over concerns it is outwith Holyrood’s powers. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill and the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill were passed in the weeks leading up to […]

JAMES BALL on how the launch of the former first minister’s new party might play out at the polls. Alex Salmond and the intricacies of the Scottish voting system are not what Nicola Sturgeon wanted to be the focus in the run-up to this May’s Holyrood elections. Until just a few months ago, it felt like the […]

The SNP has described the comments made by Scottish Tory candidate Douglas Lumsden on Brexit as “appalling”. Lumsden, who is standing in Aberdeen Central, told BBC’s Newsnight that Brexit was “out of the way now”. The Aberdeen City Council co-leader also said that there were “some hiccups at the start of Brexit” but “we’re through […]

Alex Salmond’s Alba Party threatens to cost the SNP its majority at Holyrood due to voters choosing it instead, a new poll suggests. The Savanta ComRes poll for The Scotsman predicts the SNP will return 64 MSPs, one short of a majority, while the Alba Party will return none, but with 3% of the list […]

A group of Scottish Tories who want Scotland to have access to the EU single market are urging voters at the Holyrood election to cast their second vote for Alex Salmond’s Alba Party. Scottish Yes Tories say around 15% of their members voted Yes in 2014 – a number they say has been steadily growing since the […]

An SNP councillor and a senior party official have become the latest figures to defect to Alex Salmond’s new pro-independence party. Shahid Farooq, who represents a ward in North Lanarkshire, and veteran independence supporters Dot Jessiman have switched to the Alba Party. Salmond launched the Alba Party as a rival to the SNP following a […]

The Labour Party has lost a last-minute bid to have Anas Sarwar’s name included on ballot papers for the Scottish election. The party took legal action against the Electoral Commission over what it said was the refusal to allow the slogan “Anas Sarwar – Labour’s National Recovery Plan” to be on regional list ballots for […]

Nicola Sturgeon has said the pandemic has led to her having “much less patience for those who treat politics like a game” in a speech to SNP activists. In an online speech, she also attacked Brexit and accused the Conservatives of “muscling in” on the Scottish Parliament’s responsibilities. Her speech did not directly refer to Alba, […]

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross is seeking urgent talks with the leaders of the other pro-UK parties, calling on them to unite and work together to stop pro-independence parties winning a majority at Holyrood. Ross said the action was needed after Alex Salmond was unveiled as the leader of the new Alba Party – which […]

Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond has announced he is setting up a new political party to contest May’s Scottish parliament election. Salmond will stand in the North East region and lead the Alba Party, which will field at least four candidates in the regional lists. Chris McEleny, an SNP councillor in Inverclyde, has resigned […]

Scotland’s first minister has said she would have resigned had she been found to have broken the ministerial code, but said she would not be “bullied” out of her position as she defeated an attempt to oust her. Nicola Sturgeon faced a vote of no confidence brought by the Scottish Tories, who claim she misled parliament […]

The Scottish Tories have said they will press ahead with a vote of no confidence in Nicola Sturgeon after a Holyrood committee found she misled parliament. The final report of the Committee on the Scottish government Handling of Harassment Complaints was released on Tuesday, showing a majority of MSPs on the committee felt that Sturgeon […]

Division within the SNP could be impacting on support for Scottish independence, a new report has claimed. Scotland’s governing party has been hit by internal disputes, with former first minister Alex Salmond claiming leading figures in the SNP had been involved in a conspiracy against him. Meanwhile, his successor Nicola Sturgeon is facing a vote […]

The Scottish government has published a draft Bill for a second vote on independence. Constitution secretary Mike Russell said that while the timing of such a vote should be determined by the next Scottish parliament, ministers believe people living north of the border “have the right to decide how we recover from the pandemic and […]

While Indyref2 still looks the most likely end of the UK as we know it, and the SNP makes headlines, another constituent part’s fate is in the balance. Compare the British government’s approach to Scotland and Northern Ireland as it attempts to address the chaotic consequences of Brexit. The post-Brexit mood in both Scotland and […]