2021 Scottish Parliament election

The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021,^[3] under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election 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.

2021 Scottish Parliament election

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All 129 seats to the Scottish Parliament 65 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	Constituency – 63.5% 7.7pp Regional – 63.5% 7.7pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Nicola Sturgeon Douglas Ross Anas Sarwar Party SNP Conservative Labour Leader since 14 November 2014 5 August 2020 27 February 2021 Leader's seat Glasgow Southside Highlands and Islands^[a] Glasgow Last election 63 seats 31 seats 24 seats Seats before 61 30 23 Seats won 64 31 22 Seat change 1 2 Constituency vote 1,291,204 592,526 584,392 % and swing 47.7% 1.2% 21.9% 0.1% 21.6% 1.0% Regional vote 1,094,374 637,131 485,819 % and swing 40.3% 1.4% 23.5% 0.6% 17.9% 1.2%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Lorna Slater / Patrick Harvie (co-leaders) Willie Rennie Party Green Liberal Democrats Leader since 1 August 2019 (Slater) / 22 November 2008 (Harvie) 17 May 2011 Leader's seat Lothian (Slater) / Glasgow (Harvie) North East Fife Last election 6 seats 5 seats Seats before 5 5 Seats won 8 4 Seat change 2 1 Constituency vote 34,990 187,816 % and swing 1.3% 0.7% 6.9% 0.9% Regional vote 220,324 137,151 % and swing 8.1% 1.5% 5.1% 0.1%
The left side shows constituency winners of the election by their party colours. The right side shows regional winners of the election for the additional members by their party colours.
First Minister before election Nicola Sturgeon SNP First Minister after election Nicola Sturgeon SNP

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.^[4] The main parties that ran for election are the Scottish National Party (SNP), led by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Conservatives led by Douglas Ross, Scottish Labour led by Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Liberal Democrats led by Willie Rennie, and the Scottish Greens, led by their co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater. 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; the Alba Party, led by former First Minister and SNP leader Alex Salmond; and All for Unity, 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, 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).^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7] Voter turnout in the election reached 63.5%, the highest ever at a Scottish Parliament election. Following the election, the third Sturgeon government 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.^[8]

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.^[9] At the same election, the Conservatives overtook Labour into second place, whilst the Greens overtook the Liberal Democrats into fourth place.^[9] No representatives of minor parties were elected to the Parliament.^[9]

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).^[10]

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.^[10] Labour fell 11% to 20% and became the largest party outright in only three councils, compared to fifteen in 2012.^[10]

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.^[10] For the first time since the electoral system was changed to the single transferable vote in 2007, no mainland council had a majority government.^[10]

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 Alex Salmond and Angus Robertson, the party's Westminster leader, lost their seats.^[11]

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.^[11] 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.^[11]

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 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.^[12]

The Brexit Party, led by former-UKIP leader Nigel Farage, 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.^[12]

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%.^[12]

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.^[12]

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.^[13]

The Conservatives lost half the seats they gained in 2017, but retained a quarter of the vote – down 4%. The party won a majority of seats in the House of Commons across the UK, its biggest majority since 1987. Labour recorded its worst general election result in Scotland since 1910, 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.^[13][14]

The Liberal Democrats made no net losses, but Jo Swinson, 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.^[15] The Greens managed 1% of the vote, as they stood in twenty-two seats.^[13]

Leadership changes

Three parties underwent leadership changes during the parliamentary term. In August 2017, Kezia Dugdale resigned as Leader of Scottish Labour and was replaced by Richard Leonard.^[16] On 14 January 2021, less than four months before the election was held, Leonard resigned.^[17] The 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election was held in February 2021, and was won by Anas Sarwar.^[18]

On 1 August 2019, Lorna Slater became co-leader of the Scottish Greens alongside Patrick Harvie.^[19]

Later in August 2019, Ruth Davidson resigned as leader of the Scottish Conservatives and was succeeded by Jackson Carlaw.^[20] Carlaw, however, himself resigned from the leadership in July 2020,^[21] and Douglas Ross won the subsequent leadership election without opposition.^[22]

Expansion of the electorate

This is the first election after the passage of the Scottish Elections (Franchise and Representation) Act, which extended the franchise to those serving prison sentences of 12 months or less.^[23][24] In 2005, the United Kingdom was found in breach of Protocol 1, Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights in regards of prisoner voting rights in the European Court of Human Rights as a result of Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2); the Act brings Scotland in line with the court ruling.^[25]

This act also allows all foreign nationals resident in Scotland to vote and all those with indefinite leave to remain or equivalent status, including pre–settled status in the United Kingdom, to stand as candidates.^[26][23][27] 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.^[27]

Registering to vote

In order to vote by post, a person must have registered for a postal vote by 6 April 2021.^[28] 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.^[29]

Date

Under the Scotland Act 1998, 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.^[30] 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).^[31] In November 2015, the Scottish Government published a Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill, which proposed to extend the term of the Parliament to five years.^[31] 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.^[3]

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, on the proposal of the Presiding Officer.^[30]
• If Parliament itself resolves that it should be dissolved, with at least two-thirds of the Members (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.^[32]
• If Parliament fails to nominate one of its members to be First Minister within 28 days, irrespective of whether at the beginning or in the middle of a parliamentary term.^[32] 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 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.^[32] This would not affect the year in which the subsequent ordinary general election would be held.^[32]

On 16 November 2020, the Scottish General Election (Coronavirus) Bill was introduced.^[33] 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 made that date impractical.^[33] 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.^[33] The bill was enacted and received Royal Assent on 29 January 2021.^[34] Parliament was in fact recalled on 12 April, to allow MSPs to mark the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.^[35]

Retiring MSPs

MSP	Constituency/Region	First elected	Party		Date announced
Neil Findlay	Lothian	2011		Labour	28 May 2019^[36]^[37]
Mary Fee	West Scotland	2011			7 August 2019^[36]^[38]^[39]
John Finnie	Highlands and Islands	2011		Green	27 August 2019^[36]^[40]
Elaine Smith	Central Scotland	1999		Labour	3 September 2019^[36]^[41]
Ruth Davidson	Edinburgh Central	2011		Conservative	6 October 2019^[36]^[42]
Bruce Crawford	Stirling	1999		SNP	18 February 2020^[36]^[43]
Richard Lyle	Uddingston and Bellshill	2011			20 February 2020^[36]^[44]
Gail Ross	Caithness, Sutherland and Ross	2016			27 February 2020^[36]^[45]
Michael Russell	Argyll and Bute	1999			1 March 2020^[36]^[46]
Stewart Stevenson	Banffshire and Buchan Coast	2001			1 March 2020^[36]^[46]
Mark McDonald	Aberdeen Donside	2011		Independent^[b]	5 March 2020^[36]^[47]
Aileen Campbell	Clydesdale	2007		SNP	8 March 2020^[36]^[48]
Margaret Mitchell	Central Scotland	2003		Conservative	18 April 2020^[36]^[49]
David Stewart	Highlands and Islands	2007		Labour	9 June 2020^[36]^[50]
Angus MacDonald	Falkirk East	2011		SNP	11 June 2020^[36]^[51]
Iain Gray	East Lothian	1999		Labour	18 June 2020^[36]^[52]
Adam Tomkins	Glasgow	2016		Conservative	17 July 2020^[36]^[53]
Gil Paterson	Clydebank and Milngavie	1999		SNP	31 July 2020^[36]^[54]
Linda Fabiani	East Kilbride	1999			11 August 2020^[36]^[55]
Derek Mackay	Renfrewshire North and West	2011		Independent^[c]	14 August 2020^[36]^[56]
Roseanna Cunningham	Perthshire South and Kinross-shire	1999		SNP	22 August 2020^[36]^[57]
Alex Neil	Airdrie and Shotts	1999			23 August 2020^[36]^[58]
Jeane Freeman	Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	2016			24 August 2020^[36]^[59]
Sandra White	Glasgow Kelvin	1999			27 August 2020^[36]^[60]
Maureen Watt	Aberdeen South and North Kincardine	2006^[d]			7 September 2020^[36]^[61]
Peter Chapman	North East Scotland	2016		Conservative	September 2020^[36]
Mike Rumbles		1999		Liberal Democrats	September 2020^[36]
Ken Macintosh	West Scotland	1999		Presiding Officer^[e]	22 September 2020^[36]^[62]
Jenny Marra	North East Scotland	2011		Labour	28 November 2020^[36]^[63]
Lewis Macdonald		1999			30 November 2020^[36]^[64]
Johann Lamont	Glasgow	1999			4 March 2021^[36]^[65]
Alison Harris	Central Scotland	2016		Conservative	7 March 2021^[66]
Bill Bowman	North East Scotland	2016			9 March 2021^[67]
Tom Mason		2017			9 March 2021^[67]

James Dornan announced in February 2020 his intention to retire at the next Holyrood election,^[68] but reversed this decision some months later.^[69]

Parties

See also: List of political parties in Scotland

The SNP, Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats fielded candidates in all 73 constituencies and all eight of the regional ballots.^[70] Five other parties contested both all eight regions and at least one constituency: the Scottish Greens (12 constituencies) the Scottish Libertarian Party (9), the Scottish Family Party (7), UKIP (5) and the Freedom Alliance (4). Four parties – Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party, Alba Party, All for Unity, and Reform UK – 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 (2 regions and 1 constituency), the Reclaim Party (1 of each) and the Vanguard Party (also 1 of each). Five other parties – Independent Green Voice (5 regions), Renew (5), the Social Democratic Party (2), Women's Equality (2) and Animal Welfare (1) – contested some of the regions, but not any constituencies.

The Scottish Socialist Party, 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

Name		Ideology	Leader(s)	2016 Scottish Parliament election result			Seats at dissolution
				Votes (%)		Seats
				Constituency	Regional
	Scottish National Party	Social democracy Scottish independence	Nicola Sturgeon MSP for Glasgow Southside	46.5	41.7	63 / 129	61 / 129
	Scottish Conservatives	Conservatism Unionism	Douglas Ross Not an MSP	22.0	22.9	31 / 129	30 / 129
	Scottish Labour	Social democracy Unionism	Anas Sarwar MSP for Glasgow region	22.6	19.1	24 / 129	23 / 129
	Scottish Greens	Green politics Scottish independence	Patrick Harvie (co-leader) MSP for Glasgow region	0.6	6.6	6 / 129	5 / 129
			Lorna Slater (co-leader) MSP for Lothian region
	Scottish Liberal Democrats	Liberalism Federalism	Willie Rennie MSP for North East Fife	7.8	5.2	5 / 129	5 / 129
	Reform UK Scotland	Right-wing populism Euroscepticism	Michelle Ballantyne MSP for South Scotland region	–	–	0 / 129	1 / 129
	UKIP Scotland	Right-wing populism Anti-devolution	Donald Mackay^[71] Not an MSP	–	2.0	0 / 129	0 / 129
	Scottish Libertarian Party	Libertarianism Scottish independence	Tam Laird Not an MSP	0.0	0.1	0 / 129	0 / 129
	Scottish Family Party	Anti-abortion Social conservatism	Richard Lucas Not an MSP	–	–	0 / 129	Did not exist
	Alba Party	Scottish nationalism Scottish independence	Alex Salmond Not an MSP	–	–	0 / 129	Did not exist
	All for Unity	Anti-nationalism Unionism	George Galloway Not an MSP	–	–	0 / 129	Did not exist
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament	Anti-devolution Unionism	John Mortimer Not an MSP	–	–	0 / 129	Did not exist

Election system, seats and regions

Main article: List of Scottish Parliament constituencies and electoral regions (2011–present)

 

An Electoral Commission voter guide booklet sent to Scottish households ahead of the election.

The total number of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) elected to the Parliament is 129.

The Scottish Parliament uses an additional member system (AMS), designed to produce approximate proportional representation for each region. There are 8 regions, each sub-divided into smaller constituencies. There is a total of 73 constituencies. Each constituency elects one MSP by the plurality (first past the post) system of election. Each region elects 7 additional MSPs using an additional member system. A modified D'Hondt method, using the constituency results, is used to elect these additional MSPs.^[72][73]

The boundaries of the 73 constituencies last changed as of the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, as did the configuration of the electoral regions used to elect "list" members of the Scottish Parliament.^[74] 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 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 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, 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.^[4] The Scottish Conservatives launched their campaign the same day, with a focus on promoting Scotland's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.^[75]

On 26 March 2021, the Alba Party was publicly launched by former First Minister of Scotland and SNP leader, Alex Salmond.^{[76][77][78][79]} The party announced plans to stand list-only candidates. The party later gained two sitting MPs who defected from the SNP.^[80] 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.^[81] Sturgeon said she would refuse to have any dealings with Salmond unless he apologises to the women who had accused him of harassment.^[82]

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.^[83] The debate included key questions from the audience on the COVID-19 recovery, climate change, 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.^[84]

Commercial broadcaster STV held their leaders' debate on 13 April, moderated by their political editor Colin Mackay.^[85][86][87] NUS Scotland 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.^[88]

On 1 April, Planet Radio announced that their Clyde 2 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,^[89] with Willie Rennie following on 18 April. Whilst Nicola Sturgeon was set to be interviewed on 11 April, campaigning was delayed following the death of Prince Philip and her phone-in was instead held on 22 April. Patrick Harvie followed on 25 April; and Anas Sarwar had the final phone-in on 2 May.^[90]

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.^[91][92][93] 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).^[35][94]

Election debates

2021 Scottish Parliament election debates

Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P  Present^[f]    S  Surrogate^[g]    NI  Not invited   A  Absent invitee  INV Invited
			SNP	Conservatives	Labour	Greens	Lib Dems	Audience	Ref.
30 March	BBC Scotland	Sarah Smith	P Sturgeon	P Ross	P Sarwar	P Slater	P Rennie	Virtual	^[95]
13 April	STV	Colin Mackay	P Sturgeon	P Ross	P Sarwar	P Harvie	P Rennie		^[96]
20 April	NUS Scotland	Matt Crilly	P Sturgeon	P Ross	P Sarwar	S Greer^[h]	S Ford^[i]	Virtual	^[88]
22 April	BBC (Question Time Special)	Fiona Bruce	S Brown^[j]	P Ross	P Sarwar	P Slater	P Rennie	Virtual	^[97]
27 April	Channel 4 News	Krishnan Guru-Murthy	P Sturgeon	P Ross	P Sarwar	P Harvie	P Rennie		^[98]
4 May	BBC Scotland	Glenn Campbell	P Sturgeon	P Ross	P Sarwar	P Harvie	P Rennie		^[99]

Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election

Graph of opinion poll results prior to the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Trendlines are 30-day moving averages.

 

Regional vote

 

Constituency vote

Key

  SNP – Scottish National Party
  Conservative – Scottish Conservatives
  Labour – Scottish Labour
  Lib Dem – Scottish Liberal Democrats
  Green – Scottish Greens
  UKIP – UK Independence Party
  Reform – Reform UK
  SSP – Scottish Socialist Party
  Alba – Alba Party
  AFU – All for Unity

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

Rank	Constituency	Winning party in 2016		Swing to gain %	SNP's place in 2016	Result
1	Dumbarton		Labour	0.17	2nd		Labour hold
2	Edinburgh Central		Conservative	0.90			SNP gain
3	Ayr		Conservative	1.00
4	Aberdeenshire West		Conservative	1.28			Conservative hold
5	East Lothian		Labour	1.45			SNP gain
6	Edinburgh Southern		Labour	1.47			Labour hold
7	Dumfriesshire		Conservative	1.70			Conservative hold
8	Eastwood		Conservative	2.22
9	Galloway and West Dumfries		Conservative	2.27
10	Edinburgh Western		Liberal Democrats	3.73			Lib Dems hold

Conservative targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party in 2016		Swing to gain %	Cons' place in 2016	Result
1	Perthshire South and Kinross-shire		SNP	1.97	2nd		SNP hold
2	Edinburgh Pentlands		SNP	3.68
3	Angus North and Mearns		SNP	4.21
4	Aberdeen South and North Kincardine		SNP	4.26
5	Moray		SNP	4.30
6	Edinburgh Southern		Labour	4.74	3rd		Labour hold
7	Perthshire North		SNP	4.90	2nd		SNP hold

Labour targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party in 2016		Swing to gain %	Labour's place in 2016	Result
1	Eastwood		Conservative	2.56	3rd		Conservative hold
2	Edinburgh Central		Conservative	4.19	3rd		SNP gain

Results

 

Vote share of winning party by constituency

See also: Results of the 2021 Scottish Parliament election

Overall

Party		Constituency			Regional			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Scottish National Party	1,291,204	47.70	62	1,094,374	40.34	2	64	+1
	Conservative	592,526	21.89	5	637,131	23.49	26	31	0
	Labour	584,392	21.59	2	485,819	17.91	20	22	–2
	Greens	34,990	1.29	0	220,324	8.12	8	8	+2
	Liberal Democrats	187,816	6.94	4	137,151	5.06	0	4	–1
	Alba				44,913	1.66	0	0	New
	All for Unity				23,299	0.86	0	0	New
	Scottish Family Party	2,734	0.10	0	16,085	0.59	0	0	New
	Independent Green Voice				9,756	0.36	0	0	New
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament				7,262	0.27	0	0	New
	Freedom Alliance	1,154	0.04	0	6,271	0.23	0	0	New
	Reform UK				5,793	0.21	0	0	New
	Libertarian	1,913	0.07	0	4,987	0.18	0	0	0
	UKIP	699	0.03	0	3,898	0.14	0	0	0
	Animal Welfare				2,392	0.09	0	0	0
	Women's Equality				1,896	0.07	0	0	0
	TUSC	959	0.04	0	1,404	0.05	0	0	0
	Restore Scotland	1,192	0.04	0	1,149	0.04	0	0	New
	Communist Party of Britain	194	0.01	0	1,142	0.04	0	0	0
	Renew				493	0.02	0	0	New
	Scotia Future	1,032	0.04	0	451	0.02	0	0	New
	Social Democratic				405	0.01	0	0	New
	Reclaim	114	0.00	0	174	0.01	0	0	New
	Vanguard	67	0.00	0	92	0.00	0	0	New
	Liberal	102	0.00	0				0	New
	Independents	5,673	0.21	0	6,122	0.23	0	0	0
Total		2,706,761	100.00	73	2,712,783	100.00	56	129	0
Valid votes		2,706,761	99.63		2,712,783	99.81
Invalid/blank votes		10,024	0.37		5,282	0.19
Total votes		2,716,785	100.00		2,718,065	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,280,785	63.46		4,280,785	63.49
Source: Electoral Management Board for Scotland

Votes summary

↓

64	8	31	22	4
SNP	Green	Conservative	Labour	LD

Popular Vote (Constituency) SNP   47.70% Conservative   21.89% Labour   21.59% Liberal Democrats   6.94% Green   1.29% Other   0.59%

Popular Vote (Regional) SNP   40.34% Conservative   23.49% Labour   17.91% Green   8.12% Liberal Democrats   5.06% Alba   1.66% Other   3.42%

Parliament seats SNP   49.61% Conservative   24.00% Labour   17.05% Green   6.20% Liberal Democrats   3.10%

Central Scotland

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Central Scotland constituencies
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Airdrie and Shotts	Neil Gray	SNP hold
	Coatbridge and Chryston	Fulton MacGregor
	Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	Jamie Hepburn
	East Kilbride	Collette Stevenson
	Falkirk East	Michelle Thomson
	Falkirk West	Michael Matheson
	Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse	Christina McKelvie
	Motherwell and Wishaw	Clare Adamson
	Uddingston and Bellshill	Stephanie Callaghan

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Central Scotland regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		148,399	45.3	2.4
	Labour	Richard Leonard Monica Lennon Mark Griffin	3	1	77,623	23.7	1.1
	Conservative	Stephen Kerr Graham Simpson Meghan Gallacher	3		59,896	18.3	2.2
	Green	Gillian Mackay	1	1	19,512	6	1.3

Glasgow

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Glasgow constituencies
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Glasgow Anniesland	Bill Kidd	SNP hold
	Glasgow Cathcart	James Dornan
	Glasgow Kelvin	Kaukab Stewart
	Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn	Bob Doris
	Glasgow Pollok	Humza Yousaf
	Glasgow Provan	Ivan McKee
	Glasgow Shettleston	John Mason
	Glasgow Southside	Nicola Sturgeon
	Rutherglen	Clare Haughey

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Glasgow regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		133,917	43.9	0.9
	Labour	Pauline McNeill Anas Sarwar Paul Sweeney Pam Duncan-Glancy	4		74,088	24.3	0.5
	Conservative	Annie Wells Sandesh Gulhane	2		37,027	12.1	0.2
	Green	Patrick Harvie	1		36,114	11.8	2.4

Highlands and Islands

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Highlands and Islands constituencies
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Argyll and Bute	Jenni Minto	SNP hold
	Caithness, Sutherland and Ross	Maree Todd
	Inverness and Nairn	Fergus Ewing
	Moray	Richard Lochhead
	Na h-Eileanan an Iar	Alasdair Allan
	Orkney	Liam McArthur	Liberal Democrat hold
	Shetland	Beatrice Wishart
	Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch	Kate Forbes	SNP hold

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Highlands and Islands regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Emma Roddick	1		96,433	40.4	0.7
	Conservative	Douglas Ross Donald Cameron Edward Mountain Jamie Halcro Johnston	4	1	60,779	25.4	3.6
	Liberal Democrats		0		26,771	11.2	2.1
	Labour	Rhoda Grant	1	1	22,713	9.5	1.7
	Green	Ariane Burgess	1		17,729	7.4	0.2

Lothian

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Lothian constituencies
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Almond Valley	Angela Constance	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Central	Angus Robertson	SNP gain from Conservative
	Edinburgh Eastern	Ash Denham	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Northern and Leith	Ben Macpherson
	Edinburgh Pentlands	Gordon MacDonald
	Edinburgh Southern	Daniel Johnson	Labour hold
	Edinburgh Western	Alex Cole-Hamilton	Liberal Democrat hold
	Linlithgow	Fiona Hyslop	SNP hold
	Midlothian North and Musselburgh	Colin Beattie

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Lothian regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		141,478	35.9	0.3
	Conservative	Miles Briggs Sue Webber Jeremy Balfour	3		78,595	19.9	3
	Labour	Sarah Boyack Foysol Choudhury	2		76,689	19.4	1.4
	Green	Alison Johnstone Lorna Slater	2		49,984	12.7	2.1
	Liberal Democrats		0		28,433	7.2	1.6

Mid Scotland and Fife

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Mid Scotland and Fife constituencies
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Clackmannanshire and Dunblane	Keith Brown	SNP hold
	Cowdenbeath	Annabelle Ewing
	Dunfermline	Shirley-Anne Somerville
	Kirkcaldy	David Torrance
	Mid Fife and Glenrothes	Jenny Gilruth
	North East Fife	Willie Rennie	Liberal Democrat hold
	Perthshire North	John Swinney	SNP hold
	Perthshire South and Kinross-shire	Jim Fairlie
	Stirling	Evelyn Tweed

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Mid Scotland and Fife regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		136,825	39.8	1.5
	Conservative	Murdo Fraser Liz Smith Dean Lockhart Alexander Stewart	4		85,909	25	0.2
	Labour	Claire Baker Alex Rowley	2		52,626	15.3	2.3
	Green	Mark Ruskell	1		28,654	8.3	2.2
	Liberal Democrats		0		25,489	7.4	0.4

North East Scotland

2021 Scottish Parliament election: North East Scotland constituencies
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Aberdeen Central	Kevin Stewart	SNP hold
	Aberdeen Donside	Jackie Dunbar
	Aberdeen South and North Kincardine	Audrey Nicoll
	Aberdeenshire East	Gillian Martin
	Aberdeenshire West	Alexander Burnett	Conservative hold
	Angus North & Mearns	Mairi Gougeon	SNP hold
	Angus South	Graeme Dey
	Banffshire & Buchan Coast	Karen Adam
	Dundee City East	Shona Robison
	Dundee City West	Joe FitzPatrick

2021 Scottish Parliament election: North East Scotland regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		147,910	40.9	3.8
	Conservative	Liam Kerr Douglas Lumsden Maurice Golden Tess White	4		110,555	30.6	2.6
	Labour	Michael Marra Mercedes Villalba	2		41,062	11.4	1.2
	Green	Maggie Chapman	1	1	22,735	6.3	1.4
	Liberal Democrats		0	1	18,051	5	1

South Scotland

2021 Scottish Parliament election: South Scotland constituencies
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Ayr	Siobhian Brown	SNP gain from Conservative
	Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	Elena Whitham	SNP hold
	Clydesdale	Màiri McAllan
	Dumfriesshire	Oliver Mundell	Conservative hold
	East Lothian	Paul McLennan	SNP gain from Labour
	Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire	Rachael Hamilton	Conservative hold
	Galloway and West Dumfries	Finlay Carson
	Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley	Willie Coffey	SNP hold
	Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale	Christine Grahame

2021 Scottish Parliament election: South Scotland regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP	Emma Harper	1	2	136,741	37.6	0.7
	Conservative	Craig Hoy Brian Whittle Sharon Dowey	3	1	121,730	33.5	1.4
	Labour	Colin Smyth Carol Mochan Martin Whitfield	3	1	57,236	15.7	2.1

West Scotland

2021 Scottish Parliament election: West Scotland constituencies
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Clydebank and Milngavie	Marie McNair	SNP hold
	Cunninghame North	Kenneth Gibson
	Cunninghame South	Ruth Maguire
	Dumbarton	Jackie Baillie	Labour hold
	Eastwood	Jackson Carlaw	Conservative hold
	Greenock and Inverclyde	Stuart McMillan	SNP hold
	Paisley	George Adam
	Renfrewshire North and West	Natalie Don
	Renfrewshire South	Tom Arthur
	Strathkelvin and Bearsden	Rona Mackay

2021 Scottish Parliament election: West Scotland regional list

Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0		152,671	40.4	1.8
	Labour	Neil Bibby Katy Clark Paul O'Kane	3		83,782	22.2	0.3
	Conservative	Russell Findlay Jamie Greene Pam Gosal	3		82,640	21.9	0.3
	Green	Ross Greer	1		26,632	7.1	1.8

Constituency seat changes compared to 2016

Constituency	Gain		Loss
Ayr		SNP		Conservative
East Lothian				Labour
Edinburgh Central				Conservative

MSPs who lost their seats

MSP	Constituency/Region	Party
Michelle Ballantyne^[100]	South Scotland		Reform
Claudia Beamish^[101]	South Scotland		Labour
Maurice Corry	West Scotland		Conservative
James Kelly^[102]	Glasgow		Labour
Gordon Lindhurst	Lothian		Conservative
Joan McAlpine^[103]	South Scotland		SNP
John Scott^[104]	Ayr		Conservative
Paul Wheelhouse^[103]	South Scotland		SNP
Andy Wightman^[105]	Lothian (contested Highlands and Islands)		Scottish Greens (contested as independent)

Analysis

The SNP won 64 seats, falling one seat short of an overall majority.^[106] Some commentators put this down to unionists voting tactically for Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem candidates.^[107][108] According to psephologist John Curtice, "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."^[109] This was apparent in seats like Dumbarton, where incumbent Labour MSP Jackie Baillie saw her 0.3% majority increased to 3.9%, whilst both the Conservative and Lib Dem vote share decreased.^[110]

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.^[111] The day before the election, The Guardian reported that anti-independence groups and campaigners had "spent tens of thousands of pounds in the past week", including on Facebook adverts, calling for tactical voting to prevent the SNP getting a majority.^[112] 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."^[112]

Additionally, the Greens claimed that they may have been deprived of two seats because of Independent Green Voice (IGV), a far-right party which has nothing to do with the Scottish Greens (who support Scottish independence). IGV received nearly 10,000 votes, including 2,210 in Glasgow (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.^[113]

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, said: "[W]e 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."^[114]

Voter demographics

Data from Savanta ComRes:^[115]

The 2021 Scottish Parliament constituency vote
Social group	SNP	Con	Lab	Lib Dem	Others
Total vote	48	22	18	5	7
Gender
Male	43	26	24	7	0
Female	52	16	24	5	3
Age
16–34	58	10	24	3	5
35–54	51	16	25	5	3
55+	38	31	22	9	0

Campaign spending

Party		Expenses^[116]^[117]
	SNP	£1,468,343
	Conservative	£1,359,435
	Labour	£1,176,410
	Liberal Democrats	£434,354
	Green	£231,902
	Alba	£214,371
	Reform UK	£54,504
	Scottish Family	£32,908
	All for Unity	£29,620
	TUSC	£13,753
	Reclaim	£10,199
	UKIP	£8,230
	Freedom Alliance	£7,387
	Communist	£6,420

Aftermath

Further information: Third Sturgeon government and Scottish National Party–Scottish Greens agreement

Election of the First Minister
Ballot →		18 May 2021
Required majority →		50 out of 99 valid votes
	Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) • Scottish National Party (64)	64 / 129	Y
	Douglas Ross (Conservative) • Scottish Conservatives (31)	31 / 129	N
	Willie Rennie (Lib Dem) • Scottish Liberal Democrats (4)	4 / 129	N
	Abstentions • Scottish Labour (21) • Scottish Greens (7)	28 / 129
	Not voting • Scottish Labour (1) • Presiding Officer (1)	2 / 129
Sources^[118]

Nicola Sturgeon was nominated as First Minister by a vote of the parliament on 18 May 2021.^[119] Her cabinet was approved by the parliament two days later and thus the Third Sturgeon government, a minority government, was formed.^[120]

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.^[121] On 19 August, the power-sharing agreement between the two parties was announced.^[8] 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.^[8] The agreement states that the Greens support the government on votes of confidence and supply.^[122]

A deal that would see Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater made ministers was revealed on 26 August, subject to being voted upon by Green Party members.^[123][124] Two days later, members of both parties overwhelmingly voted in favour of the deal.^[125]

See also

Other elections in the UK which were held on the same day:

• 2021 London Assembly election
• 2021 London mayoral election
• 2021 Senedd election
• 2021 United Kingdom local elections

Footnotes

1. Elected on the Highlands and Islands regional list while concurrently sitting as a Westminster MP for Moray.^[1] Ruth Davidson, the Conservative leader at Holyrood before the leader, stood down at the election to take a seat in the House of Lords.^[2]
2. Originally elected as SNP
3. Originally elected as SNP
4. Co-opted to replace Richard Lochhead, who became a constituency MSP in the 2006 Moray by-election
5. Originally elected as Labour
6. Denotes a main invitee attending the event.
7. Denotes a main invitee not attending the event, sending a surrogate in their place.
8. Ross Greer, Scottish Green spokesperson on International Development and External Affairs, Education and Skills, and Culture and Media.
9. Carole Ford, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Children and Young People.
10. Keith Brown, SNP Depute Leader.

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External links

• Election 2021 23 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine (on the Scottish Parliament website)