This article lists
political parties in Scotland
.
Overview
[
edit
]
The
Scottish National Party
(SNP) is the main
political party
in
Scotland
which primarily supports Scotland becoming an independent nation. They have also supported further
devolution
as a progression towards independence. They are overall
centre-left
, and sometimes considered
big-tent
, advocating
social democracy
,
nuclear disarmament
and closer ties to the
European Union
. They were founded in 1934 and formed a permanent grouping in
House of Commons
in 1967. Their best election result in the 20th century was at the
general election of October 1974
in which they won 11 of Scotland's 72 Westminster seats as well as around 30% of the popular vote, however they lost all but two of these seats in
1979
. Support for the party was bolstered under the leadership of
Alex Salmond
, who in
2011
led the SNP to their best electoral performance to date, in which they became the first party in the devolved
Scottish Parliament
to win a majority of seats. They form the Scottish government, and are now led by
Scotland's First Minister
,
John Swinney
. They have 64 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and 45 Members of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
(MPs).
The
Scottish Conservatives
are the Scottish wing of the UK-wide
Conservative Party
. They were founded in 1965 out of the merger of the
Scottish Unionist Party
, which had been a dominant political force in Scotland for much of the early 20th century, winning the majority of votes and seats in the
1931 general election
and
1955 general election
. However the party went into decline, being reduced from 21 Scottish seats in 1983, to 10 in 1987. The
1997 general election
was a catastrophe for the Scottish Conservatives, who were left with no Scottish seats whatsoever. However the party won 18 seats in the Scottish Parliament in the
1999 election
due to
proportional representation
. From 2001 to 2017, the Conservatives held one Scottish seat in the UK parliament, but had its best result in the 21st century in the
2017 general election
when it returned 13 seats and just short of a third of the vote. Like the wider
UK Conservative Party
, the party is a centre-right party, which promotes conservatism and
British unionism
. They currently have 31 MSPs, led in the Scottish Parliament by
Douglas Ross
, and 6 MPs, including Ross himself.
Scottish Labour
is the Scottish wing of the Great Britain-wide
Labour Party
. It was the most successful party in Scottish elections from 1964 to 2007. Like the wider
UK Labour Party
, they are centre-left and they promote
British unionism
.
[
citation needed
]
They first overtook the Conservatives as Scotland's largest party at the
1959 general election
. In 1997, the UK Labour Party under
Tony Blair
offered Scotland a
referendum on devolution
which was passed with around 74% of the electorate in favour. From 1999 to 2007, they were in power in the Scottish Parliament through a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. From 2008 to 2011, the party was led by
Iain Gray
in the Scottish Parliament, who announced his resignation after the party's defeat at the
2011 Scottish election
.
Johann Lamont
became leader in 2011 and resigned in 2014 after an internal dispute within the party. Subsequently, they were led by
Jim Murphy
,
Kezia Dugdale
and
Richard Leonard
. They currently have one MP and 22 MSPs. As of 2021
[update]
they are led by
Anas Sarwar
MSP.
The
Scottish Liberal Democrats
are the Scottish wing of the Great Britain-wide
Liberal Democrats
party. It is a centrist,
social liberal
and
British unionist
party. The British
Liberal Democrats
they are part of were formed in 1988 when the
Liberal Party
and the
Social Democratic Party
merged. Their leader is
Alex Cole-Hamilton
. Since the formation of the
Conservative?Liberal Democrat coalition
at Westminster, support for the Liberal Democrats has fallen sharply, and the party won five seats at the
2011 Scottish parliamentary election
. They also lost their Scottish MEP at the
2014 European elections
. They also lost 10 of their 11 House of Commons seats at the 2015 general election, with Deputy Leader
Alistair Carmichael
the only MP managing to keep his seat. They currently have four MSPs and four MPs.
The
Scottish Greens
sit between the centre-left and the left-wing. The party promotes
green politics
, Scottish independence,
equality
and
radical democracy
. It retains close ties with the
Green Party of England and Wales
and the
Green Party Northern Ireland
, having all originated in the breakup of the UK
Green Party
. However, all three parties are now fully independent. The Scottish Greens won their first seat in the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and currently have 7 MSPs, but have never returned any MPs.
Reform UK Scotland is the Scottish wing of the UK-wide
Reform UK
. It is a
Eurosceptic
and
right-wing populist
party. The party gained its first elected representative in January 2021, when sitting independent MSP
Michelle Ballantyne
joined the party and became leader of the party in Scotland. Ballantyne was previously a Conservative MSP. She resigned from the party in November 2020, citing differences with the new leader Douglas Ross before joining.
[1]
[2]
Ballantyne lost this seat in the 2021 Scottish Scottish Parliament election, leaving the party with no elected representatives in Scotland.
The
Alba Party
is a Scottish independence supporting party formed in February 2021 and led by former
First Minister of Scotland
Alex Salmond
. Shortly after it announced its plans to run in the
2021 Scottish Parliament election
, two SNP MPs defected to the new party, making the Alba Party the fourth largest Scottish party at the Westminster Parliament after the SNP, Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish Conservatives. In the run up to the 2021 Scottish Parliament election there was a succession of SNP representatives defecting to the party. The party failed to win any seats in the
2021 Scottish Parliament election
,
[3]
after attracting only 1.7% of the vote.
[4]
Parties with elected representation
[
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]
Scottish Parliament and/or House of Commons
[
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]
There are six parties in Scotland that have elected representation in either the Scottish Parliament or the House of Commons. All except the Scottish Greens and the Alba Party have representation in both. In addition, all parties except the Alba Party have elected representation at the local government level.
Local government
[
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]
There are three parties in Scotland that have elected representation only at the local government level.
Parties with no elected representation
[
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]
Notable registered parties
[
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]
There are a number of notable registered parties in Scotland with no elected representation. Some operate exclusively within Scotland, while others may also be active in other parts of the United Kingdom.
Party
|
Founded
|
Ideology
|
Leader
|
|
Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party
|
2020
|
Scottish Parliament abolition
,
Anti-devolution
,
Scottish unionism
|
John Mortimer
|
|
Animal Welfare Party
|
2006
|
Animal welfare
|
Vanessa Hudson
|
|
British National Party
|
1982
|
British fascism
,
White nationalism
,
Right-wing populism
,
Ethnic nationalism
,
Ultranationalism
,
Hard Euroscepticism
|
Adam Walker
|
|
Christian Party
|
2004
|
Christian right
,
Social conservatism
,
British unionism
,
Euroscepticism
|
Donald Boyd
|
|
Christian Peoples Alliance
|
1999
|
Christian democracy
,
Social conservatism
,
Euroscepticism
|
Sidney Cordle
|
|
Communist Party of Britain
|
1988
|
Communism
,
Marxism?Leninism
|
Robert Griffiths
|
|
Independence for Scotland Party
|
2020
|
Scottish independence
,
Gender-critical
,
Pacifism
,
Pro-EFTA
|
Colette Walker
|
|
Independent Green Voice
|
2003
|
Scottish unionism
,
British unionism
,
Euroscepticism
|
Alistair McConnachie
|
|
Liberal Party
|
1989
|
British liberalism
,
Georgism
,
Euroscepticism
|
Steve Radford
|
|
National Front
|
1967
|
British fascism
,
Neo-fascism
,
British nationalism
,
White supremacy
|
Tony Martin
|
|
Official Monster Raving Loony Party
|
1983
|
Political satire
|
Alan Hope
|
|
Reclaim Party
|
2020
|
Right-wing populism
,
Anti-lockdown
|
Laurence Fox
|
|
Reform UK
|
2018
|
Right-wing populism
,
Euroscepticism
,
Anti-lockdown
|
Martyn Greene
|
|
Scottish Family Party
|
2017
|
Christian right
,
Social conservatism
,
Familialism
,
Anti-abortion
,
Anti-feminism
,
Anti-LGBT
,
Hard Euroscepticism
|
Richard Lucas
|
|
Scottish Libertarian Party
|
2012
|
Libertarianism
,
Classical liberalism
,
Minarchism
,
Euroscepticism
,
Cultural liberalism
,
Scottish independence
|
Tam Laird
|
|
Scottish Socialist Party
|
1998
|
Democratic socialism
,
Scottish independence
,
Scottish republicanism
|
Colin Fox
and
Roisin McLaren
[e]
|
|
Scottish Unionist Party
|
1986
|
Scottish unionism
,
British unionism
,
Anti-Scottish Parliament
|
Jonathan Stanley
|
|
Social Democratic Party
|
1990
|
Social democracy
,
Social conservatism
,
Communitarianism
,
Euroscepticism
|
William Clouston
|
|
Socialist Labour Party
|
1996
|
Socialism
,
Fiscal localism
,
Republicanism
,
Hard Euroscepticism
|
Arthur Scargill
|
|
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
|
2010
|
Socialism
,
Trade unionism
|
Dave Nellist
|
|
UK Independence Party
|
1993
|
Euroscepticism
,
Right-wing populism
,
National conservatism
,
Economic liberalism
,
British nationalism
|
Donald Mackay
|
|
Volt UK
|
2020
|
Social liberalism
,
Progressivism
,
Pro-Europeanism
|
Alex Haida
|
|
Women's Equality Party
|
2015
|
Feminism
,
Pro-Europeanism
|
Mandu Reid
|
|
Workers Party of Britain
|
2019
|
Socialism
,
Social conservatism
,
Euroscepticism
,
British unionism
|
George Galloway
|
Historical and deregistered parties
[
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]
Notable historical parties
[
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]
Notable deregistered parties
[
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]
See also
[
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]
Notes
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]
- ^
Political parties are under no legal obligation to publish membership statistics and there is no uniformly recognised definition of membership.
- ^
Some candidates stand as
Labour and Co-operative
joint candidates due to an electoral alliance with the
Co-operative Party
.
- ^
Ash Regan was first elected for the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2016 before leaving to join Alba in 2023 over independence strategy and the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) bill.
- ^
Both of the Alba Party's MPs were elected for the Scottish National Party (SNP) before leaving to join Alba in 2021.
- ^
Styled by the party as co-spokespersons.
References
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External links
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Sovereign states
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States with limited
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Dependencies and
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Other entities
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