2021 Scottish Parliament 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 / 22 November 2008 17 May 2011 Leader's seat Lothian / Glasgow 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 220,324 137,152 % 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 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.

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, two 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. This was an increase of one, but fell one seat short of an overall majority. 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 4 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.

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.^[8] At the same election, the Conservatives overtook Labour into second place, whilst the Greens overtook the Liberal Democrats into fourth place.^[8] No representatives of minor parties were elected to the Parliament.^[8]

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).^[9]

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.^[9] Labour fell 11% to 20% and became the largest party outright in only three councils, compared to fifteen in 2012.^[9]

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.^[9] For the first time since the electoral system was changed to the single transferable vote in 2007, no mainland council had a majority government.^[9]

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.^[10]

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.^[10] 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.^[10]

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.^[11]

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.^[11]

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%.^[11]

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.^[11]

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.^[12]

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.^[12][13]

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.^[14] The Greens managed 1% of the vote, as they stood in twenty-two seats.^[12]

Leadership changes

Three parties underwent leadership changes during the parliamentary term. In 2017, Kezia Dugdale resigned as Leader of Scottish Labour and was replaced by Richard Leonard.^[15] On 14 January 2021, less than four months before the election was held, Leonard resigned.^[16] The 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election was held in February 2021, and was won by Anas Sarwar.^[17]

On 1 August 2019, Lorna Slater became co-leader of the Scottish Greens alongside Patrick Harvie.^[18]

Later in August 2019, Ruth Davidson resigned as leader of the Scottish Conservatives and was succeeded by Jackson Carlaw.^[19] Carlaw, however, himself resigned from the leadership in July 2020,^[20] and Douglas Ross won the subsequent leadership election without opposition.^[21]

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.^[22][23] 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.^[24]

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.^[25][22][26] 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.^[26]

Registering to vote

In order to vote by post, a person must have registered for a postal vote by 6 April 2021.^[27] 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.^[28]

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.^[29] 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).^[30] In November 2015, the Scottish Government published a Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill, which proposed to extend the term of the Parliament to five years.^[30] 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.^[29]
• 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.^[31]
• 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.^[31] 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.^[31] This would not affect the year in which the subsequent ordinary general election would be held.^[31]

On 16 November 2020, the Scottish General Election (Coronavirus) Bill was introduced.^[32] 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.^[32] 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.^[32] The bill was enacted and received Royal Assent on 29 January 2021.^[33] Parliament was in fact recalled on 12 April, to allow MSPs to mark the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.^[34]

Retiring MSPs

MSP	Constituency/Region	First elected	Party		Date announced
Neil Findlay	Lothian	2011		Labour	28 May 2019[35][36]
Mary Fee	West Scotland	2011		Labour	7 August 2019[35][37][38]
John Finnie	Highlands and Islands	2011		Green	27 August 2019[35][39]
Elaine Smith	Central Scotland	1999		Labour	3 September 2019[35][40]
Ruth Davidson	Edinburgh Central	2011		Conservative	6 October 2019[35][41]
Bruce Crawford	Stirling	1999		SNP	18 February 2020[35][42]
Richard Lyle	Uddingston and Bellshill	2011		SNP	20 February 2020[35][43]
Gail Ross	Caithness, Sutherland and Ross	2016		SNP	27 February 2020[35][44]
Michael Russell	Argyll and Bute	1999		SNP	1 March 2020[35][45]
Stewart Stevenson	Banffshire and Buchan Coast	2001		SNP	1 March 2020[35][45]
Mark McDonald	Aberdeen Donside	2011		Independent[b]	5 March 2020[35][46]
Aileen Campbell	Clydesdale	2007		SNP	8 March 2020[35][47]
Margaret Mitchell	Central Scotland	2003		Conservative	18 April 2020[35][48]
David Stewart	Highlands and Islands	2007		Labour	9 June 2020[35][49]
Angus MacDonald	Falkirk East	2011		SNP	11 June 2020[35][50]
Iain Gray	East Lothian	1999		Labour	18 June 2020[35][51]
Adam Tomkins	Glasgow	2016		Conservative	17 July 2020[35][52]
Gil Paterson	Clydebank and Milngavie	1999		SNP	31 July 2020[35][53]
Linda Fabiani	East Kilbride	1999		SNP	11 August 2020[35][54]
Derek Mackay	Renfrewshire North and West	2011		Independent[c]	14 August 2020[35][55]
Roseanna Cunningham	Perthshire South and Kinross-shire	1999		SNP	22 August 2020[35][56]
Alex Neil	Airdrie and Shotts	1999		SNP	23 August 2020[35][57]
Jeane Freeman	Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	2016		SNP	24 August 2020[35][58]
Sandra White	Glasgow Kelvin	1999		SNP	27 August 2020[35][59]
Maureen Watt	Aberdeen South and North Kincardine	2006[d]		SNP	7 September 2020[35][60]
Peter Chapman	North East Scotland	2016		Conservative	September 2020[35]
Mike Rumbles	North East Scotland	1999		Liberal Democrats	September 2020[35]
Ken Macintosh	West Scotland	1999		Presiding Officer[e]	22 September 2020[35][61]
Jenny Marra	North East Scotland	2011		Labour	28 November 2020[35][62]
Lewis Macdonald	North East Scotland	1999		Labour	30 November 2020[35][63]
Johann Lamont	Glasgow	1999		Labour	4 March 2021[35][64]
Alison Harris	Central Scotland	2016		Conservative	7 March 2021[65]
Bill Bowman	North East Scotland	2016		Conservative	9 March 2021[66]
Tom Mason	North East Scotland	2017		Conservative	9 March 2021[66]

James Dornan announced in February 2020 his intention to retire at the next Holyrood election,^[67] but reversed this decision some months later.^[68]

Parties

The SNP, Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats fielded candidates in all 73 constituencies and all eight of the regional ballots.^[69] 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) Not an MSP
	Scottish Liberal Democrats	Liberalism Unionism	Willie Rennie MSP for North East Fife	7.8	5.2	4 / 129	5 / 129
	Reform UK Scotland	Populism Euroscepticism	Michelle Ballantyne MSP for South Scotland region	–	–	0 / 129	1 / 129
	UKIP Scotland	Right-wing populism Unionism Anti-Devolution	Donald Mackay[70] 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 Family values	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

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.^[71][72]

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.^[73] 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 will commence in 2021.

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.^[74]

On 26 March 2021, the Alba Party was publicly launched by former First Minister of Scotland and SNP leader, Alex Salmond.^{[75][76][77][78]} The party announced plans to stand list-only candidates. The party later gained two sitting MPs who defected from the SNP.^[79] 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.^[80] Sturgeon said she would refuse to have any dealings with Salmond unless he apologises to the women who had accused him of harassment.^[81]

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.^[82] 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.^[83]

Commercial broadcaster STV held their leaders' debate on 13 April, moderated by their political editor Colin Mackay.^[84][85][86] 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.^[87]

On 1 April, Planet Radio announced 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,^[88] 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.^[89]

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.^[90][91][92] 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).^[34][93]

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	[94]
13 April	STV	Colin Mackay	P Sturgeon	P Ross	P Sarwar	P Harvie	P Rennie		[95]
20 April	NUS Scotland	Matt Crilly	P Sturgeon	P Ross	P Sarwar	S Greer[h]	S Ford[i]	Virtual	[87]
22 April	BBC (Question Time Special)	Fiona Bruce	S Brown[j]	P Ross	P Sarwar	P Slater	P Rennie	Virtual	[96]
27 April	Channel 4 News	Krishnan Guru-Murthy	P Sturgeon	P Ross	P Sarwar	P Harvie	P Rennie		[97]
4 May	BBC Scotland	Glenn Campbell	P Sturgeon	P Ross	P Sarwar	P Harvie	P Rennie		[98]

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
  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	2nd		SNP gain
3	Ayr		Conservative	1.00	2nd		SNP gain
4	Aberdeenshire West		Conservative	1.28	2nd		Conservative hold
5	East Lothian		Labour	1.45	2nd		SNP gain
6	Edinburgh Southern		Labour	1.47	2nd		Labour hold
7	Dumfriesshire		Conservative	1.70	2nd		Conservative hold
8	Eastwood		Conservative	2.22	2nd		Conservative hold
9	Galloway and West Dumfries		Conservative	2.27	2nd		Conservative hold
10	Edinburgh Western		Liberal Democrats	3.73	2nd		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	2nd		SNP hold
3	Angus North and Mearns		SNP	4.21	2nd		SNP hold
4	Aberdeen South and North Kincardine		SNP	4.26	2nd		SNP hold
5	Moray		SNP	4.30	2nd		SNP hold
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

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	SNP hold
	Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	Jamie Hepburn	SNP hold
	East Kilbride	Collette Stevenson	SNP hold
	Falkirk East	Michelle Thomson	SNP hold
	Falkirk West	Michael Matheson	SNP hold
	Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse	Christina McKelvie	SNP hold
	Motherwell and Wishaw	Clare Adamson	SNP hold
	Uddingston and Bellshill	Stephanie Callaghan	SNP hold

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	SNP hold
	Glasgow Kelvin	Kaukab Stewart	SNP hold
	Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn	Bob Doris	SNP hold
	Glasgow Pollok	Humza Yousaf	SNP hold
	Glasgow Provan	Ivan McKee	SNP hold
	Glasgow Shettleston	John Mason	SNP hold
	Glasgow Southside	Nicola Sturgeon	SNP hold
	Rutherglen	Clare Haughey	SNP hold

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

Scottish Parliament election, 2021: Highlands and Islands constituencies
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Argyll and Bute	Jenni Minto	SNP hold
	Caithness, Sutherland and Ross	Maree Todd	SNP hold
	Inverness and Nairn	Fergus Ewing	SNP hold
	Moray	Richard Lochhead	SNP hold
	Na h-Eileanan an Iar	Alasdair Allan	SNP hold
	Orkney	Liam McArthur	Liberal Democrat hold
	Shetland	Beatrice Wishart	Liberal Democrat hold
	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
	Labour	Rhoda Grant	1	1	22,713	9.5	1.7
	Green	Ariane Burgess	1		17,729	7.4	0.2

Lothian

Scottish Parliament election, 2021: 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	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Pentlands	Gordon MacDonald	SNP hold
	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	SNP hold

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

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

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

North East Scotland

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

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

Scottish Parliament election, 2021: 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	SNP hold
	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	Conservative hold
	Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley	Willie Coffey	SNP hold
	Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale	Christine Grahame	SNP hold

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

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

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		SNP		Labour
Edinburgh Central		SNP		Conservative

MSPs that lost their seats

• Michelle Ballantyne
• Claudia Beamish
• Maurice Corry
• James Kelly
• Gordon Lindhurst
• Joan McAlpine^[99]
• John Scott
• Paul Wheelhouse^[99]
• Andy Wightman^[100]

Aftermath

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[101]

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

References

External links

• Election 2021 (on the Scottish Parliament website)