Scotland’s 2026 election has delivered a result that almost nobody saw coming five years ago. The Scottish National Party clinched a historic fifth term in power, yet fell short of a majority once again. The real shock came from Reform UK, which crashed into Holyrood with 17 seats from a standing start, tying with a battered Labour Party for second place.
SNP Wins Big but Falls Short of Majority Yet Again
John Swinney’s SNP emerged as the largest party with 58 seats in the 129-member Scottish Parliament, comfortably ahead of the rest but seven short of the 65 needed to govern alone.
The SNP lost six seats, falling from 64 representatives to 58, and failed to secure a majority of 65 seats, but they emerged as Scotland’s largest party, by far.
The party swept the constituency map. The SNP won 38.2% of the constituency votes, and 78% of constituency seats. Their dominance in local races meant they picked up just one regional list seat across the entire country.
Swinney is on course to be reappointed as First Minister in a vote next week to officially re-elect him to the post. The new parliament was sworn in this morning, kicking off Session 7 at Holyrood.
Reform UK Breakthrough Rewrites the Scottish Map
The biggest story of the night was Reform UK. The party went from zero MSPs to 17 in a single election cycle.
Reform UK and Labour each won 17 seats, marking the first tie for second place in Holyrood’s history, while the Greens surged to a record 15 seats. The Conservatives suffered their worst-ever result with 12 seats.
Here is how the final seat count breaks down:
| Party | Total MSPs | Constituency Vote | Regional Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | 58 | 38.2% | 27.2% |
| Labour | 17 | 19.2% | 16.0% |
| Reform UK | 17 | 15.8% | 16.6% |
| Scottish Greens | 15 | 2.3% | 14.0% |
| Conservatives | 12 | 11.8% | 11.8% |
| Lib Dems | 10 | 11.4% | 9.4% |
Reform’s leader in Scotland, Lord Malcolm Offord, lost his own constituency bid in Inverclyde but returned through the regional list. The Scottish Greens, meanwhile, hit a milestone of their own. The Scottish Greens won and elected their first constituency MSPs and also elected the first transgender members to the Scottish Parliament.
Several high profile names fell on election night. A number of high profile MSPs were unseated including Angus Robertson, Jackson Carlaw, Kaukab Stewart, Fergus Ewing, Ash Regan and Monica Lennon.
How Scotland’s Voting System Shaped a Fairer Result
Scotland uses the Additional Member System, often called AMS. Voters get two ballots. One picks a local constituency MSP using First Past the Post, the same system used at Westminster. The other picks a party on a regional list using proportional representation.
The regional vote elects 56 MSPs by proportional representation across 8 regions using the D’Hondt method. This is what allowed Reform UK to win 17 seats despite barely winning any constituencies.
This mix is exactly why Holyrood looks the way Scotland voted. Six parties now sit in the chamber. No single party has the power to ram laws through without negotiation.
But not everyone is celebrating the system this time. Edinburgh University’s Ailsa Henderson described the 2026 election as the least proportional in Holyrood’s history. She attributed this to record levels of split-ticket voting, with more than half of voters choosing different parties on constituency and list ballots, up from about 30% in 2021.
Even with that caveat, the contrast with Westminster could not be sharper. In 2024, the UK Labour government took roughly two thirds of Commons seats on just over a third of the vote. Millions of votes effectively counted for nothing.
Swinney Shuts the Door on Reform UK
The First Minister wasted no time setting the tone for the new parliament. He invited the leaders of every other major party in for talks. Reform UK was left off the list.
“The SNP government has been emphatically re-elected, but it is right that we now look to find common ground. I am, today, urging every party other than Reform UK to work openly and constructively with us in the national interest.”
“But I have been very clear, we will have absolutely nothing to do with Reform UK,” Swinney added in his letter to party leaders.
Reform hit back hard. Speaking to the BBC, Reform UK Scotland’s deputy leader Thomas Kerr accused the First Minister of “political posturing”. “We’ve not even stepped foot in the chamber yet,” he said. “These are politicians who are doing political posturing before we’ve even stepped foot in the chambers of the Holyrood Parliament.”
Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay was equally unimpressed. He described the move as a “self-serving PR stunt” by the First Minister. “If he was genuinely seeking ‘common ground’, he wouldn’t be renewing his push for another divisive independence referendum,” he said. “Swinney didn’t achieve his self-imposed ‘mandate’ of an SNP majority, so now he’s shamefully moving the goalposts.”
Turnout Slump and the Independence Question
Voter turnout dropped sharply this year. In the constituency vote, turnout at this election was 53.2%. This was a fall compared to the 2021 election which saw the largest ever turnout for a Scottish Parliament election at 63.5%.
Yet the case for independence picked up steam in the seat count. The SNP and Scottish Greens together won 73 seats in the 129-seat parliament. That is one more than the previous record set in 2021 and marks the strongest parliamentary support for independence since devolution began in 1999.
Swinney framed the result as a fresh push against Westminster.
“Nigel Farage is now galloping towards Downing Street and the prospect of a Reform-led government is more likely than not. It is vital we unite in Scotland to ensure our Parliament is fully Farage-proofed.”
Key takeaways from the 2026 vote at a glance:
- SNP fifth term: 58 seats, but a minority government again.
- Reform’s rise: From nothing to 17 MSPs, all from the regional list.
- Labour’s worst day: Tied for second but lowest devolution era return.
- Greens’ record: First ever constituency MSPs and 15 seats overall.
- Tory collapse: Down to 12 seats, the lowest in the party’s Holyrood history.
- Turnout drop: 53.2%, more than 10 points below 2021.
Scotland walks into a new political era today, with six parties, no majority, and a public mood that feels both tired and restless. The 2026 election has shown that voters want their voices to actually count, even when the result is messy and hard to predict. The work of building a government that listens to everyone, not just the loudest faction, starts now. What do you think about the new Holyrood lineup and Swinney’s decision to freeze out Reform UK? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and share this story with friends and family using #Holyrood2026 and #Scotland2026.
