Stephen Flynn, Holly Bruce, Thomas Kerr: full list of dual mandate MSPs in 2026

The 2026 election has seen a record number of brand new MSPs elected to the Scottish Parliament. Many of these new representatives hold, or held, other elected positions such as MP or Councillor. When an individual holds two elected positions at one time they are said to hold a dual mandate.

Upgrade Holyrood has consistently made the case against dual mandates and welcomed legislation that has banned dual MSP-MPs and MSP-Lords. The legislation also gives councillors elected to a Holyrood a year to step down, minimising disruption at the local level when council election are held a year after Scottish Parliament votes now regularly the case).

The largest block of dual mandate holders comes from the MSP. Most councillors elected as MSPs in 2021 kept both roles until the 2022 election – it remains to be seen whether that will be the case ahead of 2027.

MSP-MPs

This year, two MPs were elected to Holyrood and both of those individuals are standing down from Westminster as a result of new dual mandate restrictions. This will create two by-elections – dates TBC.

Stephen Flynn (MSP for Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine) (MP for Aberdeen South)

Stephen Gethins (MSP for Dundee City East) (MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)

MSP-Lords

Katy Clark (MSP for West Scotland) (Lord Temporal since 2020)

(Malcolm Offord stepped down from the House of Lords before standing in the election. Unlike Katy Clark)

SNP MSP-councillors

Alex Kerr (MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse) (Cllr in Glasgow)

Colm Merrick (MSP for Glasgow Anniesland) (Cllr in East Renfrewshire)

Dawn Black (MSP for Angus North and Mearns) (Cllr in Aberdeenshire)

Gary Bouse (MSP for Falkirk West) (Cllr in Falkirk)

Heather Anderson (MSP for Dundee City West) (Cllr in Dundee)

Kate Campbell (MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent) (Cllr in Edinburgh)

Katie Hagmann (MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Cllr in Dumfries and Galloway)

Lloyd Melville (MSP for Angus South) (Cllr in Angus Council)

Michelle Campbell (MSP for Renfrewshire and North Cardonald) (Cllr in Renfrewshire)

Pauline Stafford (MSP for Bathgate) (Cllr in West Lothian)

Simita Kumar (MSP for Edinburgh South Western) (Cllr in Edinburgh)

Zen Ghani (Glasgow Cathcart and Pollock) (Cllr in Glasgow)

Reform UK MSP-councillors

Duncan Massie (MSP for North East Scotland) (Cllr in Aberdeen)

Julie MacDougall (MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife) (Cllr in Fife)

Thomas Kerr (MSP for Glasgow) (Cllr in Glasgow)

Scottish Labour MSP-councillors

Joe Fagan (MSP for South Scotland) (Cllr in South Lanarkshire)

Scottish Green MSP-councillors

Holly Bruce (MSP for Glasgow Southside) (Cllr in Glasgow)

Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neil (MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East) (Cllr in Edinburgh)

Kristopher Leask (MSPs for the Highlands and Islands) (Cllr in Orkney)

Scottish Conservative MSP-councillors

None.

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP councillors

Andrew Baxter (MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (Cllr in Highland)

Morven-May MacCallum (MSP for the Highlands and Islands) (Cllr in Highland)

Sanne Dijkstra-Downie (MSP for Edinburgh Northern) (Cllr in Edinburgh)

Yi-Pei Chou Turvey (MSP for North East Scotland) (Cllr in Aberdeenshire)

Dual mandates in Scotland

Dual mandates are ultimately unfair on constituents who deserve full-time representatives solely focusing on their work in one clearly defined area.

That’s why it’s welcome that MSP-MPs and MSP-Lords have been banned. In an ideal world MSP-councillors should also be restricted but the compromise to minimise local level disruption (especially when the process to replace councillors isn’t representative and can alter the make-up of councils) is a sensible compromise for one year.

7 predictions for the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections

By Richard Wood

Predictions are frankly a fool’s game and are almost never right. But they are fun to make. These are my largely cautious predictions for the vote on Thursday 7 May 2026.

1. An unrepresentative election

This election will be the most disproportional election in the devolution era. The Gallagher index will be over 10.

Serious discussions will need to be had about the ability of the Additional Member System to deliver representative parliaments.

2. No SNP majority

The SNP will not win a majority. They will remain the largest party and form a minority government. Their vote shares will fall and they will win more seats than they would be entitled to proportionally.

There’s a chance they come very close but with the Scottish Greens in with a chance of winning at least one constituency seat, the Lib Dems targeting multiple seats they could well win, and the unpredictability of Reform UK, I just don’t see the SNP quite getting to 65.

John Swinney’s party will get at least 55 seats and have a good chance of getting at least 60. Having won 64 last time, 65 in 2026 still looks highly unlikely, despite some polls pointing to that possibility.

3. Scottish Lib Dems back from the dead

The Scottish Liberal Democrats will win at least 7 seats including Caithness, Sutherland and Ross and at least one regional seat, up from 4 in 2021.

Remarkably, this will be the first time the party has made net gains in any Scottish Parliament election.

4. Scottish Greens will make history

The Scottish Greens will win their first constituency seat. And if they don’t, they’ll come remarkably close.

5. Reform rise…then fall

Reform will be the second largest party at Holyrood, edging out Scottish Labour though I still think there’s a half decent chance of Labour coming second (albeit on fewer seats than in 2021). Reform will pick up at least one constituency seat.

And at least two of their MSPs will become independents by the end of 2026.

6. The end of the Scottish Conservatives as we know them?

The Scottish Conservatives will implode and have serious discussions about separating from the UK party. Murdo Fraser may be booted out of Holyrood, but his long-held ambition to Brexit his party from Kemi Badenoch’s could become a reality.

7. The end of Keir Starmer…?

Despite no obvious candidate to replace Starmer, these elections as well as those for the Senedd and the English locals will force Starmer to resign. Eventually.

At some point, the political pressure will become too great for him not too though it won’t happen over night. For Labour to be in with a chance of winning again in 2029, timing will be everything.

Ballot Box Scotland poll points to an unrepresentative election on 7 May

By Richard Wood

Yet another poll suggests that Scotland is on track for an unrepresentative election despite its use of the broadly proportional Additional Member System.

The Survation poll for Ballot Box Scotland puts the SNP on 35% of the constituency vote and 29% of the regional vote. That is significantly down on the 2021 election, but still well ahead of other parties.

Ballot Box Scotland projects that these results would give the SNP 57 seats, which would amount to 44% of seats on the Scottish Parliament. That is a significant mismatch between seats and votes.

While not as stark as other polling projections that put the SNP on course for a majority of seats on far less than a majority of votes, the gap between polled votes and projected seats is far wider than it should be.

The poll puts Reform in second place (20% constituency, 19% list), Labour (20%, 17%), Conservatives (13%, 13%), Lib Dems (10%, 8%), Greens (1%, 11%). The election is less than two weeks away, and as always polls are snapshots not predictions, but an outcome along these lines is looking very likely.

Why is Scotland on track for such an unrepresentative election?

The reason for these projected mismatches of seats and votes is a combination a structural flaw of Scotland’s Additional Member System exposed by changing voting patterns.

A majority of Holyrood seats are determined by First Past the Post (73 constituency seats compared to 56 list seats). The SNP are doing consistently better than the other parties across the vast majority of these constituency seats, but not well enough in vote terms to justify the number seats they could win. The fall in support for Scottish Labour and the Conservatives, aided by the rise of Reform, is giving the SNP a clear advantage in many constituencies. And the party is also helped by the lack of Scottish Greens in most constituencies.

What’s the solution?

The problem here is the dominance of First Past the Post in Scotland’s voting system. A simple fix would be to adjust the ratio of constituency seats to list seats to ensure more proportional outcomes.

This could be done by reducing constituency seats to their Westminster equivalents (while splitting Orkney and Shetland into different constituencies) and distributing the remaining seats on a proportional regional basis as done now.

Or alternatively, if politicians aren’t wedded to the idea of retaining 129 seats, then an additional two MSPs could be added to each region to make a 50/50 split.

That all said, while these would be positive steps, the Additional Member System would still have notable flaws. Adopting a well designed Single Transferable Vote system or Open List Proportional Representation are viable alternatives to consider.

Scottish Lib Dems commit to political reforms in 2026 manifesto

By Richard Wood

The Scottish Liberal Democrats are the last of Scotland’s six main parties to publish their manifesto ahead of elections on Thursday 7 May.

Their plans for Scotland were announced on Friday 17 April, one day after the SNP published their own document.

Overall, the Scottish Lib Dems have some promising policies in their manifesto on the issues of democratic and electoral reform.

Changing the Additional Member System

The Scottish Liberal Democrats are the only one of the six main parties to have explicitly committed to replacing Holyrood’s Additional Member System with a fairer alternative, in this case the Single Transferable Vote.

Scotland is on track for its least representative election ever, yet other parties have failed to grasp the seriousness of this. If designed well, STV would improve proportionality and, crucially, strengthen voter power over individual candidates up for election.

Introducing an Accountability Act

An eye-catching proposal is Alex Cole-Hamilton’s plan for an Accountability Act, which would improve ministerial accountability and introduce a recall rule for MSPs.

Protect devolution

The Scottish Lib Dems have also pledged to protect drovlution by removing the ability of the UK Parliament to unilaterally change the powers of devolved parliaments.

There are also proposals to reform Quangos, implement a federal, written constitution, and devolve power to local communities.

The full Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto is available to download here.

What do you think of the Lib Dems manifesto? How does it compare to the other five, or any proposals put forward by minor parties?

SNP manifesto is limited on democratic reform ahead of 2026 election

By Richard Wood

The SNP launched their manifesto on Thursday 16 April 2026, three weeks ahead of the Scottish Parliament election and in line with the first postal vote ballots being sent out to households.

Overall, highlights include John Swinney’s commitment to winning a majority of seats to secure a second independence referendum, a £2 bus fare cap, a “welcome to school bag”, and maximum prices for essential food items.

But on issues relating to electoral and democratic reform, the manifesto was surprisingly and disappointingly bare.

In fact, democracy was mentioned just twice throughout the whole document.

Other parties have so far made pledges on introducing a recall rule for rule-breaking MSPs, automatic voter registration, reforming the way councillor vacancies are filled, and empowering the Scottish Parliament’s committees. Yet the SNP’s focus on anything to do with elections and democracy is their pledge for a referendum in 2028.

That said there are a couple of pledges that are related.

Reforming Scotland’s commissioners

The party commits to listening to the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Public Administration Committee’s recent report by amalgamating a number of commitissioners and implementing non-executive oversight for all commissioners.

Inquiry reform

The SNP also proposes to reform the Inquiries Act to create various levels of inquiries.

What about voting system reform?

Current polling suggests the SNP could win a majority of seats despite a notable fall in support. While the SNP support Proportional Representation in principle, with a majority being the SNP’s route to negotiating for a second referendum, it’s no surprise that John Swinney’s plans do not include a pledge to reform or replace the Additional Member System. That’s an extremely disappointing outcome, considering that AMS is creaking at the seams.

The full SNP manifesto can be read here. All have Scotland’s six main parties have published manifestos, bar the Scottish Liberal Democrats who are set to launch theirs on Friday 17 April 2026.

Scottish Green democracy pledges announced in 2026 manifesto

By Richard Wood

The Scottish Greens launched their manifesto on Tuesday 14 April, just shy of three weeks before the election in May. The party are hoping for their best ever Holyrood election result and made those intentions clear at their launch in Glasgow.

My first thought looking at the manifesto was how the title stands out as being very familiar. If you’ve had the same thought it’s because it’s rather reminiscent of a previous Liberal Democrat slogan “demand better”.

The Scottish Lib Dem manifesto is due on Friday while the SNP are expected to publish theirs on Thursday.

This follows Reform, the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour who have all published their plans.

Independence and democracy

Unsurprisingly, the Greens reaffirm their commitment to independence, linking it with their wider policies on democracy in one clear section. Notably the party doesn’t even mention a referendum but calls for the devolution of foreign affairs.

Positive steps to improve Scottish democracy include a proposals for a Trust and Transparency Strategy and the introduction of a recall rule for MSPs.

The ending of cash deposits for election candidates is also welcome as that would democratise Scotland’s nominations process. Automatic voter registration is also a good inclusion, highlighting the absurdity that such a system isn’t already in place.

Local democracy

The manifesto also has a dedicated section on local democracy.

One eye-catching proposal is the move towards making councillors a full-time position. That is something which needs a lot more thinking and financing to make it feasible.

The party also wants to reform the way vacancies are filled when councillors resign from their position. There’s a lack of detail here, but the obvious alternative to disruptive and non-representative by-elections is co-option. However, any co-option proposals would need to have strong democratic safeguards.

What about voting system reform?

Disappointingly, the party lacks any commitment to replace Scotland’s failing Additional Member System.

Their 2021 manifesto also lacked such a commitment while their 2016 document committed them to the Single Transferable Vote.

The party did however outline it’s support for Proportional Representation at all levels of governance in the 2024 UK General Election.

But that all said, it’s striking that there are no proposals to reform Holyrood’s Additional Member System as we hurtle towards what’s likely to be Scotland’s most disproportional election ever.

Manifesto 2026: How would Scottish Labour and Anas Sarwar reform democracy?

By Richard Wood

The Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar published his party’s manifesto for the 2026 election on Monday 13 April 2026. Here’s what the party has pledged to do if it defies the odds and is returned to power after nineteen years in opposition at Holyrood.

Scottish Labour want regional mayors for regions that want them

The manifesto commits the party to consulting on regional mayors, learning from blueprints in England. This isn’t a surprise and has been floated by Anas Sarwar previously. Crucially, the party only supports mayors if there is local support.

Regional mayors sound like an answer to re-energise local democracy in Scotland by having one single figure of accountability who can champion local interests. But regional mayors risk putting a lot of power into one person’s hands while also limiting multi-party politics at a time where people have a wide range of views on issues. Any proposals for such mayors should be carefully considered, as representative as possible and actively supported by local people. They’re not necessarily right for Scotland, but if they do ever go ahead they must be robust as possible with strong safeguards to ensure multi-party representation and real voter power over them.

Anas Sarwar hopes to decentrentralise power away from Holyrood

The other plank of Scottish Labour’s limited democracy plans for Scotland is to “push decision making power out of Holyrood so local people have more of a say over public services” as part of a Local Democracy Act.

They pledge to: “Push power out of Holyrood and grant Scottish regions the opportunity to take control of local skills and employability schemes, transport, and housingso they can tailor interventions to ocal needs andencourage cooperation between local authorities toreduce duplication and deliver economic outcomes.”

There’s also an interesting idea to force statutory consultations when local councils plan to cut local services such as libraries.

Ambitious plans to enhance accountability at Holyrood: second job rules and empowering committees

After a worrying manifesto from Reform on the democracy front and lacklustre democracy reform proposals from the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Labour have some welcome ideas to improve accountability in the Scottish Parliament.

This includes welcome regulation over on second jobs for MSPs and lobbying.

There’s also a proposal to introduce a right to recall MSPs who don’t live up to public standards, which is welcome to see after proposals faltered in the last parliament.

Scottish Labour also want to strengthen committees by giving them teeth to compel witnesses and by electing committee convenors, which is due to happen regardless.

The proposal to provide parliamentary privilege to MSPs is also welcome to strengthen the legitimacy of MSPs on a par with MPs who already have that right.

And lastly, there’s another welcome pledge to split the role of the Lord Advocate to separate the responsibilities of Scotland’s chief prosecutor and the Scottish Government’s legal advisor, a proposal that’s long over due.

What about voting system reform?

The manifesto makes no mention of improving Scotland’s Additional Member System which could well deliver Scotland’s least representative election since 1999.

Disappointingly, there’s also no commitment to revert to four-year fixed terms so voters have a more regular say on who represents them.

Have the SNP, the Scottish Lib Dems and other parties published their manifestos?

Reform UK launched their Scottish manifesto first, publishing their document at the end of March.

While the Russell Findlay’s Scottish Conservatives published theirs on Tuesday 7 April, a month before the vote.

The SNP, Scottish Greens and Liberal Democrats are yet to publish their own policies ahead of the vote.

The full Scottish Labour manifesto can be read here.

Images taken from Scottish Labour election manifesto 2026.

Plaid Cymru’s 2026 manifesto commits to upgrading Wales’ voting system

By Richard Wood

Plaid Cymru’s manifesto for the 2026 election makes the case to reform the Senedd’s recently changed electoral system.

During the last Senedd session Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru came together to reform Wales’ Additional Member System (AMS). AMS has ensured an element of proportionality in elections since 1999 but the dominance of constituency (much more so than in Scotland) has delivered only somewhat proportional elections.

The 2026 election is being held under a closed list proportional system with 16 multi-member constituencies, each electing 6 MSs.

Abolishing the First Past the Post element by replacing AMS was a welcome step forward, but closed list voting puts an incredible amount of power in the hands of parties. Moving towards the Single Transferable Vote or and open list system would address these concerns.

What does Plaid Cymru’s manifesto say on electoral reform?

Plaid Cymru’s manifesto notes that closed lists were not their preferred option for change.

They also call for a system that delivers real choice, ultimately backing STV for the Senedd and Welsh local government.

This is a positive step to improve proportionality, representation and voter choice at elections. However, if they do succeed in changing the system so soon they do run the risk of frustrating voters by changing things yet again. Their call to build consensus in the issue therefore matters considerably.

What is Welsh polling saying?

Recent polls in Wales suggest Plaid Cymru could become the largest party in the Senedd, a significant change from Labour’s dominance since 1999 and at UK General Elections for a century.

Reform are biting at their heels for first place while the Greens hope to win their first MSs.

Meanwhile, polls suggest the Labour and Conservative votes are collapsing.

While the Lib Dems are hoping to keep their sole seat and gain another if possible.

Latest poll shows how First Past the Post is failing Scotland’s Additional Member System

By Richard Wood

The new Ipsos poll for STV (the broadcaster, not the voting system) adds to existing evidence that Scotland is on track for the most unrepresentative election in Holyrood’s short history. The SNP are on track to win far more seats than they would be entitled to under a truly proportional system.

STV and Ballot Box Scotland projections for the poll (data collected 26 – 31 March) puts the SNP on 63 seats with just 39% of the list vote and 29% of the regional vote.

That’s a big disparity between seats and votes yet again even if not as stark as other polls such a Find Out Now’s recent MRP poll.

In fact, the scale of this is shown by comparing these projected results with the results if all seats were allocated via the list element alone, which is meant to determine the proportional make-up of the Scottish Parliament. Using this measure, the SNP are actually 20 seats ahead of where they should be. The Greens, Labour and Conservatives are underrepresented by 4 seats, Reform by 5 and the Lib Dems by 3.

First Past the Post is wrecking the Additional Member System

The reason for these projected mismatches between seat and vote shares is the dominance of First Past the Post seats at Holyrood combined with the SNP expected to do very well to win lots of constituencies but not on a share of the vote reflecting that success.

The rise of Reform in particular is splitting unionist votes in these constituencies, giving the SNP an advantage to come through the middle and win seats on a lower vote share. This is compounded by the Greens only standing in a handful of constituencies, limiting options for pro-independence voters on the constituency ballot.

The SNP are therefore likely to win the vast majority of constituency seats meaning other parties will make up their wins on the list ballot. However, with the SNP expected to win more seats than they would be entitled to if all seats were allocated via list votes, the number seats to be allocated to other parties falls short of the number required to correct the SNP’s overrepresentation wins on the constituency ballot.

A supermajority for independence?

Let’s be clear, this skewed link between seats and votes would be a problem no matter the party benefitting from this flaw. So, to everyone getting excited about the prospect of an SNP majority because of this, or a supermajority for independence, as democrats we should all be concerned by any distortion of the link between seats and votes. Ask yourself, how would you feel if a party you deeply oppose, such as Reform, were to benefit from this in future?

If you genuinely believe it’s a good thing that a party can do disproportionately well by winning constituencies without corrections to their overrepresentation in a mixed-member proportional system, you’re wrong – but at least you’re consistent.

If you’re in favour of this set-up to benefit your party then you should ask yourself some serious questions about your views on representative democracy.

The Additional Member System needs reform

The next Scottish Parliament must address this flaw with the Additional Member System. The simplest way to do this is to correct the imbalance between list and constituency seats, either by introducing leveling seats, adding list seats to each region or by cutting constituency MSPs and replacing them with list MSPs (if politicians are committed to 129 members).

However, these changes will only go so far and won’t address the limited power voters have over electing individuals to represent them, among other flaws of AMS. This could be addressed by switching the list ballot from closed to open, or replacing AMS altogether by introducing the STV (the Single Transferable Vote not the broadcaster this time!) or an open list PR system.

More and more evidence suggests Scotland is on track for its most unrepresentative election. The next parliament must address the issue head on.

READ ON: Will the Scottish Parliament change its voting system?

IMAGE VIA PIXABAY

The Scottish Conservative manifesto is here: what does it say on democracy?

By Richard Wood

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay has today (Tuesday 7 April 2026) in Edinburgh launched his party’s manifesto exactly one month before the Scottish Parliament election on Thursday 7 May.

The party has dedicated over two pages to democracy and accountability issues. Here’s what they have to say.

What does the manifesto say on democracy and accountability?

The below is taken directly from the manifesto.

To strengthen democracy and accountability, Scottish Conservative MSPs will:

Create a Scottish Information and Whistle blowers Commission – giving whistleblowers a place to expose state failings without fear of being punished.
End the SNP’s culture of secrecy with a Government Transparency Bill.
Require all third-sector organisations receiving taxpayer money to declare this fact explicitly on their website, social media and in front of parliamentary committees if they are giving evidence.
Improve the transparency of public sector decision making by requiring taxpayer-funded pressure groups to disclose their lobbying efforts.
End the use of non-disclosure agreements in the public sector, except for commercial reasons, so that whistleblowers are no longer silenced when they see wrongdoing.
Review charity law to consider whether bodies that receive almost all their funding from government or the public sector should still be classed as charities.
Place new restrictions on political appointments within government and the wider public sector to prevent ministers abusing these powers of patronage.
Introduce a proper Recall Bill that will allow the public to sack MSPs who have broken the rules or are failing to do their job.

Over two pages, you say? What’s on the rest of them?

The manifesto goes into a level of detail on these particular asks, often levelling criticism at the current Scottish Government, highlighting financial prudence and improving transparency and scrutiny.

What chance do the Scottish Conservatives have in May?

Elections are always difficult to predict and campaigns can certainly shift the dial. That all said, based on current polling and mood music across Scotland, the Scottish Conservatives are almost certain to lose a significant number of seats and crucially lose their status as the second largest party.

With the rise of Reform UK, there’s a real risk that this will be the Conservatives’ worst ever Holyrood election result.

The days of Ruth Davidson are gone.

Where can I read the Scottish Conservatives’ manifesto?

The full manifesto can be downloaded and viewed here.

What do you think of Russell Findlay’s plan for Scotland?