Senedd passes recall rule ahead of Welsh election – Scotland should follow

The Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament) voted to pass the Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill on Tuesday 17 March.

The Bill soon to be Act outlines some key reforms, changing democratic processes at play in the next Welsh Parliament.

Members of the Senedd (MSs) backed the Bill, which includes the introduction of recall rules for MSs to be recalled and replaced after the next election in certain specific circumstances.

Empowering constituents to hold their representatives accountable builds on other welcome reforms in Wales – reforms that the next Scottish Parliament should consider. The Senedd recently reverted to four-year terms (a change that will further improve accountability) and introduced a new voting system, which, while not perfect, is a step-up from the Additional Member System previously used for Cardiff Bay elections.

How does the Senedd recall system work?

The law introduces a recall system triggered either automatically by any prison sentence, even suspended ones, or following a recommendation from the Standards of Conduct Committee for serious misconduct. This is subject to a Senedd-wide vote.

An empty seat would be filled automatically by the next available candidate on the party’s list. This has its merits by retaining proportionality in the Senedd, but does limit Senedd accountability from voters.

The new law also strengthens the standards system by requiring each Senedd to establish a committee with possible independent members, expands the Commissioner for Standards’ investigative powers, and requires the Welsh Government to ban false statements in Senedd election rules. This last one is, in theory a positive development, but will have significant challenges to ensure is proportionate and effective.

What about Westminster’s recall system?

Under the Recall of MPs Act 2015, an MP faces recall if they are convicted of an offence and receive a prison sentence, suspended from the House of Commons for at least 10 sitting days (or 14 calendar days), or found guilty of false or misleading expenses claims. If 10% of voters sign a recall petition, the seat is vacated and a by-election is triggered.

Attempts to introduce a recall rule in Scotland

MSPs recently rejected an attempt to bring in a recall rule at the end of February. The Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill had flaws, but it was a missed opportunity to strengthen accountability of rule-breaking and inefficient MSPs in a meaningful way.

Constituency MSPs would have been recalled if 10% of local voters supported a petition, like at Westminster. Regional MSPs would have been removed if a majority voted for recall, with replacements coming from their party list. In addition, independent MSP seats would stay vacant until the next election.

When did each Scottish party launch its manifesto in 2021? When are we expecting in 2026?

By Richard Wood

The first of six parties expected to win seats in 2026’s Scottish Parliament election published its manifesto on Thursday 19 March.

Reform UK launched their manifesto with worrying proposals including cutting the number of MSPs at Holyrood to 113 and regular reviews of devolution powers.

The party launched its manifesto significantly earlier than other parties in 2021.

Here’s when each of the other five main parties published their manifestos in 2021:

🟢 Scottish Greens: 14 April 2021
🟡 Scottish National Party: 15 April 2021
🟠 Scottish Liberal Democrats: 16 April 2021
🔵 Scottish Conservatives: 19 April 2021
🔴 Scottish Labour Party: 22 April 2021

All were published in a tight window of 14–22 April 2021.

When can we expect publication of the other manifestos in 2026?

Going by the most recent election, April looks most likely but there is little information available about when manifesto launches will actually be.

It remains to be seen whether parties stick with the mid-April clustering, or if they spread out launches.

Update:

The Scottish Conservatives published their manifesto on Tuesday 7 April 2026 in Edinburgh.
Scottish Labour published their manifesto on Monday 13 April 2026 in Edinburgh.

What does Reform UK’s 2026 manifesto say on reforming Holyrood and the constitution?

By Richard Wood

Reform UK launched their 2026 manifesto on Thursday 19 March ahead of the Scottish Parliament election on May.

Polling suggests the party has a chance of coming third or even second in the upcoming election.

Former Conservative minister Malcolm Offord, now Reform UK’s Scottish leader launched the manifesto alongside Nigel Farage.

What does the party pledge on reforming the Scottish Parliament?

REFORM OF HOLYROOD

In Government, Reform UK will:

The Scotland Act 1998 gave extensive powers to Holyrood to allow it to control most of the levers required to improve daily life in Scotland. Yet Holyrood has not fully implemented these powers because it has been dominated by divisive SNP politics which continually seek grievance with Westminster instead of focusing on the day job of improving the lives of people
in Scotland. This SNP obsession with breaking up the UK has not allowed Scotland to prosper inside the UK. Reform UK believes Scotland’s prosperity lies in maximising the benefits of devolution, making better use of existing powers and working closely with the UK to get the
best deal for Scotland.

Repeal SNP bad laws including Hate Crime and Land Reform

Maximise the benefits of devolution by working within the Scotland Act 1998 and in partnership with the UK Government

Implement formal 10 yearly review of Schedule Five powers undertaken by a joint
Holyrood/Westminster committee
Form a department of government efficiency to cut waste and duplication and the endless funding of lobbyist charities by taxpayers

Shut down the Quangos and return their powers to democratically elected ministers
supported by the civl service

Reboot the civil service by ending automatic WFH, reviewing employment numbers and
polices, and recruiting departments heads from the private sector

End lengthy public inquiries which transfer taxpayers’ money to lawyers

Create a fast-track planning regime around our 10 business clusters

In Parliament, Reform UK will:

Focus parliamentary time on Devolved rather than Reserved Matters

Strengthen the legitimacy and effectiveness of Committees by ensuring that Conveners
are elected by parliament not appointed by parties

Reduce committee sizes to seven maximum

Allow the Chamber to be more interactive and less performative by permitting interventions and ad hoc questions

Impose compulsory physical attendance and voting

Propose a reduction of MSPs by aligning constituency boundaries between Holyrood and Westminster thereby going from 73 to 57 seats

Enact a Recall Bill

What has the party said on the constitution?

The single issue of Scottish Independence has dominated Holyrood to the detriment of thepeople of Scotland who would prefer their elected politicians to focus on the day job and grow the economy to give us better outcomes in health, education, housing and policing.

The Scottish people have no appetite for the rancour and division of another referendumany time soon.

Realistic nationalists agree that now is not the time because Scotland has not been responsibly prepared for separation by the SNP. Moreover, purist nationalists have rumbled the SNP falseindependence narrative within the EU and question why they would ever swap the “yoke” of London for Brussels. Furthermore, they are appalled at how the SNP have not protected local communities and women and girls in Scotland in preference to pursuing woke policies onimmigration and gender.

Rational unionists and realistic nationalists can find common ground and unite aroundone single ambition: to make Scotland the most successful country in the world.

It will take 10 years (two Holyrood terms) to implement this manifesto to turbocharge theeconomy in Scotland, which will unleash the resources required to deliver significant reformsto our health service, our education, our housing and our infrastructure.Which is why Reform UK says ENOUGH to the distraction of another referendum.

Reform UK’s manifesto: Malcolm Offord’s party on Scottish democracy

Malcolm Offord, leader of Reform UK in Scotland, poses for a formal portrait.

By Richard Wood

Reform UK is the first of Scotland’s six main parties to launch a manifesto ahead of the Scottish Parliament election on 7 May.

Its recently appointed leader Malcolm Offord, who defected from the Conservatives earlier this year, unveiled the document on Thursday 19 May. The party also revealed its candidates for the election.

The manifesto includes a series of pledges relating to democracy and the constitution. While there are some welcome ideas, notably a recall rule for MSPs, overall the party’s pledges are not right for improving Scottish democracy — and in some cases deeply troubling. Not to mention, there is a considerable lack of detail on numerous pledges and what they will mean in practice.

Here’s what Nigel Farage’s party wants to see on the issue of democracy in Scotland.

1. Reducing the number of MSPs

The manifesto includes a proposal to reduce the number of MSPs by linking Holyrood constituency boundaries with Westminster, which would cut the number of constituency MSPs from 73 to 57 seats. This would leave a total of 113 MSPs if list MSPs were all retained.

While this could arguably increase proportionality at Holyrood by addressing the imbalance of constituency seats to list seats, that is clearly not the purpose here.

Instead, it appears that the intent of this is to weaken Holyrood; the Scottish Parliament has gained significant powers in recent years, and if anything, it should increase its number of MSPs alongside electoral reform to improve proportionality.

2. A recall rule

The party proposes a recall rule for MSPs, something that has existed in Westminster now for over a decade under a very specific set of circumstances.

A similar process is being established in Wales.

If designed well, a recall rule is welcome. But there is no detail on how such a rule would operate in Malcolm Offord’s manifesto.

3. Cutting Quangos

The manifesto puts the party’s support behind cutting Quangos, with the intention of returning “powers to democratically elected ministers supported by the civl service”.

While there is possibly some potential for valid savings and spending money better elsewhere, the detail of what this would mean is far from clear.

4. Devolved issues focus

The party says it would focus parliamentary time on devolved rather than reserved matters. While it’s difficult to calculate the exact figures, the vast majority of time spent in the Chamber at Holyrood is certainly focused on devolved matters, and rightly so.

But there’s also a place for focusing some time on reserved issues. It would be an odd spectacle for ministers and MSPs not to address matters of UK-wide and worldwide importance on some level.

5. Committee reform

The party supports having committee Conveners elected by MSPs rather than appointed by parties and reducing committee sizes to seven.

Ensuring Conveners are elected could strengthen accountability. As for reducing committee sizes, there could be practical benefits of this, however, this would reduce diversity of parties represented on committees. Not to mention this is probably a consequence of the party’s pledge to cut MSP numbers.

6. Devolution reviews

The party also pledges to review devolved powers every ten years. This is deeply worrying and adds to concerns from Reform’s plans to cut MSP numbers.

Devolution must be protected and promoted against these threats. The Scottish Parliament has its faults, yes, but those should be fixed to strengthen its foundations rather than exploited to undermine it.

7. No to independence

Lastly, the party has reaffirmed its commitment to the union, stating firm opposition to independence.

What about the other parties?

The SNP, Scottish Labour, Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Greens and Scottish Liberal Democrats are expected to publish their respective manifestos in the coming weeks.

Upgrade Holyrood will publish similar articles in the coming weeks — outlining each party’s stance on democracy.

IMAGE: Attribution: © House of Lords / photography by Roger Harris. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.

The full manifesto is available here.

What are the Scottish Parliament’s new dual mandate rules for MSPs?

By Richard Wood

The 2026 election will be the first Scottish election with restrictions on dual mandates following new regulations after the Scottish Government consulted on the issue in early 2025. The decision followed Stephen Flynn MP’s declaration that he would retain his Westminster role if elected as an MSP in 2026.

Dual mandates have long been a small but persistent problem needing fixed – dual mandate holders cannot effectively represent their constituents due to practical time and location constraints with MSPs and MPs being full-time positions.

The developments following Flynn’s announcement were extremely welcome and spurred the government into action.

New regulations

On 2 September 2025, the Scottish Government introduced three regulations on disqualifying MPs, councillors and members of the House of Lords from the Scottish Parliament.

They were reviewed by the Scottish Parliament, led by the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, and approved on 30 October 2025.

The regulations took effect on 31 October 2025, but the new limits on dual mandates will only apply to MSPs from the next Scottish Parliament election on Thursday 7 May 2026.

MSP-MPs

The Scottish Parliament (Disqualification of Members of the House of Commons) regulation bans MSPs from being MPs.

However, any MP elected to Holyrood or any MSP elected to Westminster will have a 49 day grace period to resign from one of those roles.

For example, if Stephen Flynn MP is elected as an MSP in May, he will have 49 days to step down from his MP roles.

MSP-Lords

Similarly, the Scottish Parliament (Disqualification of Members of the House of Lords) regulation disqualifies MSPs from becoming peers at the same time as disqualifying peers from becoming MSPs.

However, there is also a grace period – this time much shorter – of 14 days, during which a peer elected to Holyrood or vice versa must step down from one of their roles.

MSP-councillors

The new regulations also cover MSP-councillors, which is a slightly different kettle of fish due to councillors being part-time positions.

The Scottish Parliament (Disqualification of Councillors) regulations bans MSPs councillors.

If an MSP becomes a councillor, they can stay as an MSP for 49 days. But if a councillor becomes an MSP, they can stay as an MSP either until the next council election if it’s within 372 days, or for 49 days if the election is further away.

In practice, this means that any councillors elected at the May 2026 election can retain their council role until local authority elections in May 2027.

READ MORE: Why we need to ban dual mandates

Next steps

The dual mandate bans are a welcome addition to Scotland’s democracy, ensuring that constituents can be effectively represented at multiple layers of government.

Grace periods are a sensible solution to allow for adjustments, and while the extended councillor-MSP grace period is a practical addition to limited impacts on local government, this should be monitored to see how effective it really is.

Will the Scottish Parliament change its voting system?

By Richard Wood

Concern is growing ahead of the 2026 election that the result after 7 May will be the most unrepresentative Scottish Parliament vote ever.

Proportionality was one of the founding principles of the design of Scotland’s Additional Member System. It’s not perfect, but since 1999 seats have broadly matched votes. Now, due to a combination of the imbalance of constituency to list seats (73 to 56) and one party expected to do well in constituencies despite falling well short of a majority of the constituency vote, the next Scottish Parliament is likely to fall well short of the proportional standards expected.

Are MSPs able to abolish the Additional Member System?

If election projections come true, the next parliament must seize the moment and find consensus to fix Holyrood’s creaking voting system.

The way to do this is through a Bill passed with a supermajority in Holyrood. That’s two-thirds of MSPs. Therefore any change requires broad consensus from multiple parties to meet the magic number of 86 MSPs.

Is change likely?

The possibility of electoral reform in Scotland depends on what happens after the election. The bigger the disproportionality, the more pressure there will be on MSPs and ministers to act.

The SNP, Lib Dems and Scottish Greens all support Proportional Representation. And together, they are likely to have a two-thirds majority, but finding agreement on the type of reform will be the challenge – not to mention conflicts in the SNP about maintaining the status-quo for their own advantage versus their commendable party stance on the issue.

There are certainly issues needing ironed out. But there is precedent for this in the devolution era. In Wales, Labour and Plaid Cymru came together to abolish the Additional Member System ahead of their own 2026 vote, and in Scotland, the Lib Dems convinced their coalition partners Labour to introduce STV for Scottish local government.

Holyrood is turning 30 in the next parliament. It’s time to review Scotland’s democratic foundations and reform the voting system once and for all.

Yet another poll shows Scotland on track for an unrepresentative election due to AMS

By Richard Wood

A new poll suggests that the Scottish Parliament is on track for a highly unrepresentative election despite Holyrood’s supposedly proportional voting system.

The Ipsos Scotland Political Pulse poll for STV puts the SNP first in terms of list votes, constituency votes and projected seats.

Party	Constituency %	List vote %
SNP	36%	26%
Labour	20%	19%
Green	7%	16%
Reform UK	19%	14%
Conservatives	9%	11%
Lib Dems	10%	10%

In a properly proportional system, seats should broadly match votes cast. But seat projections for this poll indicate a staggering mismatch between seats and votes.

Party	Seat count	Seat %
SNP	60	46.5%
Labour	20	15.5%
Green	16	12.4%
Reform	13	10.1%
Conservatives	10	7.8%
Lib Dems	10	7.8%

The biggest divergence between seats and votes here is with the SNP. Support for the party has fallen dramatically to 26% of list votes and 36% of seats. But projections indicate they are on track for 60 seats – almost half of those available.

The main driver behind this mismatch is driven by the dominance of First Past the Post seats used in Scotland’s Additional Member System, an imbalanced ratio of 73 to 56. This makes it theoretically possible for a party to win a majority on constituency seats alone.

The SNP is doing better than other competitive parties on the constituency ballot, and due to their success, they are on track to win the vast majority of constituency seats and close to a majority of seats overall.

The SNP is set to win more seats than they are entitled to if Holyrood had a mechanism to address parties winning more seats than they proportionally should on the constituency vote. In fact, Ballot Box Scotland estimates that the poll puts them on a staggering 22 seats more than what they should win if seats were determined by the proportional ballot alone in different Scottish regions.

Scotland’s new Parliament is likely going to be highly disproportionate. Holyrood’s new MSPs should address this with electoral reform.

Full details of the poll from STV can be read here.

Scotland’s new MSPs shouldn’t have to pledge allegiance to the King

By Richard Wood

One of the first acts undertaken by newly elected MSPs after the election of Thursday 7 May is pledging allegiance to the monarch.

That this is still happening in 2026 is utterly absurd.

MSPs are elected by the people of Scotland to represent the people of Scotland. Having them pledge allegiance to an unelected monarch in modern Scottish Parliament is something that needs to go.

What’s more, any MSP who declines is barred from participating in any proceedings and will not receive a salary or allowances until they comply. If they fail to do so within two months of being elected, they lose their MSP status.

Last year one MSP tabled a motion calling for an end to the backwards practice, stating:

“That the Parliament commends Grenada’s reported decision to drop the oath of allegiance to the British crown and replace it with a pledge of allegiance to Grenada; recognises that the people of Scotland are sovereign, and believes that Scotland’s Parliament should have the power to follow Grenada’s lead and have its members pledge allegiance to the people of Scotland and not an unelected monarch.”

Scotland’s new MSPs should recognise that the monarchy has no place in modern Scotland. This pledge of allegiance needs abolished. The pledge should be to the people of Scotland.

New Scottish poll shows why it’s time to ditch Holyrood’s voting system

By Richard Wood

The latest poll from Ipsos shows why it’s time to ditch the Additional Member System used to elect MSPs.

The company’s latest survey grabbed the headlines for placing Reform second, behind the SNP, on the constituency vote. Neither Nigel Farage’s rising party, nor UKIP before it, have even won seats at Holyrood so this result would be a seismic shift in voter behaviour.

However, beneath the headlines of Reform’s surge, the polling numbers alongside seat projections tell a different story. One of a creaking electoral system past its best.

The poll puts the SNP on 35% and 28% for constituency and list vote shares respectively. According to projections by Ballot Box Scotland, that is estimated to give the party 60 seats. That’s almost 47% of seats available.

The difference is staggering. Under AMS where seats are meant to match list vote share, BBS projects that the party would likely win around 40 seats. That’s still above the 28% of seats they would be entitled to under a fully proportional system (usual caveats about different voting systems impacting voting intention).

The biggest difference here is with the SNP. The party has lost significant support since 2021 but benefits from a fragmented unionist vote, with four parties competing for anti-independence voters – namely the Lib Dems, Labour, Conservatives and Reform.

BBS projects Scottish Labour would win 19 seats if Scotland voted like this. That’s 4 fewer than if a more proportional AMS was used (23).

Reform lose out the most, projected to win 6 short of the 23 they would win in a “better AMS”.

The Greens are projected to win 17 seats (AMS ideal: 21), the Conservatives 11 (AMS ideal: 14) and the Lib Dems 5 (compared to 8 under AMS ideal).

This result would mark a major shift in Scottish party politics, and a major decline in support for the Westminster duopoly. But that change risks not being fully shown in terms of seats.

Next year marks 27 years of devolution and the seventh Scottish election. Wales has reviewed and changed its fairly disproportional voting system for something somewhat better. Scotland’s seventh parliament should legislate to do the same.

The risk of 2021 was Alex Salmond’s Alba gaming the system to win a disproportionate independence supermajority. As we know, that outcome never emerged. This time, the threat of a seriously disproportionate election result comes from something much more likely. If the results in May look something like this, let’s hope they’re a wake-up call to our new legislators.

Kate Forbes is stepping down in 2026. A record number of MSPs aren’t standing again

By Richard Wood

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes is stepping down as an MSP at the next Scottish Parliamentary election.

Her upcoming departure marks a record number of MSPs standing down at any Holyrood election.

The announcement came as a shock to much of the Scottish political scene after she contested the 2023 SNP leadership election and secured Scotland’s second top job under First Minister John Swinney last year.

In a letter to the FM on 4 August 2025, the DFM said she does not wish to “miss any more of the precious early years of family life.

After careful thought over recess, I’ve decided not to seek re-election to @scotparl next year.

I’ve written to the First Minister this morning 👇🏽

I will continue to serve the First Minister, the Government and my constituents to the best of my ability until May 2026. pic.twitter.com/oNV4DGoelF
— Kate Forbes MSP (@_KateForbes) August 4, 2025

How many MSPs have stood down at each election?

So far, the total for 2026 is 35 MSPs (as of 8 July 2025). This beats the previous high of 34 in 2021, which included former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson.

And back in 2016, there were 25 MSPs who stood down (23 who retired and 2 who were deselected by their parties). Among the retirees at this election were former First Minister Alex Salmond, former Scottish Conservative leader Annabelle Goldie and the Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick.

A similar number stepped down at the election before. Among the 20 who retired in 2011 were former Deputy First Minister Nichol Stephen and former Scottish Green co-convenor.

Just 13 MSPs retired in 2007 including independent MSP Dennis Canavan and former Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace.

And in 2003, there were 10 MSPs who stepped down including our shortest-serving First Minister Henry McLeish and Westminster’s 1967 Hamilton by-election winner, the SNP’s Winnie Ewing.

Each year the number has gone up:

2026 – 35

2021 – 34

2016 – 25

2011 – 20

2007 – 13

2003 – 10

IMAGE: Via Scottish Government (lisence)