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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 latest MRP poll for the Scottish Parliament elections puts the SNP on course for a majority of seats on just 29% (list) and 34% (constituency) of the vote.
MRP polling is a way to use a small survey with population data to estimate what a whole population thinks by adjusting the results to reflect different types of people in the real world.
Its worth highlighting that while Find Out Now/the National projects that this would give the SNP a majority, others suggest they fall short such as Devolved Elections Project. But even in this projection, 61 seats is still a seat-share that doesn’t reflect vote-shares, highlighting the need for change.
Our projection for Scottish Parliament based on the latest Find Out Now MRP for @scotnational.bsky.social 🎗️ SNP — 61🌹 Lab — 19➡️ Ref — 17🌱 GP — 14🐤 LD — 10🌳 Con — 8Make your own on: devolvedelections.co.uk/scotland/
We’re on track for the most unrepresentative Scottish Parliament
Scotland is on track for a highly unrepresentative election. It’s early days in the short campaign, but recent polls including this one highlight a major mismatch between seats and votes is on its way.
This unrepresentativeness is driven by the dominance of constituency seats in the Additional Member System combined with the SNP expected to do extreme well on those seats on a vote share that fails to account fully for that success.
These polls, and the election result when it comes, must be a wake up call for Scotland’s politicians. The Additional Member System needs reform at a minimum and replacement ideally to ensure seats match votes and voters have power over candidates elected.
First Past the Post is driving disproportionality in Scotland’s chamber. The seventh Parliament must improve democracy in Scotland once and for all.
The latest poll for the 2026 Scottish Parliament election continues the trend of the SNP coming close to winning a majority of seats on around a third of votes. Talk about unrepresentative democracy.
Notably, the poll puts Reform on 15% of the constituency and list vote, down four points from the previous poll in February.
The main headline of this poll should be these unrepresentative seat projections, adding to an emerging trend, suggesting that the SNP are significantly down on their 2021 vote but are estimated to win three seats shy of a majority.
Ballot Box Scotland projects that these numbers would give the SNP 62 seats. Labour would be on 20, Reform on 14, the Greens on a record 12, the Lib Dems on their best result since 2007 with 10, and the Conservatives down from second place to fifth with 11 seats.
This divergence of seats and votes is driven by the imbalance of constituency and list seats in the Scottish Parliament. 73 out of the 129 seats are elected via First Past the Post, meaning that a party can do well winning lots of these even if their vote share doesn’t reflect their success in winning seats. This is compounded by the limited number of list seats available, meaning other parties can’t be compensated for the SNP winning more seats via constituencies than they would be entitled to if all seats were allocated proportionality.
Ballot Box Scotland estimates that if seats were allocated by the proportional list element alone, then the SNP would be on 44 seats, a seat share far more representative than what is currently projected.
With the election campaign now underway, there’s a very real chance the polls could change. But as things stand, Holyrood is on track for the most unrepresentative Parliament in its history.
The next Scottish Parliament must review its voting system and commit to reform in order to improve proportionality and voter power over candidates.
This poll further highlights another reason to address the Additional Member System’s flaws and upgrade Scottish democracy.
Voters in Scotland are going to the polls on Thursday 7 May 2026 to elect 129 MSPs.
Here’s how the Scotland’s Additional Member System works.
First Past the Post seats
Scotland is divided into 73 constituencies elected via First Past the Post. In this system, you get one vote for candidates in your constituency. The candidate with the most votes in each constituency wins the seat to become the constituency MSP.
On these seats alone, the share of votes cast for each party across Scotland are unlikely to match up with the proportion of seats won. To address this disproportionality, that’s where the other 56 seats come into play.
The country is also divided into eight regions each electing eight MSPs.
With this, you also get another ballot where you vote for a party of your choice. This party list element adds an element of proportionality to the Scottish Parliament so seats broadly match votes (although it’s worth highlighting that the system has proportionality problems that risk being on full display this May).
The allocation of party list seats is determined by list votes cast per party while also taking into account of constituency seats won by each party so seats roughly match votes over all.
If a party does wins lots of constituency seats in a region, they are unlikely to pick up many list seats. This has been the case for the SNP and Scottish Lib Dems in recent years. Similarly, if a party does well on the list ballot but not in constituencies, such as the Scottish Greens, then they will pick up list seats.
As we await the publication of manifestos from the five parties elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2021, it’s worth taking a look back at what each party said in 2021.
Scottish Greens
The Greens were the first of the five main parties to release their manifesto, launching their plan for Scotland on Wednesday 14 April 2021. The manifesto focused on green issues, restructuring the economy and Scottish independence. It also had a section on “Local democracy and communities” with the party pledging to:
Deliver empowered, genuinely local councils (more powers and an overall restructuring)
Oppose Ministerial vetoes over local decisions
Promote more diverse local representation
More local, democratic ownership
Additional participatory democracy with citizens assembly to be formalised at both local and national levels
The SNP secured a historic fourth term at Holyrood in 2021, and were second to launch their manifesto (Thursday 15 April 2021). The party pledged to:
Create a Citizens’ Assembly for under 16s
Extend the entitlement to stand for election to all those entitled to vote
Introduce a Local Democracy Bill to further empower local communities and to ensure that decisions are most closest to those who they will impact the most
Willie Rennie’s Scottish Liberal Democrats launched their manifesto on Friday 16 April 2021, hoping to build on the five MSPs they won in 2016 but in actual fact lost one seat. In typical Lib Dem fashion party’s 2021 manifesto was full of policies designed to improve Scottish democracy. The party pledged to:
Introduce a new fiscal framework to improve council funding, as well as more powers for local councils including the ability to set domestic and business taxation areas
Create a New Contempt of Parliament rule so minority governments cannot ignore the Scottish Parliament as a whole
Replace the Additional Member System with the Single Transferable Vote for Scottish Parliament elections
Return to four-year parliamentary terms
Work with other parties to further a culture of respect and use the pandemic experience go make Holyrood more flexible and Family friendly
Introduce a recall system for MSPs
Strengthen and expand the public’s right to information and introduce a new duty to record so the public can access information on important ministerial meetings
Increase usage of Citizens’ Assemblies
Scottish Conservatives and Unionists
The Scottish Conservatives’ launched their own manifesto on Monday 19 April 2021. Their proposal to introduce a recall rule was the most eye-catching of all, but in the end the proposal was flawed and didn’t make it into law. The party proposed to:
Introduce a recall rule for MSPs (Mackay’s law) – this would allow the public to re MSPs who have broken the law, grossly undermined trust or failed to contribute to parliament for over six months
Retain votes at 16 for all Scottish elections
Implement a cross-party commission on improving how the Scottish Parliament operates and to improve Scottish Government scrutiny
Explore how to modernise the working practices of the Scottish Parliament to make them more suitable for MSPs with young families
Cut the cabinet from 12 to six members and freeze MSP and ministerial pay across the next parliament
Scottish Labour were the last of the main five parties in Scotland to launch their manifesto. Anas Sarwar’s party unveiled their policy priorities on Thursday 23 April and are hoping to take second place from the Scottish Conservatives. The party’s main proposals on Scottish democracy are to:
Devolve further powers to Holyrood (borrowing and employment rights)
Introduce a Clean Up Holyrood Commission
Elect Holyrood committee conveners via the whole Scottish Parliament
Give Holyrood committees more powers
Further devolve powers to local government
Introduce a “Right to Space” to ensure communities have places to meet and funding to build the capacity to participate as active citizens
Just one of the six parties expected to win seats at Holyrood this year has published their manifesto. Reform UK unveiled their platform last month alongside their candidates, with many of those candidates no longer in those roles…
Last time, the other five published their manifestos in a tight window mid-April. By the end of April, we will have all major manifesto ahead of the vote on Thursday 7 May.
A record number of MSPs are stepping down from the Scottish Parliament ahead of the 2026 election.
The current total (as of March 2026), just weeks before the poll, stands at 42 members. These include two former First Ministers (Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf), as well as Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes and other high-profile members in the current Scottish Cabinet.
Other retirees include the Lib Dems’ Beatrice Wishart, Labour’s Richard Leonard and the Conservatives’ Douglas Ross. Not to mention Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone, elected as a Green MSP.
A total of 34 MSPs stood down in 2021, including former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson.
While back in 2016, there were 25 MSPs who stood down (23 who retired and 2 who were deselected by their parties). Among the retirees that year 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.
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.
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.
Upgrade Holyrood 
