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

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.

Momentum is building against dual mandates – here’s what I’ve asked my MP to do

By Richard Wood

Westminster has an opportunity to ban dual mandates to prevent MPs and peers from also serving MSPs at the same time.

More immediately, the House of Commons’ Modernisation Committee is looking at improving working practices, standards and conditions, with a remit that includes second jobs. This gives a clear opportunity to improve our representative democracy and abolish dual mandates once and for all.

Below is a copy of the text I used to write to my MP on the matter. I am also submitting evidence to the Modernisation Committee.

Feel free to use my letter as the basis for your own contact.

Whether it’s Stephen Flynn in the SNP, Douglas Ross in the Conservatives, or any future Labour or Lib Dem MPs hoping for dual mandates, double jobbing is bad for effective representation of constituents.

Email to MP: abolish dual mandates once and for all

Dear [NAME] MP

I am writing to express my concern about dual mandates held by Members of Parliament and peers in the House of Lords.

Voters deserve full-time MPs to speak up for their constituencies in parliament. Not part-timers. That is why I believe MPs shouldn’t be able to hold additional full-time roles in the Scottish Parliament or the London Assembly, and be restricted from holding elected roles in local councils.

MPs cannot be members of the Senedd in Wales or Stormont in Northern Ireland in addition to their Westminster roles. Why not the same for the Scottish Parliament and the London Assembly?

Please write to the Modernisation Committee to represent my views and call on them to recommend that the law is changed so MPs are unable to hold additional elected roles, as part of their remit looking at second jobs for MPs.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I look forward to you raising this matter.

Stephen Flynn MSP-MP in 2026? A dual mandates ban is overdue

By Richard Wood

Westminster leader Stephen Flynn plans to stand to become an MSP at the 2026 Holyrood elections. Flynn intends to remain an MP, if he wins the Scottish Parliament seat of Aberdeenshire South and North Kincardine, implying he would hold a dual mandate by representing seats in both Holyrood and Westminster until 2029.

Dual mandates – no matter which party holds them, and Scotland’s four main party’s have held them at one time or another – are bad for representative democracy.

Being an MSP or and MP is a full-time job. Constituents deserve representatives working full-time for them, not juggling multiple mandates and travelling across the country all the time. No matter which party they come from, whether it is the Conservatives’ Douglas Ross, the SNP’s Stephen Flynn or any of the former Labour and Lib Dem dual mandates holders at Holyrood.

https://twitter.com/StephenFlynnSNP/status/1856235419936931843?t=NDBCzeng2IdW042lMN0olg&s=19

Westminster has rightly banned MPs from holding elected office in the Northern Irish Assembly. And there is an effective ban of MP-MSs for Wales with exceptions in the case of an impending Senedd election.

More widely, dual mandates are banned in many democracies across the world. Even France, long known for its representatives holding dual mandates – and even triple mandates – has clamped down on the practice in recent years.

Members of the European Parliament are also forbidden from holding roles in their national parliament alongside their MEP roles.

Stephen Flynn MP has every right to stand for the Scottish Parliament. But it’s surprising he’s made the decision to do so while explicitly saying he’s remain an MP if he were to be elected.

Westminster’s Modernisation Committee has an opportunity here to recommend preventing MPs from holding seats in the Scottish Parliament concurrently.

In the meantime, Stephen Flynn MP should reconsider his intentions to hold his Westminster seat if elected to Holyrood.

Image by Roger Harris (This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license)