By Richard Wood

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.

READ MORE: Dual mandates ban passed unanimously in Scottish Parliament

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)

READ MORE: 5 reasons to ban MSP-MP dual mandates

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)

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

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)

READ MORE: Dual mandates ban by 2026 backed by the Scottish Government

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.

READ MORE: SNP manifesto is limited on democratic reform ahead of 2026 election