Scottish Parliament 2021

As the starting gun is fired for the last stretch of the Scottish Parliament campaign, BBS breaks down the whopping 808 candidates in the running for Holyrood’s 129 seats.

By far the dominant political force in Scotland for the past decade, nothing so far suggests 2021 will be any different. However, recent polling is divided on whether the party will regain the majority it lost in 2016, and the impact of the Alba Party remains to be seen.

2016 marked a remarkable revival for the Conservatives after two decades in the doldrums, as they displaced Labour as the second party at Holyrood. Current polling has them not far off their 2021 results, but enough to lose a handful of seats.

Scotland’s leading party for a half-century, Labour have been languishing in third place since 2016. They’ve never increased their share of votes or seats at a Holyrood election, and polling suggests 2021 will be no different. Can a newly elected leader turn things around?

The Greens displaced the Lib Dems to become Holyrood’s 4th party in 2016, and could be on track for further growth if – if! – positive polling is accurate and holds up. Relatively even support could count for or against the party, with just 2% of the vote making the difference between 3 or 10 seats.