With only a few weeks until Scots go to the polls to vote for their new Holyrood Parliament, most of the major parties have set off in their first pieces of campaigning to secure voters before 7 May.
The SNP marked the first weekend of campaigning with a bold pro-independence march through Edinburgh spearheaded by First Minister John Swinney. Joined by the co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay, it was a clear reaffirming that the party believes their fifth consecutive win will finally be the boiling point to bring about independence. Swinney set his goals high as he told the crowd: “I want an overall majority so I can take Scotland’s future into Scotland’s hands.” A majority of Holyrood has only been achieved once in its 25+ year history by the SNP in 2011; however, polls from February suggest the SNP are breathing down the necks of a second majority, with projections estimating they will take 63 of the 129 total seats, losing a seat from 2021. Swinney’s stable, if unexciting, leadership, as well as Labour’s collapse in unpopularity, have been a blessing to their aspirations.
As for Reform, any outreach they made was overshadowed by the resurfacing of a homophobic joke made by their Scottish leader, Malcolm Offord. Offord, who made the comment at a Burns Night dinner in 2018, acknowledged the remark was probably distasteful but told the BBC the backlash was overkill: “I don’t have any issue with homophobia, I’ve got a lot of gay friends.” The joke in question was allegedly an odd quip involving George Michael’s lover, Fadi Fawaz, mixing his ashes into a curry. Other party leaders have jumped to criticise Offord and Reform, with Gillian Mackay claiming his comments were “disgusting,” and Scottish Labour member Paul O’Kane said this shows how Reform is a “nasty party” at its core. The week was also marked by no less than five candidates from Reform withdrawing their standing, including James Glen, who was standing for a constituency in Edinburgh. If Reform started as they intended to continue, then they are unlikely to come close to the 70+ seats they plan to challenge for.
With Scottish Conservatives, the current second most powerful party in Holyrood, they had a comparatively more lowkey event in Edinburgh than the SNP to start their campaign. With Reform’s rapid rise, Tory leader Russell Findlay made a point to tell his audience that his party was the only credible Unionist vote: “I completely understand why people feel disillusioned with politics, but Reform are not the answer. Certainly not.” Despite these calls, polls still tout Reform to become the second biggest party in Holyrood, leapfrogging the Conservatives. The party seems unaffected by these signs, though, as the Conservative candidate for Edinburgh Central, Joanna Mowat, insists the election for both Edinburgh and the wider nation is still a two-horse race between themselves and the SNP. However, since late 2024, Reform has been outperforming the Tories in the polls, and despite the former’s struggles in the past week, the Tories should still prepare for a washout on 7 May.
The leader of Scottish Labour, Anas Sarwar, channelled Tony Blair’s “Education, Education, Education” speech, promising they would hire 3,000 new teaching staff should they win in May. At the same event in Glasgow, he continued the cross-partisan attack on Reform, calling the group “Tories in disguise.” On 30 March, he wrote for The Daily Record where he outlined how his party would value the youth of Scotland: cracking down on the violence epidemic in schools, setting up a Misogyny Reduction Unit to tackle the rising influence of the manosphere on adolescents. This may not be enough to reverse Scottish Labour’s slipping support, though, as pollsters at IPSOS have the party in the race for third place behind Reform. Starmer’s unpopularity is a clear poison affecting Labour that will cost them more seats than it will gain them.
While the SNP eyes up a safe victory, the race for second and third will be telling. Whether Reform or Tories win the right-wing vote and if Labour will be completely knocked off the podium, may foreshadow the next General Election.
Photo by Maja R. on Unsplash
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Scottish Parties Make Their Mark as Election Campaigning Begins
With only a few weeks until Scots go to the polls to vote for their new Holyrood Parliament, most of the major parties have set off in their first pieces of campaigning to secure voters before 7 May.
The SNP marked the first weekend of campaigning with a bold pro-independence march through Edinburgh spearheaded by First Minister John Swinney. Joined by the co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay, it was a clear reaffirming that the party believes their fifth consecutive win will finally be the boiling point to bring about independence. Swinney set his goals high as he told the crowd: “I want an overall majority so I can take Scotland’s future into Scotland’s hands.” A majority of Holyrood has only been achieved once in its 25+ year history by the SNP in 2011; however, polls from February suggest the SNP are breathing down the necks of a second majority, with projections estimating they will take 63 of the 129 total seats, losing a seat from 2021. Swinney’s stable, if unexciting, leadership, as well as Labour’s collapse in unpopularity, have been a blessing to their aspirations.
As for Reform, any outreach they made was overshadowed by the resurfacing of a homophobic joke made by their Scottish leader, Malcolm Offord. Offord, who made the comment at a Burns Night dinner in 2018, acknowledged the remark was probably distasteful but told the BBC the backlash was overkill: “I don’t have any issue with homophobia, I’ve got a lot of gay friends.” The joke in question was allegedly an odd quip involving George Michael’s lover, Fadi Fawaz, mixing his ashes into a curry. Other party leaders have jumped to criticise Offord and Reform, with Gillian Mackay claiming his comments were “disgusting,” and Scottish Labour member Paul O’Kane said this shows how Reform is a “nasty party” at its core. The week was also marked by no less than five candidates from Reform withdrawing their standing, including James Glen, who was standing for a constituency in Edinburgh. If Reform started as they intended to continue, then they are unlikely to come close to the 70+ seats they plan to challenge for.
With Scottish Conservatives, the current second most powerful party in Holyrood, they had a comparatively more lowkey event in Edinburgh than the SNP to start their campaign. With Reform’s rapid rise, Tory leader Russell Findlay made a point to tell his audience that his party was the only credible Unionist vote: “I completely understand why people feel disillusioned with politics, but Reform are not the answer. Certainly not.” Despite these calls, polls still tout Reform to become the second biggest party in Holyrood, leapfrogging the Conservatives. The party seems unaffected by these signs, though, as the Conservative candidate for Edinburgh Central, Joanna Mowat, insists the election for both Edinburgh and the wider nation is still a two-horse race between themselves and the SNP. However, since late 2024, Reform has been outperforming the Tories in the polls, and despite the former’s struggles in the past week, the Tories should still prepare for a washout on 7 May.
The leader of Scottish Labour, Anas Sarwar, channelled Tony Blair’s “Education, Education, Education” speech, promising they would hire 3,000 new teaching staff should they win in May. At the same event in Glasgow, he continued the cross-partisan attack on Reform, calling the group “Tories in disguise.” On 30 March, he wrote for The Daily Record where he outlined how his party would value the youth of Scotland: cracking down on the violence epidemic in schools, setting up a Misogyny Reduction Unit to tackle the rising influence of the manosphere on adolescents. This may not be enough to reverse Scottish Labour’s slipping support, though, as pollsters at IPSOS have the party in the race for third place behind Reform. Starmer’s unpopularity is a clear poison affecting Labour that will cost them more seats than it will gain them.
While the SNP eyes up a safe victory, the race for second and third will be telling. Whether Reform or Tories win the right-wing vote and if Labour will be completely knocked off the podium, may foreshadow the next General Election.
Photo by Maja R. on Unsplash
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