Scottish Labour Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Anas Sarwar |
| Deputy Leader | Jackie Baillie |
| General Secretary | Kate Watson[1] |
| Founder | Robert Bontine Cunninghame GrahamKeir Hardie |
| Founded | 1888; 137 years ago (1888) (original form) 1994; 31 years ago (1994) (current form) |
| Preceded by | Scottish Labour Party (1888) |
| Headquarters | Rutherglen,South Lanarkshire, Scotland |
| Student wing | Scottish Labour Students |
| Youth wing | Scottish Young Labour |
| Membership(2021) | 16,467[2] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| UK Parliament affiliation | Labour Party |
| Colours | Red |
| House of Commons (Scottish seats) | 37 / 57 |
| Scottish Parliament[3] | 21 / 129 |
| Local government in Scotland[4] | 262 / 1,226 |
| Councils led inScotland[4] | 10 / 32 |
| Election symbol | |
 | |
| Website | |
scottishlabour | |
Scottish Labour (Scottish Gaelic:Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba)[5][6] is the part of the UKLabour Party active in Scotland. Ideologicallysocial democratic andunionist, it holds 21 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament[3] and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is represented by 262 of the 1,226 local councillors across Scotland.[4] The Scottish Labour party has no separateChief Whip at Westminster.
Throughout the later decades of the 20th century and into the first years of the 21st, Labour dominated politics in Scotland, winning the largest share of the vote in Scotland at everyUK general election from1964 to2010, everyEuropean Parliament election from1984 to2004 and in the first twoelections to the Scottish Parliament in1999 and2003. After this period, Scottish Labour formed a coalition with theScottish Liberal Democrats, forming a majorityScottish Executive. Until recently, especially since the2014 Scottish independence referendum, the party suffered significant decline, losing ground predominantly to theScottish National Party, who advocate Scottish independence from the United Kingdom. Scottish Labour experienced one of their worst defeats ever at the2015 general election. They were left with a sole seat in the House of Commons,Edinburgh South, and lost40 of its 41 seats to the SNP. This was the first time the party had not dominated in Scotland since the Conservative Party landslide in1959.[7] At the2016 Scottish Parliament election, the party lost 13 of its 37 seats, becoming the third-largest party after being surpassed by theScottish Conservatives.
At the2017 general election, Scottish Labour improved their fortunes and gained six seats from the SNP, bringing its total seat tally to seven and winning a 27% share of the vote. This was the first time since the1918 general election, 99 years previously, that Labour had finished in third place at any general election in Scotland. Overall, the 2017 general election marked the first time in twenty years that the Labour Party had made net gains in the UK at any election. The success was short-lived, however, and at the2019 general election, Labour lost all new seats gained two years earlier, and again were left with Edinburgh South as their only Scottish seat in the House of Commons.Ian Murray has served as the MP for the constituency since 2010, and is currently one of Scotland's longest-serving MPs. The 2019 general election was Labour's worst result nationally in 84 years, with their lowest share of the vote recorded in Scotland since theDecember 1910 general election. The2021 Scottish Parliament election saw Labour decline even further, achieving their lowest number of seats in Holyrood since devolution in 1999; with 22 MSPs returned to the Scottish Parliament. Despite this, Anas Sarwar remained as leader. The2022 Scottish local elections resulted in Labour gaining 20 seats across Scottish local councils, with a slight increase in their share of the vote. In the2024 general election, Scottish Labour won 37 seats, a majority of Scottish seats in Westminster.
Scottish Labour is registered with theUK Electoral Commission as a description andAccounting Unit (AU) of theUK Labour Party and is therefore not a registered political party under the terms of thePolitical Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.[8] It does however have autonomy from the UK Labour Party. As withWelsh Labour, Scottish Labour has its own general secretary which is the administrative head of the party, responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation, and reports to the UKGeneral Secretary of the Labour Party. The Scottish Labour headquarters is currently at Bath Street, Glasgow. It was formerly co-located with the offices ofUnite the Union atJohn Smith House, 145 West Regent Street. The party holds an annual conference during February/March each year.
Scottish Labour is administered by the Glasgow-basedScottish Executive Committee (SEC), which is responsible to theLabour Party's London-based National Executive Committee (NEC). The Scottish Executive Committee is made up of representatives of party members, elected members and party affiliates, for example, trade unions and socialist societies.
Party Officers:[9]
In 2008, Scottish Labour membership was reported as 17,000, down from a peak of approximately 30,000 in the run-up to the1997 general election.[10] The figures included in the Annual Report presented to the Scottish Party Conference in 2008, also recorded that more than half of all Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) had less than 300 members, with 14 having less than 200 members.[11]
In September 2010, the party issued 13,135 ballot papers to party members during theLabour Party (UK) leadership election. These did not necessarily equate to 13,135 individual members – due to the party's electoral structure, members can qualify for multiple votes.[12] The party has declined to reveal its membership figures since 2008, and did not publish the number of votes cast in the leadership elections of 2011 or 2014, only percentages.[13]
In November 2014 the party's membership was claimed by an unnamed source reported in theSunday Herald to be 13,500.[14] Other reports in the media at around this time quoted figures of "as low as 8,000" (theEvening Times)[15] and "less than 10,000" (New Statesman).[16] In December 2014 the newly elected leaderJim Murphy claimed that the figure was "about 20,000" on the TV programmeScotland Tonight.[17]
In late September 2015, following a membership boost resulting from the2015 Labour leadership election, a total of 29,899 people were associated with the party; 18,824 members, 7,790 people affiliated through trade unions and other groups, and 3,285 registered supporters.[18] In September 2017, it was reported that the party had 21,500 members and 9,500 affiliated through trade unions and other groups, making a total of 31,000 people associated with the party.[19] In January 2018, the total Scottish membership stood at 25,836, however within 12 months it was leaked in January 2019 that this value had fallen by 4,674 to 21,162.[20]
In February 2021, the membership figure was down to 16,467.[2] Leaked figures obtained by theDaily Record in February 2022 showed that nearly one third of Scottish Labour members were in favour ofanother Scottish independence referendum. Asked whether "in principle" there should be a referendum on independence, 30% agreed and 57% disagreed.[21]
From the formation of theLabour Representation Committee in 1900, it had members in Scotland, but unlike in England and Wales, it made no pact with theLiberal Party and so initially struggled to make an impact.[22] In 1899, theScottish Trades Union Congress organised theScottish Workers' Representation Committee, which merged into theLabour Party in 1909, greatly increasing its presence in Scotland. By this time, the party's structure in the nation was complex, with constituency parties, and branches of affiliated parties, but no co-ordination at the national level. To provide this, aScottish Advisory Council was founded in 1915, its first conference chaired byKeir Hardie.[23] This was later renamed as theScottish Council of the Labour Party, informally known as theLabour Party in Scotland.[24][25] In 1994 or 1995, it was renamed as the Scottish Labour Party.[24][22] UnderKezia Dugdale, it was rebranded as Scottish Labour,[26] though its official name remains the Scottish Labour Party.
In the early years, the Scottish Council had little power, and its conference could only consider motions on Scottish matters until 1972. However, this allowed it to devote significant time to the question ofScottish devolution.[22] The Labour Party campaigned for the creation of a devolvedScottish Parliament as part of its wider policy of adevolved United Kingdom. In the late 1980s and 1990s it and its representatives participated in theScottish Constitutional Convention with theScottish Liberal Democrats,Scottish Greens,trades unions and churches, and also campaigned for a "Yes-Yes" vote in the1997 referendum.
Donald Dewar led Labour's campaign for thefirst elections to the Scottish Parliament on 6 May 1999. Labour won the most votes and seats, with 56 seats out of 129 (including 53 of the 73 constituency seats), a clear distance ahead of the second-placedScottish National Party (SNP). Labour entered government by forming a coalition with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, with Dewar agreeing to their demand for the abolition of up-front tuition fees for university students as the price for a coalition deal. Dewar became the inauguralFirst Minister of Scotland.[27]
Dewar died only a year later on 11 October 2000. A new first minister was elected in a ballot by Scottish Labour's MSPs and national executive members, because there was insufficient time to hold a full leadership election.[28] On 21 October,Henry McLeish was elected to succeed Dewar, defeating rivalJack McConnell.[29][30] Labour's dominance of Scotland's Westminster seats continued in the2001 general election, with a small loss of votes but no losses of seats.
McLeish resigned later that year amid a scandal involving allegations that he sub-let part of his tax-subsidised Westminster constituency office without it having been registered in theregister of interests kept in the Parliamentary office, an affair which the press calledOfficegate.[31] Though McLeish could not have personally benefited financially from the oversight, he undertook to repay the £36,000 rental income, and resigned to allow Scottish Labour a clean break to prepare for the2003 Scottish Parliament election.[32] After McLeish's resignation, McConnell quickly emerged as the only candidate, and was elected First Minister by the Parliament on 22 November 2001.[33]
The coalition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats was narrowly re-elected at the Scottish Parliament election, with Labour losing seven seats and the Liberal Democrats gaining one.[34] The SNP also lost seats, though other pro-independence parties made gains. Labour once again won the majority of seats in Scotland at the2005 general election. The boundaries in Scotland were redrawn to reduce the number of Westminster constituencies in Scotland from 72 to 59. Labour had a notional loss of 5 seats and an actual loss of 15.[35]
At the start of the campaign for the2007 Scottish Parliament election, Labour were behind the SNP in most of theopinion polls. On 10 April, McConnell unveiled Scottish Labour's election manifesto, which included plans to scrap bills for pensioners and reformCouncil Tax. The manifesto also proposed a large increase inpublic spending on education, which would allow for the school leaving age to be increased to 18 and reduce average class sizes to 19 pupils.[36]
Labour lost 4 seats and fell narrowly behind the SNP, who won 47 seats to Labour's 46 seats. Labour still won the most constituencies, but the SNP made inroads. Both parties were well short of a majority in the parliament.[37] SNP leaderAlex Salmond was elected first minister with support from theScottish Greens, defeating McConnell 49–46 while the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats abstained.[38][39] Labour did take the most votes in thelocal elections on the same day but lost seats due to the introduction ofproportional representation for local council elections. On 15 August 2007, McConnell announced his intention to resign as Scottish Labour leader.[40]Wendy Alexander emerged as the only candidate to succeed him, and was installed as leader of the Labour group in the Scottish Parliament on 14 September 2007.[41]
During a TV interview on 4 May 2008,Wendy Alexander performed a majorU-turn on previous Scottish Labour policy by seeming to endorse a referendum onScottish independence, despite previously refusing to support any referendum on the grounds that she did not support independence. During a further TV interview two days later, she reiterated this commitment to a referendum and claimed that she had the full backing of current British prime ministerGordon Brown.[42] The following day, however, Brown denied this was Labour policy and that Alexander had been misrepresented duringPrime Minister's Questions in Westminster.[43] Additionally, Brown's spokesman said: "The prime minister has always been confident of the strength of the argument in favour of the Union and believes a referendum on Scottish independence would be defeated."[42] Despite this lack of backing, Alexander once again reiterated her commitment to a referendum during First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament.[44]
On 28 June 2008, Alexander announced her resignation as Leader of Scottish Labour as a result of the pressure on her following the donation scandal.[45][46]Cathy Jamieson subsequently became interim party leader. A month after, Labour lost a safe Westminster seat to the SNP in theGlasgow East by-election.[47][48]
The2008 Labour group leadership election was the first time Labour had elected its Scottish leader with the participation of its members, using a system similar to that used at the time by the UK-wide Labour Party (the system had been adopted in 2007, but no ballot had taken place as Alexander had been unopposed). The contenders wereIain Gray, MSP forEast Lothian, a formerEnterprise Minister in the previous Labour Executive,Andy Kerr, MSP forEast Kilbride and former Health Secretary in the previous administration, andCathy Jamieson MSP, the acting party leader who had been deputy leader under Jack McConnell.[49][50] On 13 September 2008, Gray was elected leader and promised a "fresh start" for Labour in Scotland.[51][unreliable source?]
A few months later, Labour won theGlenrothes by-election in Fife. The result was considered a surprise, as there was speculation that the SNP could have won an upset similar to Glasgow East.[52] The2009 European Parliament election was catastrophic for Labour,[53] falling behind the SNP for the first time and producing its worst results since beforeWorld War I.[54] However, it easily won theGlasgow North East by-election later that year,[55] which had been triggered by the resignation of House SpeakerMichael Martin in the wake of theexpenses scandal.[56]
At the2010 general election on 6 May 2010, contrary to polls preceding the election, Labour consolidated their vote in Scotland, losing no seats (despite losing 91 seats across the rest of Britain) and regained Glasgow East from the SNP. This resulted in incumbent Scottish secretary Jim Murphy stating that the result provided an impetus for Scottish Labour to attempt to become "the biggest party in Holyrood" in the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections.[57]
Labour led the SNP in the polls for the2011 Scottish Parliament election until the campaign began in March, at which point support for the SNP rallied. The SNP went on to win an unprecedented majority in the Scottish Parliament, a result that had been considered impossible under the proportional voting system. Labour had a net loss of 7 seats to the SNP. It also lost most of their constituency seats, although its share of the constituency vote declined by less than 1%. Labour's defeat was attributed to their campaign being directed mostly against thegovernment in Westminster instead of the SNP.[58] Party leaderIain Gray, who held on to his own seat by only 151 votes, announced that he would be resigning with effect from later in the year. Eight weeks later, Labour easily retained a Westminster seat at theInverclyde by-election, suggesting that Scottish Labour's disappointing performance in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election would not necessarily translate into support for its political opponents in other elections.
Following the 2011 Scottish election,Ed Miliband commissioned theReview of the Labour Party in Scotland of the future structure and operation of the Labour Party in Scotland, co-chaired by Murphy andSarah Boyack MSP. The review included a recommendation for a new post of Leader of the Scottish Labour Party to be created (previous Scottish Labour leaders had only been the leader of the Labour group in the Scottish Parliament). Others included more autonomy for the Scottish party and the reorganisation of members into branches based on Holyrood constituencies rather than Westminster constituencies. On 17 December 2011,Johann Lamont MSP waselected as leader andAnas Sarwar MP was elected as her deputy. Delivering her victory speech, Lamont said: "I want to change Scotland, but the only way we can change Scotland is by changing the Scottish Labour Party."[59]
In the2012 Scottish local elections, Labour were outpolled by the SNP. However, it gained votes and council seats and held its majorities on the councils ofGlasgow andNorth Lanarkshire and regained control ofRenfrewshire andWest Dunbartonshire.[60]
For the2014 referendum on Scottish independence, Scottish Labour joined with the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to form the pro-unionBetter Together campaign againstScottish independence. It was led byAlistair Darling, a former Labour minister. In addition, Scottish Labour ran its own pro-UK campaignUnited with Labour alongside, with the support of former Prime MinisterGordon Brown.[61]Anas Sarwar MP also led an unofficial organisation called the "2014 Truth Team", described by the party as "dedicated to cutting through the noise and delivering [...] facts on independence".[62]
In July 2012, a member of Scottish Labour startedLabour for Independence, a rebel group of Labour supporters who backYes Scotland in the campaign for Scottish independence.[63] The group was dismissed by the Scottish Labour leadership as lacking "real support" from within the party.[64]
The referendum was held on 18 September 2014 and resulted in a 55.3%–44.7% victory for the No side. However, many of Labour's traditional strongholds favoured the Yes side, notably includingGlasgow.[65] The SNP had a surge in membership[66] and gained a wide lead over Labour in the opinion polls.[67][68]
On 24 October 2014,Johann Lamont announced her resignation as leader. She accused Labour's UK-wide leadership of undermining her attempts to reform the Scottish Labour Party and treating it "like a branch office of London."[69] The party's2014 leadership election was won byJim Murphy, an MP who had previously served asSecretary of State for Scotland and been a prominent campaigner for the pro-Union side in the referendum.[70] In his victory speech, Murphy said that his election marked a "fresh start" for Scottish Labour: "Scotland is changing and so too is Scottish Labour. I'm ambitious for our party because I'm ambitious for our country".[70][71] He also said that he planned to defeat the SNP in 2016, and would use the increased powers being devolved to Holyrood to end poverty and inequality. In her speech after being elected deputy leader,Kezia Dugdale said that the party's "focus has to be on the future – a Scottish Labour party that's fighting fit and fighting for our future".[70]
Labour's poll ratings in Scotland did not reverse, and the party suffered a landslide defeat in thegeneral election in May 2015, losing 40 of their 41 seats to the SNP.[72] Many senior party figures were unseated, including Murphy himself (East Renfrewshire), Shadow Foreign SecretaryDouglas Alexander (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) and Shadow Scotland SecretaryMargaret Curran (Glasgow East).[73]Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) was the only MP re-elected.[74] It was the first time since1959 that the party had not won the most votes in Scotland at a general election.[75] On 16 May 2015, Murphy resigned as leader effective 13 June 2015.[76] Under normal circumstances, Deputy LeaderKezia Dugdale would become acting leader, but former LeaderIain Gray was appointed Acting Leader whilst a leadership and a deputy leadership election are being simultaneously held on account of Dugdale resigning as Deputy Leader to stand for Leader. Dugdale won the2015 leadership election on 15 August 2015, beatingKen Macintosh.[77][78] On 1 November 2015, Scottish Labour Party delegates backed a vote to scrap the UK'sTrident nuclear missile system. The motion was supported by an overwhelming majority, in which both party members and unions voted 70% in favor of the motion.[79]
In the2016 Scottish Parliament election, Labour lost a third of its seats, dropping from 37 to 24. Labour got its lowest percentage of the vote in Scotland in 98 years with 23% and fell into 3rd place, a position it last occupied in Scotland in 1910, behind theConservatives. The party also only won 3 constituency seats: holding onto theDumbarton andEast Lothian constituencies and gaining theEdinburgh Southern constituency from the SNP, whilst losing eleven of its 2011 constituencies to the SNP and two to the Conservatives.[80]
In the2017 local elections, Labour's share of first preference votes fell from 31.4% to 20.2%, while it lost over 130 seats. This result meant the Party fell to third place in terms of both vote share and number of councillors. Labour also lost control of Glasgow and three other councils where it had a majority.[81] At the beginning of the2017 general election campaign, Labour's poll ratings fell to a historic low 13%, and were more than 15% behind the Conservatives in Scotland in some polls. However, towards the end of the campaign Labour's polling increased to levels around the 24% which it had received in 2015. On election day itself, the party managed to improve on its 2015 result and received 27% of the Scottish vote in a surprisingly good night for the party nationwide, and picked up 6 seats from the SNP in traditionally Labour areas such asCoatbridge,Glasgow,Kirkcaldy, andRutherglen, bringing its Scottish number of seats to 7. Despite the positive result for the party, Labour remained in third place in Scotland, behind the Conservatives on 29%, and the SNP on 37%.[82]
On 29 August 2017, Dugdale resigned as leader of the Scottish Labour Party.[83] Her deputy,Alex Rowley, took over as acting leader until 15 November, when he was suspended from Scottish Labour's parliamentary party while a probe into his conduct took place.[84] Jackie Baillie took over as acting leader until the conclusion of the leadership election. Theelection for a new leader of the Scottish Labour party took place between 11 September 2017 (when nominations opened) and 18 November 2017, when the new leader was announced.[85][86] Nominations for leadership candidates closed on 17 September. Anyone that wished to vote in the leadership election must have either been a member of the Scottish Labour Party, an 'affiliated supporter' (through being signed up as a Scottish Labour Party supporter through an affiliated organisation or union), or a 'registered supporter' (which requires signing up online and paying a one-off fee of £12) by 9 October. Voting opened on 27 October and closed at midday on 17 November.[87][88]Richard Leonard won the leadership election with 56.7% of the vote and was elected as the leader of the Scottish Labour Party on 18 November.[89][90][91]
On 12 December 2019, Scottish Labour returned to having only one seat in Westminster (Edinburgh South).[92] Leonard apologised for the UK party failing to address concerns over Brexit and for the Scottish party not having stopped what he described as the "SNP juggernaut".[93] However, he said he would continue as leader and carry out a listening exercise.[94][95]
After surviving previous calls for him to go,[96][97] Leonard resigned as leader on 14 January 2021, triggering the2021 Scottish Labour leadership election.[98] Shortly afterwards, it was reported that Leonard had been pressured into resigning by wealthy donors, who told UK Labour leaderKeir Starmer that they would not give money to the Westminster party unless Leonard quit.[99]
On 27 February 2021, former Deputy LeaderAnas Sarwar was elected Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, defeating rivalMonica Lennon by 57.6% to 42.4% and promised to heal and unite the party.[100] At the2021 Scottish Parliament election, Labour lost a further two seats including the constituency seat ofEast Lothian, bringing their number of MSPs to 22, an all-time low.[101][unreliable source?] They also recorded their worst performance on both the Constituency and List vote in terms of vote share, however it was better than had been predicted by many polls at the start of Sarwar's tenure as leader, some of which had predicted Labour to potentially fall to fourth place behind theScottish Greens.[102] Under Sarwar's leadership, Scottish Labour have re-affirmed their constitutional position of unionism[103] which has led to a sometimes controversial selections of candidates. The party has been criticised for fielding a number of candidates affiliated with theOrange Order in local elections.[104][105]
In February 2022, during an interview onTimes Radio, Sarwar said: "[Labour] have got to demonstrate to people the kind of alternative we can have and the difference it would make to people's lives so they positively vote Labour, not just negatively vote against the Tories or the SNP. If I'm honest, I didn't quite grip or grasp how I think hollowed out we were as an organisation, not just in terms of our political message and our political result, as an organisation I hadn't really grasped how hollowed out we were."[106] The party rebranded the following month, changing its traditional red rose logo to a red and purple thistle. A party spokesman said: "Scottish Labour is committed to transforming our party to win back the trust of the people to Scotland. We're on the side of the Scots, and hope they'll join us so we can build the future together. To do that we need new ideas and new thinking. At Scottish Labour conference this week you will hear Anas Sarwar relentlessly focus on the future."[107]
At the2022 local elections, Labour made minor gains and overtook the Conservatives into second place by gaining 20 seats and a slight increase in their share of the vote, but still finished far behind the SNP; with 282 seats overall, it was Labour's second worst-worst result since1977, beaten only by the 262 seats won in 2017.[108] The party was criticised in the aftermath of the elections for pledging to do no deals or partake in coalitions with the SNP or the Greens, instead choosing to work with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to form minority administrations in several cases.[109] In Edinburgh, they suspended two councillors for refusing to vote for the deal which gave Conservatives positions within the council.[110]
Sarwar, like Starmer, voiced his opposition to aproposed second Scottish independence referendum, stating that a Labour government would not grant aSection 30 order for one to be held.[111][112] In October 2023, Labour won the2023 Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election with the election ofMichael Shanks. Michael Shanks was elected with a 24.1% swing from theSNP who held the seat since 2015.[113]
At the2024 general election, across the United Kingdom, theLabour Party won the election with a landslide victory, winning 411 seats across the United Kingdom,[114] with Scottish Labour winning 37 of the 57 Scottish seats contested at the election.[115] The electoral success for Scottish Labour in Scotland at the 2024 UK general election was also considered a landslide, with Scottish Labour returning as the largest political party representing Scotland at theHouse of Commons.[116] Scottish Labour Party leader, Anas Sarwar, said on the morning of the 5 July following the electoral success of the Scottish Labour Party "this is a historic day for Scotland and for the entire UK. People are waking up to the news that after 14 years of Conservative government, after 14 years of chaos and division, it has come to an end and Scotland and the UK has elected a Labour government".[117] As newPrime Minister of the United Kingdom,Keir Starmer, began to select his new ministry cabinet on 5 July, Scottish Labour MPIan Murray was subsequently appointed to the cabinet asSecretary of State for Scotland.[118]
| Member of the Scottish Parliament | Constituency or Region | First elected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jackie Baillie | Dumbarton | 1999 | Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party 2020–, Acting Leader of Scottish Labour 2014, 2017, 2021,Minister for Social Justice 2000–2001 |
| Claire Baker | Mid Scotland and Fife | 2007 | |
| Neil Bibby | West Scotland | 2011 | Chief Whip of the Scottish Labour Party 2014–2016 |
| Sarah Boyack | Lothian | 1999 | Member forEdinburgh Central 1999–2011,Lothian 2011–2016, 2019–, Minister for Transport and Planning from 1999 to 2001 |
| Foysol Choudhury | Lothian | 2021 | |
| Katy Clark | West Scotland | 2021 | MP forNorth Ayrshire and Arran 2005–2015 |
| Rhoda Grant | Highlands and Islands | 1999 | Member forHighlands and Islands 1999–2003, 2007– |
| Mark Griffin | Central Scotland | 2011 | |
| Daniel Johnson | Edinburgh Southern | 2016 | |
| Pam Duncan-Glancy | Glasgow | 2021 | The first permanent wheelchair user elected to the Scottish Parliament |
| Monica Lennon | Central Scotland | 2016 | |
| Richard Leonard | Central Scotland | 2016 | Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, 2017–2021 |
| Michael Marra | North East Scotland | 2021 | |
| Pauline McNeill | Glasgow | 1999 | Member forGlasgow Kelvin 1999–2011, Glasgow 2016– |
| Carol Mochan | South Scotland | 2021 | |
| Paul O'Kane | West Scotland | 2021 | |
| Alex Rowley | Mid Scotland and Fife | 2014 | Member forCowdenbeath 2014–2016, Acting Leader of Scottish Labour 2017, Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party 2015–2017 |
| Davy Russell | Central Scotland | 2025 | |
| Anas Sarwar | Glasgow | 2016 | MP forGlasgow Central 2010–2015, Acting Leader of Scottish Labour 2014, Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party 2011–2014, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party 2021– |
| Colin Smyth | South Scotland | 2016 | |
| Paul Sweeney | Glasgow | 2021 | MP forGlasgow North East 2017–2019 |
| Mercedes Villalba | North East Scotland | 2021 | |
| Martin Whitfield | South Scotland | 2021 | MP forEast Lothian, 2017–2019 |
| Date ennobled | Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Derry Irvine | Baron Irvine of Lairg |
| 1994 | Helen Liddell | Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke |
| 1996 | Meta Ramsay | Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale |
| 1997 | Charlie Falconer | Baron Falconer of Thoroton |
| 1997 | Helena Kennedy | Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws |
| 1997 | Mike Watson | Baron Watson of Invergowrie |
| 1997 | Barbara Young | Baroness Young of Old Scone |
| 2000 | George Robertson | Baron Robertson of Port Ellen |
| 2005 | Irene Adams | Baroness Adams of Craigielea |
| 2005 | George Foulkes | Baron Foulkes of Cumnock |
| 2006 | Neil Davidson | Baron Davidson of Glen Clova |
| 2010 | Des Browne | Baron Browne of Ladyton |
| 2010 | Jack McConnell | Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale |
| 2010 | John Reid | Baron Reid of Cardowan |
| 2010 | Wilf Stevenson | Baron Stevenson of Balmacara |
| 2013 | Willie Haughey | Baron Haughey |
| 2018 | Pauline Bryan | Baroness Bryan of Partick |
| 2018 | Iain McNicol | Baron McNicol of West Kilbride |
| 2024 | Ayesha Hazarika | Baroness Hazarika |
| 2024 | Catherine Smith | Baroness Smith of Cluny |
| 2025 | Margaret Curran | Baroness Curran |
| 2025 | Wendy Alexander | Baroness Alexander of Cleveden |
| Election | Leader | Scotland | Government | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Pos. | ||
| Jan 1910 | Arthur Henderson | 37,852 | 5.1 | 2 / 70 |  | 3rd | Opposition | |
| Dec 1910 | George Barnes | 24,633 | 3.6 | 3 / 70 |  1 | 3rd | Opposition | |
| 1918 | William Adamson | 265,744 | 22.9 | 6 / 71 | 3 |  4th | Opposition | |
| 1922 | J. R. Clynes | 501,254 | 32.2 | 29 / 71 | 23 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1923 | Ramsay MacDonald | 532,450 | 35.9 | 34 / 71 | 5 | 1st | Minority | |
| 1924 | 697,146 | 41.1 | 26 / 71 | 8 | 2nd | Opposition | ||
| 1929 | 931,432 | 42.3 | 36 / 71 | 10 | 1st | Minority | ||
| 1931 | Arthur Henderson | 696,248 | 32.6 | 7 / 71 | 29 | 4th | Opposition | |
| 1935 | Clement Attlee | 863,789 | 36.8 | 20 / 71 | 13 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 1945 | 1,144,310 | 47.9 | 37 / 71 | 17 | 1st | Majority | ||
| 1950 | 1,259,410 | 46.2 | 37 / 71 | | 1st | Majority | ||
| 1951 | 1,330,244 | 47.9 | 35 / 71 | 2 | 2nd | Opposition | ||
| 1955 | 1,188,058 | 46.7 | 34 / 71 | 1 | 2nd | Opposition | ||
| 1959 | Hugh Gaitskell | 1,245,255 | 46.7 | 38 / 71 | 4 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1964 | Harold Wilson | 1,283,667 | 48.7 | 43 / 71 | 5 | 1st | Majority | |
| 1966 | 1,273,916 | 49.8 | 46 / 71 | 3 | 1st | Majority | ||
| 1970 | 1,197,068 | 44.5 | 44 / 71 | 2 | 1st | Opposition | ||
| Feb 1974 | 1,057,601 | 36.6 | 40 / 71 | 4 | 1st | Minority | ||
| Oct 1974 | 1,000,581 | 36.3 | 41 / 71 | 1 | 1st | Majority | ||
| 1979 | James Callaghan | 1,211,455 | 41.6 | 44 / 71 | 3 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1983 | Michael Foot | 990,654 | 35.1 | 41 / 72 | 3 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1987 | Neil Kinnock | 1,258,132 | 42.4 | 50 / 72 | 9 | 1st | Opposition | |
| 1992 | 1,142,911 | 39.0 | 49 / 72 | 1 | 1st | Opposition | ||
| 1997 | Tony Blair | 1,283,350 | 45.6 | 56 / 72 | 7 | 1st | Majority | |
| 2001 | 1,001,173 | 43.3 | 56 / 72 | | 1st | Majority | ||
| 2005 | 922,402 | 39.5 | 41 / 59 | 15 | 1st | Majority | ||
| 2010 | Gordon Brown | 1,035,528 | 42.0 | 41 / 59 | | 1st | Opposition | |
| 2015 | Jim Murphy | Ed Miliband | 707,147 | 24.3 | 1 / 59 | 40 | 2nd | Opposition |
| 2017 | Kezia Dugdale | Jeremy Corbyn | 717,007 | 27.1 | 7 / 59 | 6 | 3rd | Opposition |
| 2019 | Richard Leonard | 511,838 | 18.6 | 1 / 59 | 6 | 4th | Opposition | |
| 2024 | Anas Sarwar | Keir Starmer | 851,897 | 35.3 | 37 / 57 | 36 | 1st | Majority |
| Election | Leader | Constituency | Regional | Total seats | +/– | Pos. | Government | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | ||||||
| 1999 | Donald Dewar | 908,346 | 38.8 | 53 / 73 | 786,818 | 33.6 | 3 / 56 | 56 / 129 | N/A | 1st | Lab–LD |
| 2003 | Jack McConnell | 663,585 | 34.6 | 46 / 73 | 561,375 | 29.3 | 4 / 56 | 50 / 129 | 6 | 1st | Lab–LD |
| 2007 | 648,374 | 32.1 | 37 / 73 | 595,415 | 29.2 | 9 / 56 | 46 / 129 | 4 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 2011 | Iain Gray | 630,461 | 31.7 | 15 / 73 | 523,469 | 26.3 | 22 / 56 | 37 / 129 | 9 | 2nd | Opposition |
| 2016 | Kezia Dugdale | 514,261 | 22.6 | 3 / 73 | 435,919 | 19.1 | 21 / 56 | 24 / 129 | 13 | 3rd | Opposition |
| 2021 | Anas Sarwar | 584,392 | 21.6 | 2 / 73 | 485,819 | 17.9 | 20 / 56 | 22 / 129 | 2 | 3rd | Opposition |
TheLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1973 established a two-tier system ofregions and districts (except in the islands, which were given unitary, all-purpose councils). It replaced thecounties,burghs, and districts established by theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1947,[121] which were largely based on units of local government dating from theMiddle Ages.
| District councils | Regional and island councils | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election | Votes | Seats | Councils | Election | Votes | Seats | Councils | ||
| % | Pos. | % | Pos. | ||||||
| 1974 | 38.4 | 1st | 428 / 1,158 | 15 / 53 | 1974 | 38.5 | 1st | 172 / 524 | 3 / 12 |
| 1977 | 31.6 | 1st | 282 / 1,158 | 6 / 53 | 1978 | 39.6 | 1st | 176 / 524 | 4 / 12 |
| 1980 | 45.4 | 1st | 469 / 1,158 | 25 / 53 | 1982 | 37.6 | 1st | 186 / 524 | 3 / 12 |
| 1984 | 45.7 | 1st | 545 / 1,158 | 25 / 53 | 1986 | 43.9 | 1st | 223 / 524 | 4 / 12 |
| 1988 | 42.6 | 1st | 553 / 1,158 | 23 / 53 | 1990 | 44.0 | 1st | 223 / 524 | 4 / 12 |
| 1992 | 34.0 | 1st | 468 / 1,158 | 19 / 53 | 1994 | 41.8 | 1st | 220 / 453 | 4 / 12 |
The two-tier system of local government lasted until 1 April 1996 when theLocal Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 came into effect, abolishing the regions and districts and replacing them with 32 unitary authorities. Elections for the new mainland unitary authorities were first contested in1995. TheLocal Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 switched the electoral system for Scottish local elections fromfirst past the post (FPTP) tosingle transferable vote (STV), beginning in2007.
| Election | Leader | 1st Pref Votes | Councillors | Councils | Pos. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Majorities | +/- | |||
| 1995[a] | 742,557 | 43.6 | 613 / 1,155 | N/A | 21 / 29 | N/A | 1st | |
| 1999 | 829,921 | 36.6 | 550 / 1,222 | 63 | 16 / 32 | 5 | 1st | |
| 2003 | 611,843 | 32.6 | 509 / 1,222 | 41 | 12 / 32 | 4 | 1st | |
| 2007 | 590,085 | 28.1 | 348 / 1,222 | 161 | 2 / 32 | 10 | 2nd | |
| 2012 | Johann Lamont | 488,703 | 31.4 | 394 / 1,223 | 46 | 4 / 32 | 2 | 2nd |
| 2017 | Kezia Dugdale | 380,957 | 20.2 | 262 / 1,227 | 133 | 0 / 32 | 4 | 3rd |
| 2022 | Anas Sarwar | 403,243 | 21.7 | 282 / 1,226 | 20 | 1 / 32 | 1 | 2nd |
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During theUnited Kingdom'smembership of theEuropean Union (1973–2020),Scotland participated inEuropean Parliament elections, held every five years from1979 until2019.[122] Elections between1979 and1994 were contested under thefirst past the post (FPTP) electoral system. TheEuropean Parliamentary Elections Act 1999 introduced a closed-listparty list system method ofproportional representation and asingle Scotland-wide electoral region, which came into effect in1999.
| Election | Group | Leader | Scotland | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Pos. | ||||
| 1979 | PES | James Callaghan | 421,968 | 33.0 | 2 / 8 | N/A | 2nd | |||
| 1984 | Neil Kinnock | 526,066 | 41.0 | 5 / 8 | 3 | 1st | ||||
| 1989 | 664,263 | 41.9 | 7 / 8 | 2 | 1st | |||||
| 1994 | John Smith | 635,955 | 42.5 | 6 / 8 | 1 | 1st | ||||
| 1999 | Tony Blair | 283,490 | 28.7 | 3 / 8 | 3 | 1st | ||||
| 2004 | 310,865 | 26.4 | 2 / 7 | 1 | 1st | |||||
| 2009 | S&D | Gordon Brown | 229,853 | 20.8 | 2 / 6 | | 2nd | |||
| 2014 | Johann Lamont | Ed Miliband | 348,219 | 25.9 | 2 / 6 | | 2nd | |||
| 2019 | Richard Leonard | Jeremy Corbyn | 146,724 | 9.3 | 0 / 6 | 2 | 5th | |||
