This article lists political parties in Scotland. As of 2026, there are six main political parties in Scotland, each having political party representation in either the Scottish Parliament, House of Commons or at local government level. Prior to 2020, some political parties also had representatives in the European Parliament.
The largest political party by both membership numbers and number of MSPs in the Scottish Parliament is the Scottish National Party (SNP), a centre–left party which advocates for Scottish independence. The SNP is the party of government in Scotland, with leader John Swinney serving as First Minister of Scotland since May 2024. The SNP is also the largest party in local government. The Scottish Labour Party have the most number of Scottish seats in the House of Commons. Smaller parties by representation include the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Green Party and Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Overview
The Scottish National Party (SNP) is the main political party in Scotland which primarily supports Scotland becoming an independent nation. They have also supported further devolution as a progression towards independence. They are overall centre-left, and sometimes considered big-tent, advocating social democracy, nuclear disarmament and closer ties to the European Union. They were founded in 1934 and formed a permanent grouping in House of Commons in 1967. Their best election result in the 20th century was at the general election of October 1974 in which they won 11 of Scotland's 72 Westminster seats as well as around 30% of the popular vote, however they lost all but two of these seats in 1979. Support for the party was bolstered under the leadership of Alex Salmond, who in 2011 led the SNP to their best electoral performance to date, in which they became the first party in the devolved Scottish Parliament to win a majority of seats. They form the Scottish government, and are now led by Scotland's First Minister, John Swinney. They have 58 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and 9 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (MPs).
Scottish Labour is the Scottish wing of the Great Britain-wide Labour Party. It was the most successful party in Scottish elections from 1964 to 2007. Like the wider UK Labour Party, they are centre-left, and they promote British unionism. They first overtook the Conservatives as Scotland's largest party at the 1959 general election. In 1997, the UK Labour Party under Tony Blair offered Scotland a referendum on devolution, which was passed with around 74% of the electorate in favour. From 1999 to 2007, they were in power in the Scottish Parliament through a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. From 2008 to 2011, the party was led by Iain Gray in the Scottish Parliament, who announced his resignation after the party's defeat at the 2011 Scottish election. Johann Lamont became leader in 2011 and resigned in 2014 after an internal dispute within the party. Subsequently, they were led by Jim Murphy, Kezia Dugdale and Richard Leonard. They currently have 37 MPs and 17 MSPs. they are led by Anas Sarwar MSP.
Reform UK Scotland is the Scottish wing of the UK-wide Reform UK. It is a Eurosceptic and right-wing populist party, sitting between the right-wing and far-right of the left-right spectrum. The party gained its first elected representative in January 2021, when sitting independent MSP Michelle Ballantyne joined and became the party's leader in Scotland. Ballantyne was previously a Conservative MSP. She resigned from the party in November 2020, citing differences with the new leader, Douglas Ross before joining. Ballantyne lost this seat in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, leaving the party with no elected representatives in Scotland until 2025 when Graham Simpson defected from the Scottish Conservatives. At the 2026 Scottish Parliament Election, the party gained its first elected representatives, winning the joint second-highest number of seats alongside Scottish Labour. As of May 2026, the parliametnary group consists of 17 MSPs and is led by Malcolm Offord.
The Scottish Greens sit between the centre-left and the left-wing of the left-right spectrum. The party promotes green politics, Scottish independence, equality and radical democracy, with considerable socialist influences. It retains close ties with the Green Party of England and Wales and the Green Party Northern Ireland, all of which originated in the breakup of the UK Green Party. However, all three parties are now fully independent. The Scottish Greens won their first seat in the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and entered government for the first time in 2021 under the Bute House Agreement with the SNP, making then co-leaders Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie the first green ministers in a UK government. At the 2026 Scottish Parliament Election, the party won its highest-ever number of seats, returning 15 MSPs, and won its first constituency MSPs. However, it has never won representation in the House of Commons. The party is currently led by co-leaders Ross Greer and Gillian McKay.
The Scottish Conservatives are the Scottish wing of the UK-wide Conservative Party. They were founded in 1965 out of the merger of the Scottish Unionist Party, which had been a dominant political force in Scotland for much of the early 20th century, winning the majority of votes and seats in the 1931 general election and 1955 general election. However the party went into decline, being reduced from 21 Scottish seats in 1983, to 10 in 1987. The 1997 general election was a catastrophe for the Scottish Conservatives, who were left with no Scottish seats whatsoever. However the party won 18 seats in the Scottish Parliament in the 1999 election due to proportional representation. From 2001 to 2017, the Conservatives held one Scottish seat in the UK parliament, but had its best result in the 21st century in the 2017 general election when it returned 13 seats and just short of a third of the vote. Like the wider UK Conservative Party, the party is a centre-right to right-wing party, which promotes conservatism and British unionism. The party currently has 12 MSPs, its lowest-ever share of seats in the Scottish Parliament, where it is led by Russell Findlay, and 5 MPs.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats is the Scottish State Party with the federal structure of the Great Britain-wide Liberal Democrats party. It is a social liberal party and supports a federal structure for the United Kingdom, sitting between the centre and centre-left of the left-right spectrum. The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 when the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party merged. The leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats is Alex Cole-Hamilton. The formation of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition at Westminster in 2010 caused support for the Liberal Democrats to fall sharply. The 2024 Westminster general election saw recovery in Scotland to the background of a UK wide recovery for the party and a sharp fall in SNP support. The Scottish Liberal Democrats gained two Westminster seats from the SNP in 2024. This recovery continued at the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, where it won 10 MSPs, its best result since 2007.
Parties with elected representation
Scottish Parliament and/or House of Commons
There are six parties in Scotland that have elected representation in either the Scottish Parliament or the House of Commons. All except the Scottish Greens and Reform UK have representation in both. In addition, all parties have elected representation at the local government level.
<div style="overflow: auto">
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! colspan="3" scope="col" class="unsortable" |Party
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Founded
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Political<br/>position
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Ideology
! colspan=2 class="unsortable" |Leader(s)
! data-sort-type="number" | Scottish<br/>Parliament
! data-sort-type="number" | House of<br/>Commons
! data-sort-type="number" | Local<br/>government
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Membership
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| style=text-align:center | 80px
| Scottish National Party
|align=center|1934
|
|
|
| John Swinney
|align=left|
|align=left|
|align=left|
|align=center| 56,011
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| style=text-align:center |40px
| Scottish Labour
|align=center|1994
|
|
|
| Anas Sarwar
|align=left|
|align=left|
|align=left|
|align=center| 16,467
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| style=text-align:center | 70px
| Reform UK
|align=center|2018
| Right-wing<br/>to far-right
|
|
| Malcolm Offord
|align=left|
|align=left|
|align=left|
|align=center| 10,000
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| style=text-align:center | 70px
| Scottish Greens
| align="center" |1990
|
|
|
| <br />
| align="left" |
| align="left" |
| align="left" |
| align="center" | 10,000
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| style=text-align:center | 70px
| Scottish Conservatives
|align=center|1965
| <br/>to
|
|
| Russell Findlay
|align=left|
|align=left|
|align=left|
|align=center| 6,941
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| style=text-align:center | 70px
| Scottish Liberal Democrats
|align=center|1988
| to<br/>
|
|
| Alex Cole-Hamilton
|align=left|
|align=left|
|align=left|
|align=center| 4,185
|}
</div>
Local government
There are five parties in Scotland that have elected representation only at the local government level.
{| class ="wikitable sortable"
! colspan="2" scope="col" class="unsortable" style="width:20px; text-align:center;"|Party
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Founded
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Ideology
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Council area(s)
! data-sort-type="number" |Councillors
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| Your Party
|align=center|2025
| Socialism
| Glasgow
|align=center| 3
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| British Unionist Party
|align=center|2015
| British unionism, Scottish unionism, Social conservatism, Social democracy, British nationalism
| North Lanarkshire
|align=center| 1
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| Rubbish Party
|align=center|2017
| Localism, Environmentalism
| East Ayrshire
|align=center| 1
|-
! style="background-color: #88288b"|
| West Dunbartonshire Community Party
|align=center|2016
| Socialism
| West Dunbartonshire
|align=center| 1
|}
Parties with no elected representation
Notable registered parties
There are a number of notable registered parties in Scotland with no elected representation. Some operate exclusively within Scotland, while others may also be active in other parts of the United Kingdom.
{| class ="wikitable sortable"
! colspan="2" scope="col" class="unsortable" style="width:20px;"|Party
! Founded
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Ideology
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Leader
|-
! style="background-color: "|
|Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party
|align=center|2020
| Scottish Parliament abolition, Anti-devolution, Scottish unionism
|John Mortimer
|-
! style="background-color: "|
|Alliance to Liberate Scotland
| align="center" |2026
|Scottish independence
|Hazel Lyon
|-
! style="background-color: #EE3263" |
| Animal Welfare Party
|align=center|2006
| Animal welfare
| Vanessa Hudson
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| British National Party
|align=center|1982
| British fascism, White nationalism, Right-wing populism, Ethnic nationalism, Ultranationalism, Hard Euroscepticism
| Adam Walker
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| Christian Party
|align=center|2004
| Christian right, Social conservatism, British unionism, Euroscepticism
| Donald Boyd
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| Christian Peoples Alliance
|align=center|1999
| Christian democracy, Social conservatism, Euroscepticism
| Sidney Cordle
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Communist Party of Britain
|align=center|1988
| Communism, Marxism–Leninism
| Robert Griffiths
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Independence for Scotland Party
|align=center|2020
| Scottish independence
| Colette Walker
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Independent Green Voice
|align=center|2003
| Ultranationalism, Scottish unionism, British unionism, Euroscepticism
| Alistair McConnachie
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Liberal Party
|align=center|1989
| British liberalism, Georgism, Euroscepticism
| Steve Radford
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| National Front
|align=center|1967
| British fascism, Neo-fascism, British nationalism, White supremacy
| Tony Martin
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Official Monster Raving Loony Party
|align=center|1983
| Political satire
| Alan Hope
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| Reclaim Party
|align=center|2020
| Right-wing populism, Anti-lockdown
| Laurence Fox
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Scottish Family Party
|align=center|2017
| Christian right, Social conservatism, Anti-abortion, Anti-LGBT
| Richard Lucas
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Scottish Libertarian Party
|align=center|2012
| Libertarianism, Classical liberalism, Minarchism, Euroscepticism, Cultural liberalism, Scottish independence
| Tam Laird
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Scottish Socialist Party
|align=center|1998
| Democratic socialism, Scottish independence, Scottish republicanism
| Colin Fox and Natalie Reid
|-
! style="background-color: " |
| Scottish Unionist Party
|align=center|1986
| Scottish unionism, British unionism, Anti-Scottish Parliament
| Jonathan Stanley
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| Social Democratic Party
|align=center|1990
| Social democracy, Social conservatism, Communitarianism, Euroscepticism
| William Clouston
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| Socialist Labour Party
|align=center|1996
| Socialism, Fiscal localism, Republicanism, Hard Euroscepticism
| Arthur Scargill
|-
| bgcolor="" width="1" |
|Sovereignty
| align="center" |2020
|Scottish independence, Hard Euroscepticism
|Brian Nugent
|-
! style="background-color: #EC008C" |
| Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
|align=center|2010
| Socialism, Trade unionism
| Dave Nellist
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| UK Independence Party
|align=center|1993
| Euroscepticism, Right-wing populism, National conservatism, Economic liberalism, British nationalism
| Donald Mackay
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| Volt UK
|align=center|2020
| Social liberalism, Progressivism, Pro-Europeanism
| Alex Haida
|-
! style="background-color: "|
| Workers Party of Britain
|align=center|2019
| Socialism, Social conservatism, Euroscepticism, British unionism
| George Galloway
|-
|}
Historical and deregistered parties
Notable historical parties
Notable deregistered parties
See also
- Student wings of political parties in Scotland
- Politics of Scotland
- Elections in Scotland
Notes
References
External links
- Electoral Commission official site of the Electoral Commission