Election 2026 Live: Latest Updates from Scotland, England, and Wales
John Swinney, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), has declared victory in the Holyrood elections after early results indicated a decisive defeat for Scottish Labour.
Following his successful retention of the Perthshire North seat, Swinney told the BBC that he was
“absolutely certain the SNP is going to be the leading party coming out of this election”.
He expressed that it would be a
“privilege” to form the next Scottish governmentafter guiding the SNP to its fifth consecutive win. Swinney attributed this success to the party’s efforts to restore public confidence and trust.
Earlier, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar acknowledged his party’s comprehensive loss, conceding that Labour failed to counteract the
“national dissatisfaction”with UK Labour leader Keir Starmer.
Speaking in Glasgow after only seven of Holyrood’s 129 seats had been declared, Sarwar stated:
“We made an argument for change and, ultimately, it’s an argument we lost.”
He reaffirmed his January calls for Starmer to resign as UK Labour leader and prime minister, saying:
“My party is hurting today and it’s my job to hold it together. We will continue to fight for the change we believe so desperately needs.”
Sarwar reflected on the campaign, adding:
“The tragedy of this election campaign is that despite all the arguments we wanted to make about the health service, the future of our schools, about tackling homelessness, sadly that’s not what the election became about. It became about a national mood, and a national dissatisfaction. And that was a mood that we were not able to overcome.”
Party insiders indicated that Labour was penalized by a disillusioned electorate, with voters either abandoning the party or abstaining in protest against Starmer’s policies on welfare reforms, the Israel-Gaza conflict, and his engagement with Reform UK’s anti-immigration stance.
Scottish Greens Aim for Breakthrough
The Scottish Greens anticipate an electoral breakthrough by potentially winning their first constituency seats at Holyrood. Scotland’s political parties are preparing for unexpected outcomes.
Senior figures within the pro-independence Greens believe they could unseat SNP cabinet minister Angus Robertson in Edinburgh Central and had initially hoped to secure at least one constituency seat in Glasgow.
These projections emerged as the Liberal Democrats secured the first declared seat of the election, retaining Orkney with a record 70% vote share, while the SNP comfortably held Dundee City West with 49.1%.
Liam McArthur, who has represented Orkney for the Lib Dems since 2007, is considered a candidate for Holyrood’s next presiding officer. He expressed gratitude towards his opponents, noting:
“You can have a political contest without knocking seven bells out of each other.”
In a notable upset, the SNP captured Shetland, a former Liberal Democrat stronghold held by the Lib Dems for 27 years.
The Liberal Democrats’ vote share dropped by 14.3%, undermining their hopes for a significant resurgence fueled by centrist Conservative voters abandoning the Tories following their recent shift to the right.
Election Dynamics and Early Results
This election, influenced by a surge in support for Reform UK, was regarded as the least predictable since devolution began in 1999. While the SNP was expected to win comfortably, it faced its lowest vote share since 2007, with Reform UK splitting the anti-SNP vote.
The SNP secured several constituency wins early in the count. By midday, the Scottish Greens tempered expectations of winning a Glasgow constituency, aiming instead for their
“best ever Glasgow result”, although the SNP led in both targeted city seats.
By 2pm, the SNP had claimed six constituency seats despite noticeable declines in support. Academic research indicates growing voter dissatisfaction with the SNP’s governance, impacting its popularity.
Under Holyrood’s electoral system, the 73 first-past-the-post constituency seats are counted first, followed by the allocation of 56 regional list seats, where the Greens, Reform UK, and Labour are expected to gain.
Constituency Results and Vote Shares
In Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, south of Glasgow, the SNP won with 40% of the vote but saw its share decrease by 13 percentage points. The party held Dundee City West with 49.1%, experiencing a 12.5-point drop. Labour’s vote share slightly increased in both areas. The SNP also retained Dundee City East with 48.8%, though its vote fell by 10.4 points.
Reform UK, projected by recent polls to become Holyrood’s second-largest party, performed strongly, narrowly losing in Banff and Buchan Coast. SNP candidate Karen Adams won by just 264 votes over Reform UK, with the SNP’s vote share declining by 10 percentage points.
Reform UK also performed well in Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley in western Scotland, finishing second behind the SNP with 24.1% of the vote. This was the party’s first contest in the seat, and its gains appeared to come largely at the expense of the Conservatives, whose vote share fell by 17.9 points to 12.7%.
Turnout and Voting Patterns
The full vote count occurred on a Friday for the first time in a Scottish Parliament election, highlighting unpredictability with low turnout in several constituencies.
Despite boundary changes, turnout in several Glasgow constituencies with higher deprivation was as low as 43%. In the 2021 Holyrood election, turnout in comparable areas was in the low 50s.
Turnout in Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley decreased by 10.7 points from 2021, reaching 48.7%.
In Edinburgh, Scotland’s wealthiest city, turnout in the Scottish Greens’ target seat of Edinburgh Central was 54.7%. While boundaries changed, turnout in the comparable 2021 seat was 62.5%.
