SNP wins fifth straight Holyrood election but falls short of a majority

The Scottish National Party has won its fifth consecutive Scottish Parliament election but failed to secure an overall majority, taking 58 seats in the 2026 Holyrood vote. The threshold for a majority is 65 seats, leaving the SNP as the largest party but short of outright control.

Labour and Reform UK both emerged with 17 seats, while the Scottish Greens won 15. It was a bruising result for the Conservatives, who lost their status as the largest opposition force and recorded their worst-ever Holyrood election result with 12 seats. The Scottish Liberal Democrats finished with 10.

Speaking on Friday night, SNP leader John Swinney said his party had “emphatically” won the election and urged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to show “respect” for Scotland’s devolved government. “I hope that lesson is learned in Downing Street that there’s now got to be respect for the Scottish government exercised by the UK government,” he said.

“My message to Downing Street tonight is very, very clear – they have got a lot of listening to do to the fact that Labour have been hammered here in Scotland and an SNP Government, after 19 years in office, has just been emphatically returned to office, and Scotland needs respect as a consequence of that election outcome.” The count produced notable upsets.

Sitting SNP minister Angus Robertson lost Edinburgh Central to the Scottish Greens, who also took a seat from the SNP in Glasgow Southside, nearly doubling the Greens’ representation compared with the previous election. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called the outcome “disappointing and difficult”.

“We made the case for change, but sadly that was not an argument we won in the face of a national wave that we couldn't overcome,” he said, adding that he had no plans to step down. “The Scottish Labour Party is hurting today. It is my job to hold our party together.

That's what I will do.” Reform UK celebrated what it described as an historic night in Scotland after finishing level with Labour on 17 seats. The party said gains across the country pointed to a wider shift, with Nigel Farage calling the results a “truly historic shift in British politics” away from Labour and Conservative dominance and vowing “the best is yet to come”.

Elsewhere in the UK, results were difficult for Labour. In England, the party lost more than 1,400 councillors, and in Wales it secured nine seats. Sir Keir Starmer said it had been a “tough” night but insisted he would continue in his post, saying days like these would not weaken his resolve to deliver the change he had promised.