SNP wins fifth straight Holyrood election but falls short of majority as Labour and Reform tie

The Scottish National Party won its fifth consecutive Scottish parliament election but fell short of an overall majority, taking 58 seats against the 65 needed to control Holyrood. Despite missing that threshold, the SNP remains by far the largest party in the chamber.

Labour and Reform UK each finished on 17 seats, while the Scottish Greens won 15. It was a poor night for the Conservatives, who lost their status as the largest opposition party and recorded their worst-ever Holyrood result with 12 seats. The Scottish Liberal Democrats ended on 10.

Speaking on Friday night, SNP leader John Swinney said his party had “emphatically” won the election. He urged a reset in relations with Westminster, saying the prime minister has “a lot of listening to do” and calling for respect between the Scottish and UK governments.

He added that Labour had been “hammered here in Scotland” and that Scotland “needs respect as a consequence of that election outcome.” The count produced notable upsets. Sitting SNP minister Angus Robertson lost his Edinburgh Central seat to the Scottish Greens, who also took a seat from the SNP in Glasgow Southside as the party nearly doubled its representation.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called the results “disappointing and difficult.” He said the party “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,” adding that the party was “hurting” and that his job was to hold it together—signalling no plan to step down.

Reform UK celebrated what it described as an historic night in Scotland with 17 seats, matching Labour’s total. The Greens, meanwhile, rose from eight to 15 seats. Elsewhere in the UK, results made difficult reading for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party, which has lost more than 1,400 councillors in England and suffered huge losses in Wales, securing just nine seats.

Sir Keir said he would carry on in his post despite the setbacks, acknowledging it had been a “tough” night but adding that “days like this don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised.” Reform UK reported gains across the country as hundreds of Labour councillors were voted out, with Nigel Farage calling the outcome a “truly historic shift in British politics” away from Labour and Conservative domination and saying “the best is yet to come” for his party.

With the SNP again short of a majority at Holyrood, attention now turns to how Scotland’s largest party navigates the next parliament, alongside a strengthened Green group and a reshaped opposition in which Labour and Reform UK share second place.