{"id":924819,"date":"2026-04-28T20:40:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/924819\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T20:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:40:30","slug":"stv-holyrood-election-debate-our-scorecard-for-the-six-political-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/924819\/","title":{"rendered":"STV Holyrood election debate: our scorecard for the six political leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Swinney, Anas Sarwar, Russell Findlay, Ross Greer, Alex Cole-Hamilton and Malcolm Offord squared off at the final TV debate of the Holyrood election.\"The<\/p>\n

The STV Leaders Debate was on for two full hours on Tuesday night(Image: Stewart Attwood\/STV)<\/p>\n

With nine days to go until the Holyrood election, opinion polls show the SNP on course for a record fifth term.<\/a><\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s STV debate at the Signet Library in Edinburgh – featuring the six party leaders – was one of the final chances for the political parties to make an impression with a significant number of voters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The debate was moderated by STV\u2019s Colin Mackay and there were plenty of fireworks, particularly when the leaders questioned each other.<\/p>\n

Daily Record Political Editor Paul Hutcheon watched the debate and here is how he rated the six leaders who want to lead the country.<\/p>\n

John Swinney (SNP)\"John<\/p>\n

John Swinney <\/p>\n

The First Minister\u2019s aim was not to mess up on live TV and he achieved his ambition.<\/p>\n

Rivals pounded him on the NHS and the cost of living crisis, but he never looked like hitting the floor.<\/p>\n

He enjoyed himself after months of facing questions from rivals at Holyrood.<\/p>\n

3\/5Anas Sarwar (Scottish Labour)\"Anas<\/p>\n

Anas Sarwar(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

Sarwar needed a strong showing given his party is significantly behind the SNP in the polls.<\/p>\n

He urged Malcolm Offord to \u201clook in the mirror\u201d over his divisive election campaign and challenged Swinney on the death of tragic 10 year old Milly Main at a scandal-hit hospital.<\/p>\n

He had a good night.<\/p>\n

3\/5Russell Findlay (Scottish Tories)\"Leader<\/p>\n

Russell Findlay<\/p>\n

Findlay delivered his lines on opposing independence in his usual robust style, but he had no election-changing moment.<\/p>\n

His previous support for Tory zoomer Liz Truss was also thrown back in his face.<\/p>\n

He gave the appearance of a man who knows he will not be leader for much longer.<\/p>\n

2\/5Alex Cole-Hamilton (Scottish Lib Dems)\"Alex<\/p>\n

Alex Cole-Hamilton <\/p>\n

The Scottish Lib Dem leader can appear repetitive at times, but he put in his best debate performance of the campaign.<\/p>\n

Confronting Malcolm Offord over Nigel Farage\u2019s criticism of the hand gun ban in the wake of the Dunblane tragedy was his best moment.<\/p>\n

He was also strong on holding John Swinney to account over the ferries scandal.<\/p>\n

3\/5Ross Greer (Scottish Greens)\"Scottish<\/p>\n

Scottish Green Party co-leader Ross Greer <\/p>\n

Greer is not everyone\u2019s cup of tea, but he was handed a gift by Malcolm Offord when the Reform leader showed off about his wealth.<\/p>\n

He also mocked the Scottish Tory leader over his subterranean poll rating and previous support for Liz Truss.<\/p>\n

Greer will be an influential figure after May 7th.<\/p>\n

3\/5Malcolm Offord (Reform)\"Lord<\/p>\n

Lord Malcolm Offord (Image: Callum Moffat \/ Daily Record)<\/p>\n

Reform\u2019s leader in Scotland was pulled up about racism and thuggery in his party, as well as his previous support for Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

His car crash moment was an inexplicable boast about having six homes and five cars during a cost of living crisis, which his rivals will use against him until polling day.<\/p>\n

A terrible night.<\/p>\n

1\/5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Swinney, Anas Sarwar, Russell Findlay, Ross Greer, Alex Cole-Hamilton and Malcolm Offord squared off at the final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,18695,10004,113464,16,15],"class_list":["post-924819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edinburgh","tag-britain","tag-edinburgh","tag-great-britain","tag-scotland","tag-scottish-labour","tag-snp","tag-stv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116484273707394994","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}