{"id":967948,"date":"2026-05-18T04:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T04:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/967948\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T04:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T04:09:29","slug":"swinney-fails-to-win-majority-but-says-snp-emphatically-won-holyrood-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/967948\/","title":{"rendered":"Swinney fails to win majority, but says SNP \u2018emphatically\u2019 won Holyrood election"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Labour also suffering losses south of the border, Mr Swinney said that under-pressure Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has a \u201clot of listening to do\u201d, and called for respect between the two governments.<\/p>\n

At the seventh Holyrood election the SNP was easily returned as the largest party, but Mr Swinney failed to win the overall majority he had wanted in a bid to force a second independence referendum.<\/p>\n

With all but seven seats declared, the SNP had 57 MSPs, with Labour in second on 17, narrowly ahead of Reform UK on 15.<\/p>\n

The Scottish Greens recorded their best Holyrood election result, with 13 MSPs so far, while the Scottish Liberal Democrats had nine MSPs<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Scottish Labour and the Conservatives may have returned their worst Holyrood results \u2013 with the Tories having 11 MSPs elected so far.<\/p>\n

Reform won its first MSPs, all of them elected via the regional list system, and Scottish leader Lord Malcolm Offord was voted in as an MSP for the West of Scotland after losing out in the Inverclyde constituency.<\/p>\n

There were suggestions that votes for Reform had helped the SNP in areas such as Eastwood, outside Glasgow, where Mr Swinney\u2019s party won the seat from the Tories.<\/p>\n

The SNP also picked up the Shetland constituency from the Liberal Democrats, who had held the seat since the first Holyrood elections in 1999.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere,\u00a0 SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, and fellow MP Stephen Gethins, are both set to swap London for Edinburgh, after being elected to Holyrood.<\/p>\n

But the party lost its campaign director Angus Robertson, who had also been constitution, external affairs and culture secretary in the Scottish Government, when his revised Edinburgh Central seat was captured by the Greens.<\/p>\n

Speaking after winning a mandate to be returned as First Minister, Mr Swinney said the relationship between the Scottish Government and UK Government had \u201csoured\u201d over recent months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to enjoy a more co-operative relationship with the United Kingdom Government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Adding that Labour had \u201cjust been hammered in Scotland\u201d,\u00a0 Mr Swinney said: \u201cI hope that lesson is learned in Downing Street that there\u2019s now got to be respect for the Scottish Government exercised by the UK Government.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cMy message to Downing Street tonight is very, very clear \u2013 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar admitted his party was \u201churting\u201d after the result.<\/p>\n

But he indicated he would not be stepping down as party leader.<\/p>\n

\n

pic.twitter.com\/Sv2kj3TwDU<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) May 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Speaking in Glasgow earlier on Friday Mr Sarwar said: \u201cMy party is hurting \u2013 we\u2019re disappointed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe advocate for change, we didn\u2019t win that argument, but it\u2019s my job to hold us together and that\u2019s a job I intend to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay meanwhile said that \u201cgiven the national backdrop and the historically good result we achieved in 2021\u201d, his party was \u201calways likely to lose seats this time around\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said he was \u201cpleased\u201d Tories had retained the \u201cbulk\u201d of their constituencies, but continued: \u201cI\u2019m disappointed to have lost so many excellent parliamentary colleagues.<\/p>\n

\"RussellScottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said votes for Reform had helped the SNP \u2018sneak home\u2019 (Steve Welsh\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe warned repeatedly during the campaign that Reform were a gift to the SNP \u2013 and so it\u2019s proved.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite not winning a single constituency seat, Reform have let the SNP sneak home in several constituencies they would otherwise have lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lorna Slater, the first constituency MSP for the Scottish Greens, said it had been a \u201cfantastic day\u201d for her party.<\/p>\n

Her defeated opponent Mr Robertson said boundary changes in the constituency had been a \u201csignificant contributory factor\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"SNP campaign director Angus Robertson (centre) was defeated in Edinburgh by Lorna Slater (right) who became the Scottish Greens\u2019 first constituency MSP (David Young\/PA)<\/p>\n

But he added: \u201cAt the end of the day what matters most is who gets the most votes, and that wasn\u2019t me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scottish Green co-leader Gillian Mackay hailed the \u201cseismic result\u201d for her party that she said would \u201cchange our politics and change Scotland\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cScotland has elected a record number of Green MSPs, and I couldn\u2019t be prouder of our new team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have won our first constituencies and, for the first time, everyone in our country is represented by at least one Scottish Green MSP.\u201d<\/p>\n