6th Scottish Parliament

6th Scottish Parliament
6th Scottish Parliament
	Scottish Parliament Building
Overview
Legislative body	Scottish Parliament
Jurisdiction	Scotland
Meeting place	Scottish Parliament Building
Term	13 May 2021 –
Election	2021
Government	Third Sturgeon government ; First Yousaf government ; Second Yousaf government ; Swinney government
Members	129
Presiding Officer	Alison Johnstone
First Minister	Nicola Sturgeon; (2021–2023); Humza Yousaf; (2023–2024); John Swinney; (2024–present)
Deputy First Minister	John Swinney; (2021–2023); Shona Robison; (2023–2024); Kate Forbes; (2024–present)
Leader of the Opposition	Douglas Ross; (2021–2024); Russell Findlay; (2024–present)
Sessions
1st
1st	13 May 2021 –

The 6th Scottish Parliament was elected at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.^[1] It was opened with the Escort to the Crown of Scotland Parade and Speech from the Throne on 2 October 2021.

Composition

Party		May 2021 election	Currently
•	Scottish National Party	64	62
	Scottish Conservatives	31	31
	Scottish Labour	22	22
	Scottish Greens	8	7
	Scottish Liberal Democrats	4	4
	Alba Party	0	1
	Independent	0	1
	Presiding Officer	0	1
Total		129
Government majority		0	– 4

Government parties denoted with bullets (•)

Leadership

Government

First Minister: Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) (until 28 March 2023) Humza Yousaf (SNP) (29 March 2023-7 May 2024) John Swinney (SNP) (starting 8 May 2024)
Deputy First Minister: John Swinney (SNP) (until 28 March 2023) Shona Robison (SNP) (29 March 2023-8 May 2024) Kate Forbes (SNP) (starting 8 May 2024)
Minister for Parliamentary Business: George Adam (SNP) May 2021-May 2024 Jamie Hepburn May 2024 - Present

Opposition

Leader of the Opposition: Russell Findlay^[2] (Conservatives)^[b]
Secondary Opposition Leader: Anas Sarwar (Labour)
Tertiary Opposition Co-Leaders: Patrick Harvie & Lorna Slater (Greens)
Leader of the Liberal Democrats: Alex Cole-Hamilton (Liberal Democrats)

^ Johnstone was elected as Green MSP but relinquished her membership in order to take the office of Presiding Officer.
^ There is no official opposition or opposition leader, but Ross is the leader of the largest party not in government.

List of MSPs

This is a list of MSPs so far elected.^[3] The changes table below records all changes in party affiliation during the session, since the May 2021 election.

There are eight MSPs who have been constant members since the inauguration of the Parliament in 1999 (ten other founding members retired prior to the 2021 election): Jackie Baillie, Fergus Ewing and John Swinney have been elected six times under the same constituency (Swinney's was renamed with different boundaries in 2011); Christine Grahame, Fiona Hyslop, Michael Matheson, Shona Robison and Nicola Sturgeon were returned as a list member then a constituency member. A ninth MSP Richard Lochhead has served almost the same term, resigning his list seat in 2006 to successfully contest a by-election a few weeks later for a constituency seat, which he has defended since then.^[4]

	Member for	Type	Party
George Adam	Paisley	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Karen Adam	Banffshire and Buchan Coast	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Clare Adamson	Motherwell and Wishaw	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Alasdair Allan	Na h-Eileanan an Iar	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Tom Arthur	Renfrewshire South	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Jackie Baillie	Dumbarton	Constituency	Scottish Labour
Claire Baker	Mid Scotland and Fife	Regional	Scottish Labour
Jeremy Balfour	Lothian	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Colin Beattie	Midlothian North and Musselburgh	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Neil Bibby	West Scotland	Regional	Scottish Labour
Sarah Boyack	Lothian	Regional	Scottish Labour
Miles Briggs	Lothian	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Keith Brown	Clackmannanshire and Dunblane	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Siobhian Brown	Ayr	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Ariane Burgess	Highlands and Islands	Regional	Scottish Greens
Alexander Burnett	Aberdeenshire West	Constituency	Scottish Conservatives
Stephanie Callaghan	Uddingston and Bellshill	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Jackson Carlaw	Eastwood	Constituency	Scottish Conservatives
Finlay Carson	Galloway and West Dumfries	Constituency	Scottish Conservatives
Maggie Chapman	North East Scotland	Regional	Scottish Greens
Foysol Choudhury	Lothian	Regional	Scottish Labour
Katy Clark	West Scotland	Regional	Scottish Labour
Willie Coffey	Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Alex Cole-Hamilton	Edinburgh Western	Constituency	Scottish Liberal Democrats
Angela Constance	Almond Valley	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Graeme Dey	Angus South	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Natalie Don	Renfrewshire North and West	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Bob Doris	Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn	Constituency	Scottish National Party
James Dornan	Glasgow Cathcart	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Sharon Dowey	South Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Jackie Dunbar	Aberdeen Donside	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Pam Duncan-Glancy	Glasgow	Regional	Scottish Labour
Tim Eagle	Highlands and Islands (since 12/02/24)	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Annabelle Ewing	Cowdenbeath	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Fergus Ewing	Inverness and Nairn	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Jim Fairlie	Perthshire South and Kinross-shire	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Russell Findlay	West Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Joe FitzPatrick	Dundee City West	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Kate Forbes	Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Murdo Fraser	Mid Scotland and Fife	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Meghan Gallacher	Central Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Kenneth Gibson	Cunninghame North	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Jenny Gilruth	Mid Fife and Glenrothes	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Maurice Golden	North East Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Pam Gosal	West Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Mairi Gougeon	Angus North and Mearns	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Christine Grahame	Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Rhoda Grant	Highlands and Islands	Regional	Scottish Labour
Neil Gray	Airdrie and Shotts	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Jamie Greene	West Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Ross Greer	West Scotland	Regional	Scottish Greens
Mark Griffin	Central Scotland	Regional	Scottish Labour
Sandesh Gulhane	Glasgow	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Jamie Halcro Johnston	Highlands and Islands	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Rachael Hamilton	Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire	Constituency	Scottish Conservatives
Emma Harper	South Scotland	Regional	Scottish National Party
Patrick Harvie	Glasgow	Regional	Scottish Greens
Clare Haughey	Rutherglen	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Jamie Hepburn	Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Craig Hoy	South Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Fiona Hyslop	Linlithgow	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Daniel Johnson	Edinburgh Southern	Constituency	Scottish Labour
Alison Johnstone	Lothian	Regional	Presiding Officer
Liam Kerr	North East Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Stephen Kerr	Central Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Bill Kidd	Glasgow Anniesland	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Monica Lennon	Central Scotland	Regional	Scottish Labour
Richard Leonard	Central Scotland	Regional	Scottish Labour
Richard Lochhead	Moray	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Douglas Lumsden	North East Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Gordon MacDonald	Edinburgh Pentlands	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Fulton MacGregor	Coatbridge and Chryston	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Gillian Mackay	Central Scotland	Regional	Scottish Greens
Rona Mackay	Strathkelvin and Bearsden	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Ben Macpherson	Edinburgh Northern and Leith	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Ruth Maguire	Cunninghame South	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Michael Marra	North East Scotland	Regional	Scottish Labour
Gillian Martin	Aberdeenshire East	Constituency	Scottish National Party
John Mason	Glasgow Shettleston	Constituency	Independent
Michael Matheson	Falkirk West	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Màiri McAllan	Clydesdale	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Liam McArthur	Orkney	Constituency	Scottish Liberal Democrats
Roz McCall	Mid Scotland and Fife (since 20/09/22)	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Ivan McKee	Glasgow Provan	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Christina McKelvie	Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Paul McLennan	East Lothian	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Stuart McMillan	Greenock and Inverclyde	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Marie McNair	Clydebank and Milngavie	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Pauline McNeill	Glasgow	Regional	Scottish Labour
Jenni Minto	Argyll and Bute	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Carol Mochan	South Scotland	Regional	Scottish Labour
Sir Edward Mountain	Highlands and Islands	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Oliver Mundell	Dumfriesshire	Constituency	Scottish Conservatives
Audrey Nicoll	Aberdeen South and North Kincardine	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Paul O'Kane	West Scotland	Regional	Scottish Labour
Ash Regan	Edinburgh Eastern	Constituency	Alba Party
Willie Rennie	North East Fife	Constituency	Scottish Liberal Democrats
Angus Robertson	Edinburgh Central	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Shona Robison	Dundee City East	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Emma Roddick	Highlands and Islands	Regional	Scottish National Party
Douglas Ross	Highlands and Islands	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Alex Rowley	Mid Scotland and Fife	Regional	Scottish Labour
Mark Ruskell	Mid Scotland and Fife	Regional	Scottish Greens
Anas Sarwar	Glasgow	Regional	Scottish Labour
Graham Simpson	Central Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Lorna Slater	Lothian	Regional	Scottish Greens
Liz Smith	Mid Scotland and Fife	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Colin Smyth	South Scotland	Regional	Scottish Labour
Shirley-Anne Somerville	Dunfermline	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Collette Stevenson	East Kilbride	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Alexander Stewart	Mid Scotland and Fife	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Kaukab Stewart	Glasgow Kelvin	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Kevin Stewart	Aberdeen Central	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Nicola Sturgeon	Glasgow Southside	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Paul Sweeney	Glasgow	Regional	Scottish Labour
John Swinney	Perthshire North	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Michelle Thomson	Falkirk East	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Maree Todd	Caithness, Sutherland and Ross	Constituency	Scottish National Party
David Torrance	Kirkcaldy	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Evelyn Tweed	Stirling	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Mercedes Villalba	North East Scotland	Regional	Scottish Labour
Sue Webber	Lothian	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Annie Wells	Glasgow	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Tess White	North East Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Martin Whitfield	South Scotland	Regional	Scottish Labour
Elena Whitham	Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	Constituency	Scottish National Party
Brian Whittle	South Scotland	Regional	Scottish Conservatives
Beatrice Wishart	Shetland	Constituency	Scottish Liberal Democrats
Humza Yousaf	Glasgow Pollok	Constituency	Scottish National Party

Former MSPs

Name		Image	Member for	Type	Party	Notes
	Dean Lockhart		Mid Scotland and Fife	Regional	Scottish Conservatives	Resigned 5 September 2022^[5]
	Donald Cameron		Highlands and Islands	Regional	Scottish Conservatives	Resigned 9 February 2024^[6]

Changes

Date	Constituency/region			Note
13 May 2021	Lothian	Presiding Officer	Scottish Green	Alison Johnstone was elected Presiding Officer and consequently had to renounce her party affiliation.^[7]
5 September 2022	Mid Scotland and Fife	Conservative	Conservative	Dean Lockhart resigned his seat in the Scottish Parliament.^[5] He was succeeded by Roz McCall, who was sworn in on 20 September.^[8]
28 October 2023	Edinburgh Eastern	Alba	SNP	Ash Regan defected from the SNP to Alba, becoming the party's first MSP.^[9]
9 February 2024	Highlands and Islands	Conservative	Conservative	Donald Cameron was appointed to the House of Lords in the 2024 Special Honours and was replaced by Tim Eagle.^[6]
17 August 2024	Glasgow Shettleston	Independent	SNP	John Mason had whip suspended over Gaza comments

References

^ "Scottish Elections (Dates) Act 2016". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20jxvrq57ro
^ "Current and previous Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs)". Retrieved 7 May 2021.
^ In numbers: Scottish Parliament celebrates 20th anniversary, Shropshire Star, 29 April 2019
^ ^a ^b "Scottish Tories get new MSP at Holyrood". BBC News. 5 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Tory MSP Donald Cameron to take up House of Lords seat". BBC News. 9 February 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
^ "Scottish Greens MSP elected as new Presiding Officer". STV News. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
^ "New Scottish Tory MSP first to take oath to King Charles III". STV News. 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
^ Fitzpatrick, Tara (28 October 2023). "Former first minister candidate Ash Regan quits SNP to join Alba party". STV News. Retrieved 28 October 2023.

External links

Scottish Parliament website
Current and previous Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), on the Scottish Parliament website

[2] Johnstone was elected as Green MSP but relinquished her membership in order to take the office of Presiding Officer.

[4] There is no official opposition or opposition leader, but Ross is the leader of the largest party not in government.

[dates_act-1] "Scottish Elections (Dates) Act 2016". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2016.

[3] ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20jxvrq57ro

[5] "Current and previous Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs)". Retrieved 7 May 2021.

[6] In numbers: Scottish Parliament celebrates 20th anniversary, Shropshire Star, 29 April 2019

[mccall-7] "Scottish Tories get new MSP at Holyrood". BBC News. 5 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.

[lordcameron-8] "Tory MSP Donald Cameron to take up House of Lords seat". BBC News. 9 February 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.

[9] "Scottish Greens MSP elected as new Presiding Officer". STV News. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.

[10] "New Scottish Tory MSP first to take oath to King Charles III". STV News. 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.

[11] Fitzpatrick, Tara (28 October 2023). "Former first minister candidate Ash Regan quits SNP to join Alba party". STV News. Retrieved 28 October 2023.

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