By Huw Macartney Over the past decade, several posts on the PSA Parliaments blog have grappled with the unfinished business of House of Lords reform. One question has featured prominently: why do hereditary peers, whose seats derive from the accident of birth, continue to occupy places in the upper chamber? The underlying assumption, reflected in public opinion polls, is that inherited privilege has no place in a modern parliamentary democracy. Hereditary peers, after all, sat…
By Lynn Bennie This blog is based on an article first published in the Scottish Election Analysis Report. All six political parties now represented in the Scottish Parliament are led or co-led by men (a Green co-leader being a woman). The lack of gender balance was starkly displayed in the televised leaders’ debates during the Holyrood election campaign. The first of these was the BBC’s Debate Night on 12th April. Seven men on stage including…
By Christopher Carman This blog is based on an article first published in the Scottish Election Analysis Report. The Scottish Parliament election on 7 May produced a remarkable result. The SNP returned as the largest party with 58 seats, but well short of a majority, while Labour and Reform UK tied as joint second on 17 each. The Greens took 15, the Conservatives 12, and the Liberal Democrats 10 (Figure 1) — so six parties,…
By Ruxandra Serban Following the May 2026 Scottish Parliament election, the new Presiding Officer, Kenneth Gibson, announced a set of changes to First Minister’s Questions (FMQs). The changes to the Standing Orders were adopted on 26 May 2026 and implemented at the start of June. According to Gibson, the changes are meant to provide the Scottish Parliament with the means to carry out stronger scrutiny of government, and a greater role for backbench MSPs. Looking…
By Nasar Meer and Timothy Peace This blog is based on an article first published in the Scottish Election Analysis Report. The 2026 Scottish election has produced a more varied minority ethnic cohort than the one that preceded it. It includes new parties, new regions and new biographies. Yet the scale of representation still lags behind Scotland’s population profile and suggests progress without parity. Scotland is more diverse than at any earlier point in its…
