6th Scottish Parliament

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.

6th Scottish Parliament
← 5th Scottish Parliament 7th 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 13 May 2021 –

Composition

Party		May 2021 election	Currently
•	Scottish National Party	64	60
	Scottish Conservatives	31	30
	Scottish Labour	22	23
	Scottish Greens	8	7
	Scottish Liberal Democrats	4	5
	Alba Party	0	1
	Independent	0	2
	Presiding Officer	0	1
Total		129
Government majority		0	– 8

Government parties denoted with bullets (•)

Leadership

• Presiding Officer: Alison Johnstone (Independent)^[a]
• Deputy Presiding Officers: Annabelle Ewing (SNP), Liam McArthur (Lib Dems)

Government

Main article: Scottish cabinet

• 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

Main article: Opposition Shadow Cabinets of the Scottish Parliament

Main article: First Minister's Questions (Scottish Parliament)

• 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)

1. Johnstone was elected as Green MSP but relinquished her membership in order to take the office of Presiding Officer.
2. There is no official opposition or opposition leader, but Findlay 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]

Name		Image	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 Liberal Democrats
	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
	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
	Davy Russell		Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse (since 06/06/25)	Constituency	Scottish Labour
	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]
	Christina McKelvie		Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse	Constituency	Scottish National Party	Died 27 March 2025[7]

Changes

Date	Constituency/region	Gain		Loss		Note
13 May 2021	Lothian		Presiding Officer		Scottish Green	Alison Johnstone was elected Presiding Officer and consequently had to renounce her party affiliation.[8]
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.[9]
28 October 2023	Edinburgh Eastern		Alba		SNP	Ash Regan defected from the SNP to Alba, becoming the party's first MSP.[10]
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.[11]
4 April 2025	West Scotland		Liberal Democrats		Conservative	Jamie Greene left the Conservative Party due to his disagreement with it becoming "Trump-esque in both style and substance", and joined the Liberal Democrats the next day.[12]
6 June 2025	Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse		Labour		SNP	Davy Russell won the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election following the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie.[13]
20 June 2025	Inverness and Nairn		Independent		SNP	Fergus Ewing announced he would stand as an independent in the 2026 parliament election. Ewing said he had not quit the SNP, but a party source said his membership automatically ceased when he announced his independent run, a violation of the SNP's party constitution.[14]