Cole-Hamilton was unequivocal about his party's stance, stating there will be no coalition with the SNP. However, he left the door open for conditional support, saying his party would be prepared to work on an issue-by-issue, budget-by-budget basis if John Swinney becomes First Minister. He added that dealing with the SNP on a budget is not a referendum on their performance but a means of unpicking damage they have done.
Cole-Hamilton also stated he would resign as leader before putting Swinney back in power, and that the answer to none of Scotland's questions is a third decade of SNP administration. Despite this, he said politicians should be able to roll up their sleeves, put aside differences, and work in the interests of Scotland. The Liberal Democrats improved their MSP count from four, securing their best result since 2007.
I've been clear from the start, and I stand by that, that there will be no coalition with the SNP.
They won the new seat of Edinburgh Northern, with Sanne Dijkstra-Downie defeating the SNP by almost 2,500 votes. Cole-Hamilton held his Edinburgh North Western seat with a majority of 13,016 over the SNP. Newcomer Adam Harley took Strathkelvin and Bearsden from the SNP by 2,574 votes.
The party also won Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, a seat previously held by Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, where Andrew Baxter defeated Eilidh Munro by 1,150 votes. They defeated children's minister Maree Todd in Caithness, Sutherland and Ross. However, the Liberal Democrats lost their Shetland stronghold to the SNP.
If [Swinney] gets to Bute House, then we will be prepared to be grown-up and work on an issue-by-issue, budget-by-budget basis.
The seat had been represented by the Liberals and Liberal Democrats since 1950. Hannah Mary Goodlad took it for the SNP with 47% of the vote, turning a Lib Dem majority of 806 into an SNP majority of 1,517. Cole-Hamilton vowed to retake the constituency at the next Holyrood election.
The election outcome leaves the SNP's position uncertain. Opinion polls suggest John Swinney might win this election, and recent polls have indicated a decisive SNP victory, with some suggesting a majority. If Swinney wins, the SNP would secure their fifth consecutive term in charge of devolved public services.
Obviously, it is a bitter pill to have lost Shetland so narrowly. The Nats threw everything at it. I'm heartbroken for the team there. But we'll dust ourselves down. I congratulate Hannah Mary Goodlad and I hope she savours the next five years, because they'll be her only five years in the parliament.
However, Holyrood was designed to make majority governments unlikely, and if the SNP cannot secure a majority they may look to govern in coalition. Cole-Hamilton believes the SNP will struggle to turn out voters due to a depressed and lethargic feeling within their support, and called the odds of an SNP victory overpriced. He claimed Swinney would quit as SNP leader if the Scottish Lib Dems won all 10 of its target seats, and was confident he would win all 10.
The Scottish Daily Express encouraged pro-Union voters to vote Lib Dem in those constituencies to defeat the SNP. The 10 target seats are: Argyll & Bute, Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Edinburgh North Western, Edinburgh Northern, Fife North East, Inverness & Nairn, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch, and Strathkelvin & Bearsden. Losing these seats would be a blow to the SNP's hopes of a majority of 65 MSPs, which it has insisted would lead to a second independence referendum.
give me five
This is the fifth national election that John Swinney has fought as leader of the SNP and he has not yet won one. He lost the UK general election in 2024 to Labour, but Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon were blamed. When Swinney last led the SNP in the early 2000s, the party lost ground in the 2001 Westminster election, 2003 Holyrood election, and 2004 European elections.
During the campaign, Swinney openly wooed the Liberal Democrats, thanking them for backing the last two SNP budgets and suggesting future cooperation. He is leading a minority government that needs support from another party to survive. On policy, the SNP is promising improved public service delivery and another independence referendum without emphasizing issues that developed on its watch, such as NHS queues, overcrowded jails, and overdue/over-budget ferries.
I've been clear from the start, and I stand by that, that there will be no coalition with the SNP.
The SNP manifesto in 2003 asked for the chance to prove themselves. After 19 years in power, the SNP is trying to renew itself and prove it still has energy and ideas to govern. Labour's Anas Sarwar argues the SNP has had its chance and asks voters to give him five years to fix Scotland's problems.
Sarwar is offering new management rather than a major policy overhaul in most devolved areas. The fundamental difference between Labour and the SNP remains the independence question, though Labour's support for new nuclear power stations offers an alternative dividing line. The next Scottish government will face a spending gap in the devolved budget expected to grow to £5bn by 2029/30 without significant adjustments.
I would resign as leader before putting John Swinney back in power.
That means public spending cuts or increased taxes unless there are unexpected surges in the UK Treasury grant or economic growth. Conservative leader Russell Findlay has repeatedly raised the spending gap issue and plans to cut welfare spending, with some savings used to fund income tax cuts. Reform UK's leader in Scotland, Malcolm Offord, wants bigger income tax cuts paid for by closing some public agencies and ending the push for a carbon-neutral economy by 2045.
The Greens want to tax wealthy people more to better fund public services and extend free bus travel to everyone. Labour and the Liberal Democrats aspire to tax reductions when economic conditions allow. The SNP wants to simplify the current six-band tax system.
The answer to none of Scotland's questions is a third decade of SNP administration.
The Scottish Parliament is in its fifth and final year of the sixth session. The Parliament has faced challenges including the lasting effects of the Covid pandemic and the illegal invasion of Ukraine with consequences for energy costs and security. John Swinney has repeatedly condemned Hamas's attacks on 7 October 2023, and shares concerns that the Israeli Government's actions in Gaza constitute a genocide.
The UK is seeing prolonged application of austerity at a time of desperate need to rebuild society. Swinney rejects demonising behaviour and intends to defeat the politics of fear and division with a principled alternative based on decent, welcoming values. He wants to use every opportunity to give leadership and deliver improvements in the lives of people in Scotland.
Dealing with the SNP on a budget is not a referendum on their performance but a means of unpicking damage they've done.
Swinney says Scotland's NHS remains fundamentally strong and an asset, rejecting claims it is broken. On transport, the SNP conference in Aberdeen felt like a reflection of the party's desire to engage the energy sector, but transport didn't feature highly on the agenda. Shuttle buses to the venue didn't correspond to arriving trains.
In his speech, Swinney talked up the benefits of self-government, including free bus travel for under 22s and removing peak fares on trains. The current government is highly unlikely to meet its commitment to spend at least 10% of the transport budget on active travel by the end of this parliament; it's currently about 6% this year. There has been an 80% increase in funding for cycling, walking and wheeling over the past five years.
Politicians should be able to roll up their sleeves, put aside differences, and work in the interests of Scotland.
Cycling UK has provided each party in Scotland with a provisional manifesto. In other developments, Scotland has elected its first two transgender MSPs, Dr Q Manivannan and Iris Duane, for the Scottish Green Party. The Scottish Greens are eyeing a historic win in Nicola Sturgeon's former Glasgow Southside constituency with candidate Holly Bruce.
Baroness Eluned Morgan, the First Minister of Wales, has lost her seat in the Senedd election. Malcolm Offord has stated his ambition to become Scotland's first minister.
I've been clear from the start, and I stand by that, that there will be no coalition with the SNP.