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Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party | |
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![]() Official logo registered with the Electoral Commission | |
Leader | John Mortimer [1] |
Nominating officer | John Ferguson [1] |
Founded | 3 August 2020 [2] |
Ideology |
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Scottish Parliament | 0 / 129 |
Scottish local government | 0 / 1,227 |
The Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party is a unionist single-issue political party in Scotland. It seeks to abolish the Scottish Parliament, and hand its powers to the Secretary of State for Scotland, Scottish local government, and the UK Parliament. [3]
Although the party was first registered with the Electoral Commission on 31 January 2018, [4] it did not officially launch until 3 August 2020. [5] Its founder and current leader, John Mortimer, previously campaigned for Better Together and established the British Unionist Party. [2] He also stood in the Glasgow electoral region in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, receiving 2,453 votes. [6] Mortimer was critical of the Scottish Conservatives in comments made to the Daily Record , stating that they "have been weak opposition to the SNP on a number of levels." [7] Despite gaining the backing of former UK Independence Party candidates John Ferguson and Mitch William, Mortimer insisted that the party was not a vehicle for former UKIP voters, although UKIP has endorsed abolishing the Scottish Parliament. [7] [8]
On 31 March 2021, the party announced that they would be contesting each of the eight electoral regions in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. [9] They endorsed tactical voting similar to other nationalist and unionist parties like Alba and All for Unity. In order to deprive the SNP of a majority or a coalition with the Scottish Greens, they encouraged supporters to give their constituency vote to either the Conservatives, Labour, or the Liberal Democrats, and their list vote to Abolish. [10]
In their first contested election, the 2021 election, the party did not win any seats, achieving 7,262 votes (0.3%). [11]
Abolish the Scottish Parliament's single issue is the end of Scottish devolution. They claim that the current devolution system does not resemble what was promised in the 1997 referendum. [12]
On their website they state, "A major 2019 poll showed support for abolishing Holyrood stood at 22%." However, said poll was a UK opinion poll, and not a Scottish one.
They decry the £100 million cost of the parliament as "shocking", pledging instead to spend the funding on the NHS and education. [3] They propose returning executive powers to the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland, returning legislative powers to the UK Parliament in London with a revival of pre-devolution role of the Scottish Grand Committee, and turning the Holyrood parliament building into a museum for the British Armed Forces. [3] [13] The party supports increasing the number of Scottish MPs to the seventy-four which Scotland had until 1950, elected on a proportional system. The party also opposes what it sees as "damaging, unpopular policies" pursued by the SNP, such as their "Named Person" system and the minimum pricing of alcohol.
Region | Candidates [1] | Votes | % |
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Central Scotland | John Mortimer, Lee McLauchlan | 841 | 0.3 |
Glasgow | James Dunsmore, Robert Pressley | 702 | 0.2 |
Highlands and Islands | Jack Malcolm | 686 | 0.3 |
Lothian | John Leckie, David Nichol | 828 | 0.2 |
Mid Scotland and Fife | Ian Mann, John Duff | 945 | 0.3 |
North East Scotland | Callum Buchanan | 1,218 | 0.3 |
South Scotland | John Ferguson, Simon Bellord | 1,126 | 0.3 |
West Scotland | Robert Watson | 916 | 0.2 |
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