The Scottish National Party is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 62 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It has 453 local councillors of the 1,227 available. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom and for Scotland's membership in the European Union, with a platform based on progressive social policies and civic nationalism. Founded in 1934 with the amalgamation of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party, the party has had continuous parliamentary representation in Westminster since Winnie Ewing won the 1967 Hamilton by-election.
The Scottish Greens are a green political party in Scotland. The party has 7 MSPs of 129 in the Scottish Parliament, the party holds 35 of the 1226 councillors at Scottish local Government level.
Scottish independence is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaigning to bring it about.
In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP) is a left social democratic political party which campaigns for Scottish independence. The SNP has controlled Scotland's devolved legislature since the 2007 election as a minority government, and were a majority government from the 2011 election and have been a minority government, since the 2016 election.
Unionism in Scotland is a political movement which favours the continuation of the political union between Scotland and the other countries of the United Kingdom, and hence is opposed to Scottish independence. Scotland is one of four countries of the United Kingdom which has its own devolved government and Scottish Parliament, as well as representation in the UK Parliament. There are many strands of political Unionism in Scotland, some of which have ties to Unionism and Loyalism in Northern Ireland. The two main political parties in the UK — the Conservatives and Labour — both support Scotland remaining part of the UK.
Stewart Hosie is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee East from 2005 to 2024. He served as the SNP Treasury Spokesperson from 2022 to 2023, and previously from 2015 to 2017. He served as the SNP Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office since 2021. He served as Deputy Leader of the SNP to Nicola Sturgeon from November 2014 to October 2016. He was also the SNP Deputy Westminster Leader and the SNP Treasury Spokesperson from May 2015, until he was succeeded in both positions by Kirsty Blackman in June 2017.
Scottish Labour, is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 22 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is represented by 266 of the 1,226 local councillors across Scotland. The Scottish Labour party has no separate Chief Whip at Westminster.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, part of UK Liberal Democrats. The party holds 4 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament 6 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons and 86 0f 1226 Local Councillors.
A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side won with 2,001,926 (55.3%) voting against independence and 1,617,989 (44.7%) voting in favour. The turnout of 84.6% was the highest recorded for an election or referendum in the United Kingdom since the January 1910 general election, which was held before the introduction of universal suffrage.
Yes Scotland was the organisation representing the parties, organisations, and individuals campaigning for a Yes vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. It was launched on 25 May 2012 and dissolved in late 2014 after Scotland voted against independence.
Better Together was the successful campaign for a No vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, advocating Scotland to remain a country of the United Kingdom. The organisation was formed in June 2012, operating until winning the vote on the referendum's polling day on 18 September 2014 with 2,001,926 (55.3%) voting against independence and 1,617,989 (44.7%) voting in favour. In June 2014, the campaign adopted a No Thanks branding, in relation to the referendum question.
Labour for Independence was a political organisation for Scottish Labour supporters who were in favour of Scottish independence. It claimed to have 2,000 members across Scotland in June 2014. Following the September 2014 independence referendum its founder Allan Grogan joined the Scottish Socialist Party.
National Collective was a political organisation self-described as an "open and non-party [...] group of artists and creatives" who support Scottish independence active from 2011 to 2015. The organisation was founded in late 2011 by Ross Colquhoun, Andrew Redmond Barr and Rory Scothorne with the goal of "[helping to] shape the vision of a new society and nation". The group argued that independence for Scotland could achieve both a realisation of self-determination and a "cultural dawn" for the nation. The organisation was supported by independence-minded artists, including Liz Lochhead, Alasdair Gray, Elaine C. Smith and Karine Polwart.
The Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) is a grassroots organisation which advocates for Scotland to become a republic, independent of the United Kingdom.
Generation Yes was a political organisation established to campaign for a yes vote amongst young voters in the referendum on Scottish Independence. It was established in January 2014 with an official launch two months later.
Cat Boyd is a Scottish trade union activist and a co-founder of the Radical Independence Campaign and RISE – Scotland's Left Alliance.
There was a Scottish National Party leadership election to choose the new Depute leader of the Scottish National Party at the SNP's conference on 14–15 October 2016. The SNP's Westminster Group Leader Angus Robertson MP won the election.
Róisín Mary Bridget McLaren is a former national co-spokesperson of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 2018 to 2021.
Voices for Scotland is the campaign arm of the Scottish Independence Convention, formed in April 2019. The organisation is a civic campaign for Scottish independence, with an aim to get support for Scottish independence above 60%
