The 2003 Scottish Parliament election was the second election of members to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

. It was held on 1 May 2003 and it brought no change in terms of control of the Scottish Executive. Jack McConnell, the Labour Party MSP, remained in office as

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

for a second term and the Executive continued as a Labour and Liberal Democrat

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

. As of 2023, it remains the last Scottish Parliament election victory for the Scottish Labour Party, and the last time the Scottish National Party lost a Holyrood election. The results also showed rises in support for smaller parties, including the

Scottish Green Party The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; ) are a green party, green List of political parties in Scotland, political party in Scotland. The party has 7 MSPs of 129 in the Scottish Parliament, the party holds 35 of the 1226 ...

and the

Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an Scottish independence, independent Socialism, socialist Scottish Scottish republicanism, republic. The party was fou ...

(SSP) and declines in support for the Labour Party and the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

(SNP). The

Conservative and Unionist Party The Conservative and Unionist Party, commonly the Conservative Party and colloquially known as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. The party sits on the Cent ...

and the Scottish Liberal Democrats each polled almost exactly the same percentage of the vote as they had in the 1999 election, with each holding the same number of seats as before. Three

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

MSPs were elected:

Dennis Canavan Dennis Andrew Canavan (born 8 August 1942) is a Scottish politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Falkirk West (UK Parliament constituency), Falkirk West from 1974 to 2000 (known as West Stirlingshire (UK Parliament constituency), West S ...

Margo MacDonald Margo Symington MacDonald (''née'' Aitken; 19 April 1943 – 4 April 2014) was a Scottish politician, teacher and broadcaster. She was the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Govan from 1973 to 1974 and was D ...

and

Jean Turner Jean McGivern Turner (born 23 December 1939) is a Scottish medical doctor and former independent (politician), Independent politician. She was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Strathkelvin and Bearsden (Scottish Parliament con ...

. John Swinburne, leader of the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, was also elected. This led to talk of a "rainbow" Parliament, but the arithmetic meant that the

of Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrats could continue in office, which they did until the 2007 election. The decline in support for the SNP was viewed by some as a rejection of the case for

Scottish independence 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 campaignin ...

. Others argued against this, pointing out that the number of MSPs in favour of independence actually rose because most of the minor parties such as the SSP share this position with the SNP.

Retiring MSPs

At the dissolution of Parliament on 31 March 2003, ten MSPs were not seeking re-election.

Campaign

The parliament was dissolved on 31 March 2003 and the campaign began thereafter.

Party leaders in 2003

*Labour – Jack McConnell *SNP –

John Swinney John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party, leader of the Scottish National ...

*Conservative – David McLetchie *Liberal Democrat –

Jim Wallace James Robert Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness, (born 25 August 1954) is a Scottish politician serving as a Liberal Democrat life peer in the House of Lords, British House of Lords since 2007. He served as the Deputy First Minister of Scotl ...

*Greens –

Robin Harper Robin Charles Moreton Harper, (born 4 August 1940) is a Scottish politician, who was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothians region (1999–2011). He was co-convener of the Scottish Greens (2004–2008). Harper became a ...

& Eleanor Scott (co-chairs) *SSP – Tommy Sheridan

Defeated MSPs

Labour

* Brian Fitzpatrick, Strathkelvin and Bearsden * Rhoda Grant,

Highlands and Islands The Highlands and Islands is an area of Scotland broadly covering the Scottish Highlands, plus Orkney, Shetland, and the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles). The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act o ...

Iain Gray Iain Cumming Gray (born 7 June 1957) is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2008 to 2011. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the East Lothian constituency from 2007 to 2021, having p ...

, Edinburgh Pentlands * Angus MacKay, Edinburgh South * Richard Simpson, Ochil * Elaine Thomson, Aberdeen North

SNP

* Kenneth Gibson,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

* Irene McGugan, North East Scotland * Fiona McLeod, West of Scotland * Gil Paterson, Central Scotland * Lloyd Quinan, West of Scotland * Michael Russell, South of Scotland * Andrew Wilson, Central Scotland

The New Party

* Keith Harding, Mid Scotland and Fife (elected as a Conservative) * Lyndsay McIntosh, Central Scotland (elected as a Conservative)

Results

, - , style="background-color:white" colspan=15 , , - ! rowspan=2 colspan=2 , Party ! colspan=5 , Constituencies ! colspan=5 , Regional additional members ! colspan=5 , Total seats , - ! Votes !! % !! ± !! Seats !! ± !! Votes !! % !! ± !! Seats !! ± !! Total !! ± !! % , - , - , style="text-align:left"; colspan="2" , Valid votes , , 1,916,574 , , 99.4 , , 0.3 , , colspan="2", , , 1,915,851 , , 99.4 , , 0.3 , , colspan="5", , - , style="text-align:left"; colspan="2" , Spoilt votes , , 12,303 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , colspan="2", , , 11,938 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , colspan="5", , - !style="text-align:left"; colspan="2" , Total , , 1,928,877 , , 100 , , , , 73 , , – , , 1,927,789 , , 100 , , , , 56 , , – , , 129 , , – , , 100 , - , style="text-align:left"; colspan="2" , Electorate/Turnout , , 3,877,460 , , 49.7 , , 8.7 , , colspan="2", , , 3,877,460 , , 49.7 , , 8.6 , , colspan="5", Notes: *The

Scottish Greens The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; ) 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. The ...

did not stand in any constituencies, instead concentrating their resources on winning the largest possible share of the "second" vote for 'list' seats.

Constituency and regional summary

Central Scotland

, - ! colspan=2 style="width: 200px", Constituency ! style="width: 150px", Elected member ! style="width: 300px", Result , - ! colspan="2" style="width: 150px", Party ! Elected candidates ! style="width: 40px", Seats ! style="width: 40px", +/− ! style="width: 50px", Votes ! style="width: 40px", % ! style="width: 40px", +/−% , -

Glasgow

Highlands and Islands

Lothians

Mid Scotland and Fife

North East Scotland

South of Scotland

West of Scotland

Coalition

As part of the coalition deal between Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Labour allowed

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

(a long-standing Lib Dem policy) to be used in Scottish local government elections. This system was first used in 2007.

Campaign spending

References

Party manifestos

British National Party – FreedomScottish Liberal Democrats – Make the differenceScottish National Party – Release our potentialScottish Socialist Party – another Scotland is possible

External links

BBC: Vote Scotland 2003Scottish Election Results 1997 – present
{{United Kingdom local elections, 2003

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2003 elections in the United Kingdom 2003 in Scotland 2000s elections in Scotland May 2003 in the United Kingdom