Less than a week into the new year, Scotland’s political leaders are banging the electoral war drums with a series of New Year speeches laying the groundwork for 120 days of election build-up.
One might suggest the gloves had come off—if Scotland weren’t in the frozen grasp of sub-zero temperatures.
To combat the cold, rallying cries from John Swinney, Anas Sarwar, and Russell Findlay rang in the new year, lighting a fire under their supporters.
Early on Monday morning, the First Minister met SNP supporters in Glasgow with the surprise proposal of a one-time bank holiday the day after Scotland open their World Cup campaign against Haiti in June.
He told nationalist supporters that the additional bank holiday would properly recognise "a moment 28 years in the waiting".
He said: “That will mean supporters across the country can watch our men’s team in their first World Cup match for almost 30 years and share in the chance for Scotland to be on the world stage.
“Let’s make 2026 a year where Scotland’s sporting success brings our whole country together.”
John Swinney went on to explain his party’s independence strategy, built around May’s national vote, looking to Alex Salmond’s 2011 election majority strategy to provide him the mandate to petition Keir Starmer for another constitutional referendum.
A big year lies ahead for the Scottish leaders
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The First Minister did not shy away from the “ambitious task” of winning a majority in May.
“It worked in 2011 and it will work in 2026,” he said.
“The SNP’s aim is not just to win; our aim is to win the overall majority that secures Scotland the right to choose our own future.”
Across the country, Anas Sarwar and Russell Findlay delivered election-focused New Year addresses in Edinburgh.
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Anas Sarwar | PAThe Scottish Labour leader said he was "not running to be the First Minister in denial of the truth, but the First Minister in defiance of it".
He appealed to the electorate to remember that it was not an election to render a verdict on two years of a UK Labour Government; rather, it was a vote to “render a verdict on two decades of SNP Government.”
As Keir Starmer’s popularity slides in the polls, Anas Sarwar described the Holyrood vote as "a bigger and more important question than how much you like or dislike the UK Government".
He went on: “It’s not an election without consequence or about protest; it’s about the direction our country takes.
“In a Scotland where one in six of us is on NHS waiting lists and one in six young people is out of work, that is not good enough.
“The SNP have had their chance—they’ve had nearly 20 years, and they blew it.”
Keeping with the SNP pile-on in the Scottish capital, Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay was resolute that the cost-of-living crisis ought to be a “top priority” in the election cycle, throughout 2026 and beyond.
The party’s clear choice to replace Douglas Ross as leader last year set out a six-part plan to cut Scotland’s taxes, funded by cutting red tape, whittling down quangos, and putting economic growth front and center in the Scottish Conservative playbook for the forthcoming parliamentary term.
John Swinney has called for Scotland 'to become independent' | PAWhether it comes down to a stronger grasp on reality or a perceived lack of ambition, the high-achieving West of Scotland list MSP avoided suggestions he was running in 2026 to become Scotland’s First Minister.
Nevertheless, despite a number of defections to the Liberal Democrats and Reform in 2025, the Scottish Conservatives have held their own as the second-largest party in Holyrood, and the seriousness with which Russell Findlay is taking the forthcoming election is evident in bringing the first morsels of policy to the table of ravenous journalists impatient for May—give or take a new bank holiday.
With extra bank holidays costing the economy somewhere in the region of £2.4 billion, Findlay accused John Swinney of “committing the most expensive pre-electoral bribe in the history of the Scottish Parliament.”
That’s Scottish politics for you, but something in his voice suggests he’s already looking forward to turning off his alarms for a long lie on June 15.