“One year to save Scotland” says Alba’s Ash Regan

SCOTS have one year to save themselves from the worst of Westminster policies, says an Alba MSP. 

Alba Party’s Holyrood leader Ash Regan MSP says that next year’s Scottish Parliament election will be the “most crucial” in its modern history. 

The next Holyrood election will be held exactly one year today on Thursday 7th May 2026, to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament . It will be the seventh general election since the parliament was re-established in 1999.

Alba’s Ash Regan says that “without a massive pro independence majority” there will not be progress on the constitutional issue and that people in Scotland will be “exposed to more and more Westminster cuts to their living standards”. 

Ash Regan has highlighted that at the last Scottish Parliament elections almost one million list votes were cast for the SNP but in six out of Scotland’s eight regional lists this failed to deliver any pro independence MSPs as a result of the SNPs success in constituencies. 

Current opinion polls show that the SNP is again set to remain the largest party due to success in constituencies which would make it difficult for them to pick up additional list member seats. 

Commenting Ash Regan MSP said: 

"It is vital that pro independence parties address the public’s concerns if we are to elect a pro independence majority next year. That’s why people are saying they’re going to be voting Reform – because they’re fed up with the main parties.

"We know that there are people who might consider voting Reform whom have voted SNP in times gone by, particularly those that voted Brexit or are fed up with what they see as an abandonment of support for sectors such as the North Sea and Grangemouth. 

"We need to be clear that this election will be about independence but it’ll also be about putting forward common sense policies that will attract disillusioned voters, such as protecting money in their pockets and driving down costs during a cost of living crisis. 

"Last time round around a million list votes for independence were wasted, we can’t afford to allow that to happen again because without a strong list vote for Alba we won’t see an overwhelming majority in the Parliament for independence. 

"We have one year to save Scotland from Westminster and to set out the case for people to vote for their independence at next year’s election.”