Summary

  • Voters will go to the polls on 7 May to elect 129 members of the Scottish Parliament

  • The deadline to register to vote is 23:59 tonight - it can be done online and takes just minutes

  • Scottish LibDem leader Alex Cole Hamilton promises to give rural Scotland a voice

  • The Scottish Greens are plugging their policy of a repair voucher scheme for household items

  • The Scottish Conservatives are joined by "world's tallest Tory" - 7ft 2in James McAlpine - as they urge voters to back them on the peach ballot paper

  • SNP leader John Swinney is in Shetland and says tunnels in Shetland could help tackle depopulation

  • Reform's Malcolm Offord is at the other end of the country campaigning in Stranraer

  • Labour's Jackie Baillie unveils a campaign van saying 'The SNP's Record is Criminal'

  1. Scottish Parliament election 2026: The headlinespublished at 17:16 BST 20 April

    Our live page coverage of the Scottish Parliament election campaigning on 20 April is coming to a close.

    Here are the key lines that emerged from the parties today:

    • Reform UK's Scottish leader Malcolm Offord was campaigning in Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway
    • Aside from policy issues, the party leaders were asked their views on the Peter Mandelson controversy and the publication at the weekend of texts concerning Alex Salmond

    Thanks for joining us. Today's editor was Calum Watson. The writer was Craig Hutchison.

  2. Scottish LibDems manifesto: 'Fair, realistic plans for the things that matter'published at 17:11 BST 20 April

    Lib Dem manifesto at a glance
  3. Scottish LibDems manifesto: £400m for social care and 2,000 support assistants in schoolspublished at 17:10 BST 20 April

    LibDem manifesto at a glance
  4. Scottis LibDems manifesto: Delayed discharges, easier GP treatment and educationpublished at 17:07 BST 20 April

    Lib Dems manifesto at a glance
  5. Coming up - the last of our at-a-glance manifesto guidespublished at 17:05 BST 20 April

    Throughout the day we've been publishing summaries of the main pledges made by the biggest political parties in the Holyrood vote.

    Coming up next is the last of them - the Lib Dems.

    You can click on the links to earlier posts here to see what Reform UK, the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Labour , the Scottish Greens and the SNP are promising.

  6. 'A vote for Scottish Labour is not an endorsement of Keir Starmer' - Sarwarpublished at 16:52 BST 20 April

    The Scottish Labour leader doubles down on his criticism of Sir Keir Starmer, two months after calling for him to resign.

    Anas Sarwar, addressing the STUC in Dundee, says there have been too many errors by the Labour UK government.

    "There are many good things, but also too many mistakes," he says

    “So, let me be clear, a vote for Scottish Labour in this election is not an endorsement of Keir Starmer.

    “It’s about who is first minister."

    Sarwar also rounded on Reform UK, saying they had been spouting "poison" throughout the campaign.

  7. Last chance to register to votepublished at 16:40 BST 20 April

    Polling place sign and ballot boxesImage source, PA Media

    Anyone not already on the electoral register has until 23:59 tonight to make sure they can have their say in the election.

    If you are already on the electoral register, you should have received a polling card telling you when and where to vote.

    But if you’re voting for the first time, have moved house, or changed any of your details you need to be registered before tonight's deadline.

    Registering takes minutes and can be done online at gov.uk/register-to-vote, external. All voters need is a name, address, and National Insurance number.

    Once you’re registered, the deadline to apply for a postal vote if you want to vote that way is 17:00 on Tuesday 21 April

    And the deadline to apply for a proxy vote - where someone casts your vote on your behalf - is 17:00 on Tuesday 28 April.

  8. Greens repair voucher plan - making things last longerpublished at 16:31 BST 20 April

    Ross Greer

    Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer was at a reuse centre in Stirling earlier, explaining why his party wants to see a repair voucher scheme.

    It would allow people to get a discount on repairing household goods at participating manufacturers and retailers.

    “Everybody has the same experience of goods that we’ve bought, usually electronic goods breaking, and us finding that actually it’s more expensive to get them repaired than to replace them completely," he says.

    The Greens also want to introduce a requirement for manufacturers to take back certain products like mattresses and textiles at the end of their life.

  9. Cole-Hamilton kicks up a stink over sewage data 'cover-up'published at 16:29 BST 20 April

    Alex Cole-Hamilton says the decision by Scottish Water to delay publication of key figures on the number of sewage dumps that took place last year until after the election looks like “a stinking cover up.”

    According to the Scottish Lib Dem leader, new figures covering the number of occasions sewage leaked into Scotland’s rivers, beaches and waterways were due to be published before the end of March.

    The figures are now set to be delayed until the end of August, well beyond the original publication timing of the end of March.

    Cole-Hamilton says: "This looks suspiciously like a stinking cover up."

    He adds: “Scottish Liberal Democrats will introduce a Clean Water Act to take the sewage scandal seriously,."

  10. SNP manifesto: 'People are struggling to afford food'published at 16:17 BST 20 April

    SNP manifesto at a glance
  11. SNP manifesto: Cap the price of essential groceries and bus farespublished at 16:17 BST 20 April

    SNP manifesto at a glance
  12. SNP manifesto: Cost of living, child poverty and Scottish independencepublished at 16:16 BST 20 April

    SNP manifesto at a glance
  13. Party manifesto summaries - What would another SNP government do?published at 16:16 BST 20 April

    We've published four of our at-a-glance manifesto guides already today, and now it's the turn of the SNP.

    Our posts have been published in the same order as the parties announced their plans.

    You can click these links to find out what Reform UK, the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Greens are promising.

  14. The areas where the battle for votes is hottestpublished at 16:05 BST 20 April

    There are 73 constituency seats up for grabs in the Scottish Parliament election - with the rest of the 129 MSPs elected from regional lists.

    As always there are some seats and regions that are key battlegrounds - and our political correspondent Phil Sim has identified nine that are ones to watch.

    They are:

    • Rutherglen and Cambuslang
    • Dumbarton
    • Eastwood
    • Edinburgh Central
    • Shetland
    • Strathkelvin and Bearsden
    • Banffshire and Buchan Coast
    • Inverness and Nairn
    • South Scotland Region

    Click here to find out more on why these could be decisive in the final result.

  15. Starmer 'should take responsibility and resign' says Monica Lennonpublished at 15:56 BST 20 April

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer is giving a statement in the Commons
    Image caption,

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer is giving a statement in the Commons

    A Scottish Labour candidate has urged Keir Starmer to quit immediately.

    Monica Lennon writes on X, external: "Anas Sarwar was right to call for the PM to go a couple of months ago, and he’s still right".

    Starmer "should take responsibility and resign">

    The prime minister is addressing MPs in the Commons about Peter Mandelson's vetting for his job as US ambassador.

    You can follow proceedings live here.

  16. Scottish Greens manifesto: Meeting the needs of 'people and planet'published at 15:32 BST 20 April

    Greens manifesto at a glance
  17. Scottish Greens manifesto: Expand childcare and 40,000 green energy jobspublished at 15:30 BST 20 April

    Scottish Greens at a glance
  18. Scottish Greens manifesto: Wealth tax, free bus travel and net zero targetpublished at 15:29 BST 20 April

    Scottish greens manifesto at a glance
  19. More manifesto promises - this time the Scottish Greenspublished at 15:28 BST 20 April

    We've been giving you some short summaries of what the different parties are offering in this election.

    Already we've had at-a-glance guides for Reform, the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour

    Here's what's in the Scottish Greens manifesto