Whither Scottish national identity? The Reform UK challenge to an inclusive Scotland

Prof Murray Leith

Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of the West of Scotland. His research interests include Scottish and American politics, nationalism, and diaspora relations. His current work focuses on Scottish identity, politics, and the diaspora.

Dr Duncan Sim

Honorary Senior Research Fellow (and former Reader in Sociology) at the University of the West of Scotland). He has researched and published extensively in the areas of ethnicity and identity (particularly in relation to the Scottish diaspora).

Scottish Election 2026

Section 1: Parties and the campaign

  1. How SNP and Swinney stopped the rot (Eddie Barnes)
  2. The Scottish green wave breaks at last (Dr Jonathan Parker)
  3. What went wrong for Labour (Prof Kezia Dugdale)
  4. The Scottish Conservatives (Dr Alan Convery)
  5. Reform’s courting of Scotland’s post-industrial communities (Dr Maike Dinger and Prof Darren Lilleker)
  6. From chatbots to the ballotbox – how voters used AI to learn about the Scottish Parliament election (Dr Louise Luxton, Dr Timea Balogh, Elise Frelin & Prof Zoe Greene)
  7. Online advertising in the Scottish Parliament election (Kate Dimson and Prof Cristian Vaccari)
  8. Boring is not a virtue: Lessons from Scottish parties’ campaigns on TikTok (Prof Ana Ines Langer, Dr Lluis de Nadal)
  9. When parties travel, does negativity follow? Comparing campaigns on X (Dr Aybuke Atalay, Dr Ricardo Ribeiro Ferreira)
  10. Minding the distance: leaders in the election manifestos (Dr Michael Higgins, Prof Angela Smith)
  11. “It’s the Crisis, Stupid!” – Permacrisis and the 2026 Scottish Parliament election (Dr Paul Anderson, Dr Coree Brown Swan, Dr Judith Sijstermans
  12. ‘Whither Scottish national identity? The Reform UK challenge to an inclusive Scotland’ (Dr Murray Leith, Dr Duncan Sim)
  13. Environmental politics: flooded off the agenda? (Dr Kristen Nicolson)
  14. A disappearing crisis? Climate debate in the 2026 Scottish election campaign (Dr William Dinan)
  15. The Curious Case of the Co-operative Party and Lessons for Labour (Katharine McCrossan)

The results of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election may have resulted in continued SNP government and their dominance in a multiparty system, but it has brought Reform UK firmly into that system. With 17 seats and 16.6% of regional votes in Scotland, they are now, jointly with Scottish Labour, the second largest party in the parliament. This may have implications for the nature of identity and belonging in Scotland, as Reform UK are openly against immigration and inclusion.

Since the inception of the Scottish Parliament, there has been a slew of initiatives supporting migration into Scotland, and the language of “New Scots” has been firmly embedded into political discussions and documents across the political spectrum, from left to right, nationalist to unionist. This illustrates the political elite consensus within Scottish politics, supporting migration in a welcoming and inclusive environment. In addition, political elites have always portrayed Scottishness as a very inclusive identity, encompassing those who come to Scotland and consider themselves Scottish.

However, Reform UK’s rhetoric and policy positions during the 2026 campaign challenged these ideas, as witnessed in their manifesto. The Reform UK idea of Scottishness was very clearly structured around “us and them”, with open distinction between “locals” and “strangers”. In addition, they attacked such strangers for being “prioritised ahead of Scots” in housing and other policies, framing immigration as “uncontrolled” and, rather than framing migrants as a source of enrichment for the Scottish nation, regarding them as a problem.

This contrasted sharply with the language and rhetoric in other political parties’ manifestos, especially the Scottish Greens, who opened their document with the argument that “Scotland is a welcoming country… We will always welcome people who choose to make Scotland their home… and we will challenge the far-right”. They continued to express inclusive and welcoming language, illustrating the political elite consensus of the last 27 years of devolution.

Similar arguments and expressions were found in Scottish Labour’s manifesto, who sought to build a “better future by not dividing our communities” and stated their continued support for refugee integration. Likewise, the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ manifesto which stated that they “believe in fairness for everyone, no matter who you are or where you come from”, had a vision for Scotland as a country “where rich diversity and differences are strengths to be celebrated and reflected throughout public life”. They also promised to stand up to bullies like Donald Trump.

The Scottish Conservatives, perhaps in recognition of the electoral challenge from their right, moved from a previously supportive and inclusive position to a less welcoming stance. Their 2026 manifesto attacked “New Scots strategies”, promising to ban “diversity, equality and inclusion” roles and translation services on the public purse.

The SNP, who are yet again the largest political party in Holyrood with 58 seats won in this election, will continue to drive the policy agenda, and they have continued to emphasise their open, inclusive and welcoming sense of Scottishness and Scotland. Their manifesto presented the population of Scotland in a way that is strongly inclusive overall. It constructed the people of Scotland as a broad, civic, and rights-bearing community, defining the population in civic and territorial terms, explicitly including migrants, refugees, and minority groups. They openly stated that Scotland’s future should be decided by “people living here – no one else”, defining Scottishness on the basis of residence and not ethnicity.

Such language was found in Reform UK’s manifesto in some ways, as they celebrated “prosperity for everyone in Scotland”. However, the SNP and Reform UK manifestos offered sharply contrasting constructions of Scotland’s population, unsurprisingly reflecting fundamentally different ideological approaches to inclusion, belonging, and citizenship. While both manifestos invoked “the people of Scotland” as the central topic and focus of political action, they differed significantly in how the people were defined, valued, and bounded as a nation. This is clearly a clash between identities and senses of belonging.

However impressive their electoral performance, Reform UK are not in a position to implement any of their electoral manifesto promises, whereas the SNP, in alliance with other parties, may well be. The issue remains, however, that Reform UK are now the (joint) second largest party in the new Scottish Parliament and they can and will advocate for their policies and positions. They now have a national forum and political standing from which to input and seek to shape the debate on identity and belonging in Scotland. While the other main political parties, from the SNP to the Conservatives, maintain an inclusive sense of identity and belonging (although the Conservatives limit this somewhat), the elite consensus that previously existed around a welcoming, inclusive nation, and an allied sense of Scottishness that was open to all has been broken.

The 2026 Scottish Parliament election has shown that Reform UK presents a challenge to not only specific policies but also a sense of what Scotland is, what it should be and what will continue to make it distinctive within the UK.