As Reform UK sweeps to victory in English local elections, is a new era of polarisation coming to Scotland?

By Davide Vampa

Reform UK’s dramatic victory within the 2025 English native elections, following the social gathering’s breakthrough within the 2024 common election, has shaken the political institution and fuelled hypothesis about whether or not Scotland may also be getting into a brand new period of political turmoil. With polls now suggesting that Reform may overtake the Conservatives and shut in on Labour in Scotland, it’s more and more clear that the social gathering is not an solely English phenomenon. This marks a significant departure from the current previous, when Scotland appeared largely insulated from the enchantment of right-wing populism.

Scotland’s Previous Immunity: A Look Again to 2016

To know the importance of this shift, it’s price trying again to Might 2016, a number of weeks earlier than the EU referendum that might dramatically alter the course of British politics. Devolved parliamentary elections have been held in Scotland and Wales, on the identical day as elections in London and numerous English native councils. On the time, the UK Independence Celebration (UKIP) – a populist radical proper social gathering led by Nigel Farage – was nonetheless consolidating its place as a key challenger to each the Labour and Conservative events. Having secured an unprecedented 12.6 per cent of the vote within the 2015 common election, UKIP continued to draw vital help, reaching as excessive as 20 per cent in British voting intentions based on a YouGov ballot carried out simply earlier than the Might 2016 elections.

In the long run, UKIP carried out nicely in Wales, attaining its first breakthrough in a devolved parliamentary election there with 12.5 per cent of the vote, and eroding help for each Labour (down 7.6 share factors) and the Conservatives (down 4 share factors). Even within the London Meeting election, regardless of a much less receptive metropolitan context, UKIP managed to win two seats (out of 25) with round 8 per cent of the vote. In contrast, Scotland stood out as a transparent exception. Whereas a lot consideration was rightly dedicated to the Scottish Nationwide Celebration’s (SNP) third consecutive election victory, one other social gathering was additionally on the rise – and it was not UKIP, which received simply 2 per cent of the regional checklist vote. In 2016, the Scottish Conservatives managed to capitalise on their hard-unionist opposition to the SNP’s pro-independence agenda, growing their vote share by round 10 share factors and overtaking Labour as the primary opposition social gathering. 

The Scottish social gathering system was extremely polarised round constitutional points following the 2014 independence referendum. But this type of polarisation helped forestall – moderately than facilitate – the rise of a populist challenger on the appropriate, whereas additionally squeezing average pro-devolution forces akin to Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The truth is, the polarised relationship between the SNP and the Conservatives may very well be considered ‘symbiotic’, serving to each events to strengthen and consolidate their positions and shut the electoral market to potential opponents. This dynamic was bolstered by the Brexit referendum and confirmed within the subsequent common election and the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

Scotland Catches the Wave? Reform UK’s Rising Tide

At the moment, a brand new – and even stronger – wave of right-wing populism is sweeping England and Wales. This time, nonetheless, Scotland not seems immune. The 2025 English native elections and the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby, held on 1 Might, noticed the triumph of Reform UK, as soon as once more led by Nigel Farage. In comparison with the rise of UKIP within the mid-2010s, the success of Reform has been unprecedented for a ‘third social gathering’ – not merely disrupting however successfully demolishing the outdated Tory-Labour duopoly in key areas of England. Though Reform had already made vital inroads into the voters in the course of the 2024 common election, its momentum has continued to construct this yr. Not like in 2015-2016, Scotland now seems to be following an identical political trajectory.

Already final yr, Scottish voters punished each the SNP and the Conservatives, with each events seeing their vote shares drop considerably. Between 2022 and 2024, the 2 events skilled management crises and, from their respective positions of incumbency at central and devolved ranges, grew to become more and more unable to maintain the ‘symbiotic’ polarised relationship that had allowed them to dominate opposing camps on the constitutional divide. The de-polarisation of the constitutional debate briefly favoured the Labour Celebration, which skilled a big reversal of fortunes by regaining its place as the biggest social gathering in Scotland. This revival, nonetheless, seems to have been short-lived in a political context that now appears far much less structured.

In 2024, one other essential growth occurred in Scotland. For the primary time in a significant nationwide election with turnout exceeding 50 per cent of registered voters, a populist radical proper social gathering secured a big share of the Scottish vote. With the polarising dynamic between the SNP and the Conservative Celebration weakening, Reform UK was capable of carve out an area within the Scottish social gathering system – primarily on the expense of the Tories. Whereas Farage’s social gathering received round half the vote share it achieved nationally (7 per cent in Scotland versus 14 per cent throughout the UK), this nonetheless marked a transparent enchancment in comparison with 2015, when UKIP secured an identical UK-wide share however only one.6 per cent in Scotland.

Current polls verify the upward pattern for Reform UK, whereas the SNP, Labour, and the Conservatives are trying to reorient their political methods after a decade dominated by constitutional debates over independence and Brexit. Though the decline in help for the SNP seems to have stopped, the social gathering is struggling to maneuver past 30-35 per cent – nicely under the peaks it as soon as reached (usually surpassing 45 per cent of the constituency vote). Each the Conservatives and Labour – for various causes – are failing to determine themselves as the primary various to the SNP. Within the absence of a clearly structured dynamic among the many mainstream events, the circumstances stay beneficial for a challenger to realize floor. Reform is at present projected to win round 15 per cent of the vote, overtaking the Conservatives in some polls and coming near Labour. Given the size of the shifts noticed within the English native elections, it isn’t fully inconceivable that Reform may set up itself as Scotland’s second-largest social gathering in subsequent yr’s Scottish Parliament election.

The SNP’s Gamble: Confronting Reform UK

The SNP seems to be noticing a shift within the electoral panorama and is searching for to recreate the polarising circumstances which have lengthy secured its dominance. For a few years, the SNP portrayed the Tories (significantly when in energy in Westminster) as its major opponents – a technique that suited either side, with the Tories benefiting from the confrontation as a part of the symbiotic dynamic described earlier. Nonetheless, this time, the main focus might shift additional to the appropriate. In response to the English election outcomes, Scottish First Minister John Swinney warned that Scotland have to be ‘alive’ to the ‘menace’ posed by Nigel Farage, accusing Conservatives and Labour of ‘cosying up’ to the right-wing social gathering. This rhetoric may sign an try to forge a brand new type of polarisation, this time with Reform UK positioned as the important thing adversary on the appropriate. By framing Reform UK as a direct menace, the SNP may place itself as the first bulwark towards a far-right surge, probably attracting new help from centre-left voters, who may be tempted to vote for Labour, the Lib Dems or Greens but in addition need to ship a robust message opposing the rise of the far proper.

Nonetheless, this technique carries dangers. By elevating Reform UK because the SNP’s major opposition, the social gathering might inadvertently legitimise a political pressure that thrives on anti-establishment sentiment, with unpredictable penalties for Scottish democratic life. Not like the SNP-Tory rivalry, a polarised battle with Reform UK would centre much less on the unionism-nationalism divide and extra on tradition wars and web zero insurance policies. Farage’s supporters in Scotland appear to prioritise hostility in the direction of the ‘elites’ of each Westminster and Holyrood over constitutional points – with Scottish Conservatives even questioning whether or not Reform UK actually is a ‘social gathering of the union’ in an effort to reassert themselves as the primary anti-SNP opposition.

Whereas standing agency towards Farage might yield short-term electoral features for the SNP because the defender of progressive-liberal values, in the long run it dangers amplifying the significance of an adversary expert at mobilising anti-establishment sentiment. In such a context, constitutional positions may develop into secondary to widespread discontent with elites in any respect ranges. By positioning Reform UK because the SNP’s major competitor, Swinney might inadvertently place his social gathering in a extra weak place, because it nears 20 years in energy and, regardless of its pro-independence aspirations, is already broadly related to Scotland’s political established order.

Davide Vampa is Senior Lecturer in Territorial Politics and Co-Director of the Centre on Constitutional Change, College of Edinburgh.