Шотландия Либерал-Демократтары: Федералдық құрамдас бөлік

One of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats

The Scottish Liberal Democrats (Pàrtaidh Libearal Deamocratach na h Alba, ) is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats. The party currently holds 4 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 4 of the 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. The Scottish Liberal Democrats is one of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats, the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the English Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats do not contest elections in Northern Ireland.

The Scottish Liberal Democrat party was formed by the merger of the Scottish Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Scotland, as part of the merger of the Liberal Party and SDP on 3 March 1988. The party campaigned for the creation of a devolved Scottish Parliament as part of its wider policy of a federal United Kingdom. In the late 1980s and 1990s it and its representatives participated in the Scottish Constitutional Convention with Scottish Labour, the Scottish Greens, trades unions and churches. It also campaigned for a "Yes Yes" vote in the 1997 devolution referendum.

In the first elections to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the Scottish Lib Dems won 17 seats. Following this, it formed a coalition government with Scottish Labour in the Scottish Executive. The then party leader, Jim Wallace, became Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Minister for Justice. He also served as acting First Minister on three occasions, during the illness and then later, the death of the first First Minister Donald Dewar and the following resignation of his successor Henry McLeish. This partnership was renewed in 2003 and Wallace became Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning. On 23 June 2005, Nicol Stephen MSP succeeded Wallace as party leader and took over his positions in the Executive until the 2007 elections. Prior to the partnership government being formed in 1999, the UK had only limited experience of coalition government. The Lib Dems' participation attracted criticism for involving compromises to its preferred policies, although several of its manifesto pledges were adopted as government policy or legislation. These included changes to the arrangements for student contributions to higher education costs (although whether that amounted to the claimed achievement of having abolished tuition fees was hotly contested), free personal care for the elderly and (during the second coalition government) changing the system of elections for Scottish local authorities to the single transferable vote, a long standing Liberal Democrat policy.

In the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, the party won one fewer seat than in the two previous Scottish elections: this was the first parliamentary election for 28 years in which the party's parliamentary strength in Scotland was reduced. This experience led to some criticism of the party's election strategy and its leader. Although it was arithmetically possible to form a majority coalition with the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Scottish Greens, the party refused to participate in coalition negotiations because of a disagreement over the SNP's policy of a referendum on Scottish independence, and sat as an opposition party in the Parliament. On 2 July 2008, Nicol Stephen resigned as party leader, citing the "stresses and strains" of the job. Former deputy leader Michael Moore MP served as acting leader of the party until Tavish Scott MSP was elected party leader on 26 August 2008, winning 59% of the votes cast in a contest with parliamentary colleagues Ross Finnie and Mike Rumbles.

At the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the party lost all its mainland constituencies, retaining only the two constituencies of Orkney and Shetland; it also secured three List MSPs. This was, at the time, by far the party's worst electoral performance since the re establishment of a Scottish Parliament in 1999. The disastrous results were blamed on a backlash to the Lib Dems' coalition with the Conservative Party. Scott resigned as party leader on 7 May, and the resulting leadership election was won by Willie Rennie ten days later. At the 2014 European Parliament election, the party lost its only MEP, leaving it with no representation for the first time since 1994. The party lost 10 of its 11 MPs at the 2015 general election with only Alistair Carmichael narrowly retaining his seat, holding Orkney and Shetland with a 3.6% majority. At the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, the party again had five MSPs elected but was pushed into 5th place by the Scottish Greens. While it regained the two constituency seats of Edinburgh Western and North East Fife from the SNP, its vote share fell slightly overall. At the 2017 general election, the party retained Orkney and Shetland with an increased majority, as well as regaining three seats lost to the SNP in 2015 – Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, East Dunbartonshire and Edinburgh West. The Scottish Liberal Democrats lost out on the North East Fife constituency to Stephen Gethins of the SNP by just two votes, making it the most marginal result in the UK at the general election that year. In the 2019 European Parliament election, they re gained a Member of European Parliament, Sheila Ritchie, for the Scotland Region until the United Kingdom left the European Union in early 2020. Two years later, at the 2019 general election, UK Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson lost East Dunbartonshire to Amy Callaghan of the SNP by 150 votes, and was forced to stand down as leader; but the Liberal Democrats successfully regained North East Fife and retained four seats in Scotland. The Scottish Lib Dems replaced Scottish Labour as the third largest party in Scotland in terms of seats at the 2019 general election, in a historic landslide defeat for the party nationwide. At the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, only 4 MSPs were elected for the Lib Dems, holding onto their 4 constituency seats while losing their single regional seat in North East Scotland. The party's vote share also declined further, reaching a new low in both constituency and list vote share at a Scottish Parliamentary election, and 50 deposits were lost out of the 73 constituencies contested. The resulted in the party dropping below the five seat threshold to be recognised as a parliamentary party in the Scottish Parliament, and as a result losing certain parliamentary rights such as a guaranteed question at First Minister's Questions. Following the election, Rennie resigned as leader, and was replaced by Alex Cole Hamilton in August 2021 after he stood to run unopposed.

After winning 87 council seats in the 2022 Scottish local elections, an increase from 67 in 2017, party leader Alex Cole Hamilton announced a target of 150 councillors by 2027.

No. Image Name Term start Term end 1 Malcolm Bruce 3 March 1988 18 April 1992 2 Jim Wallace 18 April 1992 23 June 2005 3 Nicol Stephen 23 June 2005 2 July 2008 Acting Michael Moore 2 July 2008 26 August 2008 4 Tavish Scott 26 August 2008 7 May 2011 5 Willie Rennie 17 May 2011 20 July 2021 Acting Alistair Carmichael 20 July 2021 20 August 2021 6 Alex Cole Hamilton 20 August 2021 Incumbent

No. Image Name Term start Term end 1 Michael Moore 2 November 2002 20 September 2010 2 Jo Swinson 20 September 2010 23 September 2012 3 Alistair Carmichael 23 September 2012 3 December 2021 4 Wendy Chamberlain 3 December 2021 Incumbent

In keeping with its basis as a federation of organisations, the Scottish party also consists of a number of local parties (which mostly follow the boundaries of the Scottish Council Areas), which are each distinct accounting units under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Local parties are predominantly responsible for the party's political campaigning and for selecting candidates for parliamentary and local authority elections. There are also eight regional parties (based on the boundaries of the eight Scottish Parliament electoral regions).

The party's headquarters are located in Edinburgh. The conference is the highest decision making body of the party on both policy and strategic issues. The day to day organisation of the party is the responsibility of the party's Executive Committee, which is chaired by the Convener of the party and includes the Leader, the Deputy Leader and the President of the party, as well as the party Treasurer and the three Vice Conveners. All party members vote every two years in internal elections to elect people to all the below positions, except Leader & Depute Leader.

Like the Federal party, the Scottish party holds two conferences per year; a Spring Conference, and an Autumn Conference.

The Association of Scottish Liberal Democrat Councillors (ASLDC) is a network of Liberal Democrat councillors and local campaigners across Scotland which works to support and develop Liberal Democrat involvement in Scottish Local Government. Following the Local Council Election of May 2017, under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, 67 Liberal Democrats were elected, a drop of 3 on Local Council Election of May 2012. A voluntary Executive Committee meets several times a year to run the organisation. ASLDC works alongside Liberal Democrats in the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) where Peter Barrett is leader of the Lib Dem Group.

Member of Parliament Constituency First elected Notes Alistair Carmichael Orkney and Shetland 2001 UK Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Home Affairs, Justice and Northern Ireland. Only Lib Dem MP returned in the 2015 general election in Scotland. Wendy Chamberlain North East Fife 2019 Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and UK Liberal Democrat Chief Whip and Spokesperson for Work & Pensions. Only gain made by the Liberal Democrats in Scotland at the 2019 general election. Was previously the most marginal seat in the entire United Kingdom in 2017. Christine Jardine Edinburgh West 2017 UK Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for the Cabinet Office, Women & Equalities and Scotland. Jamie Stone Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross 2017 UK Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Culture, Media & Sport. Member of the Scottish Parliament for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross between 1999 and 2011.

Election Leader Constituency Regional Total seats +/– Pos. (Position) Government Votes % Seats Votes % Seats 1999 Jim Wallace 333,179 14.2 290,760 12.4 4th 2003 294,347 15.4 225,774 11.8 4th 2007 Nicol Stephen 326,232 16.2 230,651 11.3 1 4th 2011 Tavish Scott 157,714 7.9 104,472 5.2 11 4th 2016 Willie Rennie 178,238 7.8 119,284 5.2 5th 2021 187,816 6.9 137,152 5.1 1 5th

This chart shows the electoral results of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, from the first election the party contested in 1992. Total number of seats, number of votes and vote percentage, is for Scotland only. For results prior to 1992, see Scottish Liberal Party. Election Leader Scotland +/– Position Government Votes % Seats 1992 Malcolm Bruce 383,856 13.1 3rd 3rd 1997 Jim Wallace 365,362 13.0 1 2nd 3rd 2001 380,034 16.3 2nd 3rd 2005 528,076 22.6 1 2nd 3rd 2010 Tavish Scott 465,471 18.9 2nd 3rd 2015 Willie Rennie 219,675 7.5 10 4th 4th 2017 179,061 6.8 3 4th 4th 2019 263,417 9.0 3rd 4th

Election Leader 1st Pref Votes. (1st Preference Votes) % Councillors +/– Pos. (Position)1992 Jim Wallace 140,6979.5% 10 4th1995166,1419.79% 34 4th1999289,23612.7% 35 4th2003272,05714.5% 18 3rd2007 Nicol Stephen 266,69312.7% 9 3rd2012 Willie Rennie 103,0876.62% 95 4th2017128,8216.82% 3 4th2022 Alex Cole Hamilton 159,8158.6% 20 4th

Election Scotland +/– Votes % Seats 1994 7.2 1999 96,971 9.8 2004 154,178 13.1 2009 127,038 11.5 2014 95,319 7.1 1 2019 218,285 13.8 1

Peer Ennobled Notes Patrick Boyle, 10th Earl of Glasgow 1984 (Hereditary) Current chief of Clan Boyle Elizabeth Barker, Baroness Barker 1999 Malcolm Bruce, Baron Bruce of Bennachie 2015 Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem 2015 James Erskine, 14th Earl of Mar 2000 Retired from the Lords in 2017. Archy Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope 2005 MP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire from 1983 to 2005 Jeremy Purvis, Baron Purvis of Tweed 2013 MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale (2003 to 2011) David Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood 1997 Leader of the Liberal Party & Leader of the Social and Liberal Democrats (1976 to 1988) Nicol Stephen, Baron Stephen 2011 Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats (2005 to 2008) Alison Suttie, Baroness Suttie 2013 Deputy chief of staff to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (2010 to 2011) John Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso 2016 (Hereditary) Iain Vallance, Baron Vallance of Tummel 2004 Jim Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness 2007 Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats (1992 to 2005)