Scottish National Party

The Scottish National Party (SNP; , ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 63 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and held 43 out of the 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons in Westminster prior to its dissolution for the 2024 general election. It has 453 local councillors of the 1,227 available.

The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom and for Scotland's membership in the European Union, with a platform based on progressive social policies and civic nationalism.

Founded in 1934 with the amalgamation of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party, the party has had continuous parliamentary representation in Westminster since Winnie Ewing won the 1967 Hamilton by-election. With the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second-largest party, serving two terms as the opposition. The SNP gained power under Alex Salmond at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, forming a minority government, before going on to win the 2011 Parliament election, after which it formed Holyrood's first majority government. After Scotland voted against independence in the 2014 referendum, Salmond resigned and was succeeded by Nicola Sturgeon. The SNP achieved a record number of seats in Westminster after the 2015 general election to become the third largest party but in Holyrood it was reduced back to being a minority government at the 2016 election. In the 2021 election, the SNP gained one seat and entered a power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens. In March 2023 Sturgeon resigned and was replaced by Humza Yousaf. In April 2024, Yousaf collapsed the power-sharing deal with the Greens and resigned the following week due to the resulting fallout of the decision. The incumbent John Swinney was elected leader in May 2024.

The party does not have any members of the House of Lords on the principle that it opposes the upper house of Parliament and calls for it to be scrapped. The SNP is a member of the European Free Alliance (EFA). Provided by Wikipedia