New party leaders will lead the devolved nations into 2025

Kemi Badenoch’s recent election as Leader of the Opposition in Westminster grabbed headlines in early November. However, she is only one of the ‘2024 Class of New Party Leaders’. Throughout the devolved nations, parties had to conduct leadership contests following various controversies. In turn, each of the parties used a range of methods to select those who will lead them into 2025 and future elections.

Perhaps the most significant of the ‘2024 Class’ are the two new First Ministers: Scotland and Wales both had leaders embroiled in political scandals earlier in the year. After breaking a political coalition with the Scottish Greens, Humza Yousaf (First Minister since March 2023) eventually had to announce his resignation as party leader in late April. The Scottish National Party (SNP) National Executive Committee announced the process for the leadership contest: Nominations would remain open for about a week, and candidates needed to receive at least 100 nominations from party members who were from a minimum of 20 different branches. There was no requirement that the candidates must be office holders. In the end, the only candidate was MSP John Swinney, Deputy First Minister. After winning the leadership election on 6 May, he was formally elected First Minister the next day. The next Holyrood election will be on 7 May 2026.

In Wales, First Minister Vaughan Gething announced his resignation after only four months as leader of Welsh Labour. This was in the aftermath of losing a vote of no confidence due to controversies over campaign donations. The Welsh Labour Executive Committee determined the rules for electing their leader: All candidates were required to be Members of the Senedd (MSs), candidates must be nominated by either 20 percent of the thirty Labour MSs, 10 percent of MSs & 20 percent of the constituency party branches, or 10 percent of MSs and three nominations from Labour-affiliated organisations (including two affiliated trade unions). As with Scotland, only one candidate emerged - Baroness Eluned Morgan. She became party leader on 24 July and then First Minister on 6 August. The next Welsh election will also be on 7 May 2026, under new rules which include an enlarged parliament and a different electoral system.

Various opposition parties also elected new leaders this year. Returning to Scotland, the Conservatives, currently the second-largest party in Holyrood, held a leadership contest in August. This was after Douglas Ross, MSP/MP, announced before the 4 July General Election that he would stand down as opposition leader, following an intra-party controversy about his selection as a Westminster candidate (he would lose that election). The party rules required that candidates receive at least 100 nominations from party members. The nomination window opened from 8 through 22 August. Three candidates, all MSPs, met the threshold for the leader’s ballot: Russell Findlay, Murdo Fraser, and Meghan Gallacher. Ballots were sent to party members, via post and online, using a preferential voting method, wherein one can rank the listed candidates. On 27 September, it was announced that Findlay won in the first round with 2,565 votes, compared to Fraser’s 1,187 and Gallacher’s 403.

Lastly, there are the political parties in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Assembly power-sharing arrangement means all large parties are represented in the government, except for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), who chose to act as the official opposition. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the second largest party, faced an unexpected leadership vacancy in March. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, MP, announced he would not stand again for his Westminster seat and resigned as leader following criminal charges. The DUP quickly suspended him and appointed Deputy Leader Gavin Robinson, MP, as interim leader. The party uses a two-step process to elect a leader: First, only MLAs (members of the Northern Ireland Assembly) and MPs may cast votes. Next, the party’s Central Executive Committee then ratifies the selection. Unlike Scotland and Wales, the leader may not necessarily act as the party leader in the devolved body, i.e., if an MP is elected instead of a MLA, another member will act as the party’s chief representative in Stormont. Given the unexpected party leadership contest, Robinson stood unopposed in the contest and was ratified as permanent leader on 29 May. As a MP, he leads the party in Westminster, whilst Emma Little-Pengelly, MLA, leads the DUP as Deputy First Minister in Stormont.

Doug Beattie, MLA, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) since May 2021, suddenly stepped down on 19 August, citing political disagreements with party officials. The UUP released rules for their leadership election on 20 August with a nomination period running until 30 Aug. Candidates were required to have at least thirty-five signatures from nine constituency associations to be eligible for the leader’s ballot. There was no requirement for the candidates to hold office. An election was scheduled during an extraordinary general meeting on 14 September. However, only one candidate stood - Mike Nesbitt, MLA and Health Minister, who served previously in the role (2012-2017). Therefore the meeting was cancelled, and Nesbitt was ratified as leader at the UUP party conference on 28 September.  

Colum Eastwood, MP and SDLP leader since 2015, announced his resignation on 28 August. Eastwood stated that, after a decade in that position, he was ready to move on. Nominations opened from 30 August until 6 September, with the caveat that only one MP (other than Eastwood) and the eight MLAs of the party were eligible candidates (in addition to being the nominators). The leadership election was held at their 5 October party conference where Claire Hanna, MP, stood as the sole candidate.

The next Stormont election will be in 2027.

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Phillip Gilfus (X/@phgUKpol) is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Reading. He is researching the effects of dual candidacy on parliamentary behaviour in the Scottish Parliament.