Holyrood is becoming a “hostile environment for women” and a significant number of female MSPs in the Scottish National party are stepping down before the May 2026 elections, citing lack of support from the party, tolerance of bullying, and abuse in the chamber and online.
Almost four years on from the election of a record number of 58 female MSPs across all parties in 2021, 14 SNP women have so far said they will not stand again, accounting for 23% of the party’s current MSP group.
While some departures were expected, such as the former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and the 80-year-old veteran Christine Grahame, other exits raise questions about why women with seemingly burgeoning careers are choosing to step away.
Michelle Thomson, who is standing down as MSP for Falkirk East, having previously served at Westminster, told the Guardian: “Politics is generally very misogynist, and I don’t think the SNP can be complacent about its own internal mechanisms which mean that examples of inappropriate male behaviour – including bullying and sexual harassment – are not tackled.”
Elena Whitham, an SNP former minister and another MSP not seeking re-election, said: “It’s not just about barriers to entry but to staying in politics. Neither party nor parliament are able to effectively support women when they encounter difficulties, and that’s why we are losing far too many talented women to the detriment of democracy.”
These concerns were shared by other SNP women who told the Guardian there was a chronic lack of support from the party, including for those with younger families. Some mentioned factional tensions and bullying within the party involving other female MSPs.
Natalie Don-Innes is standing down as MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, citing “the sacrifices that being an elected member and a mother brings”.
But other women raised concerns about the Holyrood environment itself.
“The bullying, booing and braying from the Tory benches whenever an SNP woman makes a progressive intervention is awful. Women feel they can’t speak up, especially on issues like LGBT+ inclusion,” said one former party official who regularly visited the parliament.
Others worry that the atmosphere will get worse if Reform UK wins upwards of 10 Holyrood seats, as polling predicts, and if former SNP MPs ousted in the party’s catastrophic general election defeat last July bring a more combative Westminster culture to the Scottish parliament.
Some fear this is already happening, after reports that allies of the SNP’s leader in the House of Commons, Stephen Flynn, have a “hitlist” of sitting MSPs – all women – whom they hope to replace with former MPs in May next year.
Flynn faced a fierce backlash last autumn when he announced that he planned to stand for Holyrood – potentially pushing out the incumbent female MSP – while maintaining his Westminster seat.
Holyrood sources said that in addition to what could be bruising contests to select candidates, there were concerns the SNP would face a very difficult election because of its funding difficulties and a substantial drop in membership after the police investigation into its finances.
It is understood that has also weighed on some MSPs’ thinking.
This is all happening against a background of increasing online abuse, with a recent Holyrood magazine survey finding that female MSPs of all parties faced rape threats, death threats and severe misogynistic abuse.
Although the SNP’s leader, John Swinney, has maintained Sturgeon’s tradition of a gender-balanced cabinet, some women described themselves as “furious” and “appalled” that equal representation reforms brought in by Sturgeon, including ensuring all-women lists where MSPs stood down, had been ditched for the next election.
The SNP said its legal advice was that because it achieved a 50/50 gender balance in 2021, it could not put in place similar corrective mechanisms this time.
The approved candidates list, circulated to SNP members last week, included 64 women (42%) out of a total of 152.
Thomson said there was “a very real risk that the SNP could take a significant step back in 2026”, pointing too to the lack of diversity among the approved men on the list.
“The SNP put in all-women shortlists without looking at the systemic misogyny within the party,” said one prominent backbencher, “and it just elected women to a tough position with very little support. Holyrood is becoming a hostile environment for women.”
