JOHN Swinney has laughed at the prospect of a governing coalition with Scottish Labour after the 2026 Holyrood elections – but did not rule it out.
The First Minister was asked about a potential deal with Anas Sarwar’s group of MSPs when speaking to media following a speech at JP Morgan in Glasgow on Wednesday.
Swinney had used the platform to call for the UK Government to work with him on a tailored Scottish graduate visa, similar to the Fresh Start Scheme brought in by the Labour Scottish and UK governments in 2005.
Speaking to press afterwards, he was further asked about the prospect of working with Labour after a poll over the weekend found that one-third of Scots would like to see a coalition between them and the SNP.
Asked if that was something he would support, Swinney laughed.
He then said: “Well, I'm all for bringing people together, but let's keep our feet on the ground here.”
However, Swinney did not rule it out: “I think I'll just, in all these things, I think I'm best to just leave it to the public to come to their conclusions in the 2026 elections, and we'll see where we get to after that.”
Recent polling has projected that the SNP will emerge as the largest party after the 2026 Holyrood vote – but will fall short of a majority of seats.
The Survation poll for the Holyrood Sources podcast and True North Advisors – which also asked about potential coalitions – put the SNP on 53 seats, ahead of second-placed Labour on 24.
Meanwhile, it put the Conservatives and Reform in joint third place on 15 seats each, the Liberal Democrats on 12, and the Scottish Greens on 10.
Those results would see a narrow pro-Union majority at Holyrood, and make it very difficult for any party to form a stable government.
Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University said the results indicate Scottish Labour leader Sarwar’s popularity is not enough to offset voters’ “disappointment” with the performance of the UK Labour Government at Westminster.
“His once seemingly bright prospects of becoming Scotland’s next first minister have diminished markedly since July,” Curtice said.
“Nevertheless, the SNP are currently still heading for significant losses in next year’s Holyrood election, and could well find it difficult to form a stable administration.”
