SNP should consider alliance with Labour after 2026 election, says former MP

Stewart McDonald said Scotland's "two dominant centre left-parties" should consider a coalition if there is a "messy" result in two years' time.

The SNP should consider an alliance with Labour after the 2026 Holyrood election, a former MP has suggested.

Ex-Glasgow South MP Stewart McDonald said "Scotland’s two dominant centre left-parties" should consider a coalition if there is a "messy" result in two years' time.

He said a partnership would be "breath of fresh air" and could "transform a political culture that has grown more interested in having an argument than winning an argument.”

McDonald said the Irish Government had set the example when Fine Gael and Fianna Fail went into coalition in 2020.

The former MP wrote: “Over the 25 years of devolution, we’ve seen many different manifestations of government: minority administrations, a majority administration and formal coalitions.

“Yet we’ve never seen the most obvious. A coalition between the SNP and Labour, Scotland’s two dominant centre left-parties — similar to the Irish model that saw Fine Gael and Fianna Fail rotate the office of taoiseach — is one we might want to consider in the event of a messy result in 2026.

“What a breath of fresh air that would be. I don’t suggest for a moment of course that this would be easy. It would take compromise and continuous effort to make it work.

"But it would overnight, transform a political culture that has grown more interested in having an argument than winning an argument.”

Edinburgh University professor and SNP expert James Mitchell told The Times a coalition was not likely to find much support in either party.

He said: “Any coalition or looser deal would require explicit acceptance from the SNP that independence is off the agenda for the foreseeable future.”

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are the two parties which have led the government since Irish independence. They emerged from the civil war and have been fierce rivals since.

The parties are generally considered centre-right with some commentators arguing there is little difference between the two.

They united in government for the first time four years ago, largely in response to left-wingers Sinn Fein winning the largest share of the vote and second most seats.

McDonald was elected as MP for Glasgow South in 2015 and served until this year's general election. He was the party's defence spokesperson for five years but was shut out when Stephen Flynn became Westminster leader.

He was beaten in July by Labour's Gordon McKee, who was a former advisor to Scotland Secretary Ian Murray.

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McDonald has previously spoken out about his party, warning that it will get "horsed" in the 2026 election if it does change.

He said his party has to start being "serious" and focus on more important issues.

He was one of few SNP politicians to criticise Nicola Sturgeon's plans to use the general election as a de-facto independence referendum.

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