Lib Dems will ‘surprise people’ in Holyrood election, says Cole-Hamilton

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has said his party is aiming to win a majority in May’s Holyrood election – though he added it has a “long way to go” to achieve this.

A poll earlier this week suggested the Lib Dems could be fighting it out with the Tories for fourth place in the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Cole-Hamilton insisted his party is “buoyant” after making gains in the 2024 Westminster election, adding there are 10 constituencies across Scotland where Lib Dems are “poised to beat the SNP”.

He made the claims as he spoke to BBC Radio Scotland’s Breakfast programme at the start of the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference in Edinburgh.

He predicted John Swinney’s SNP will fail to win the majority the First Minister wants to try to force a second independence referendum.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “I don’t think they will win a majority and I genuinely don’t think they are the answer that we are looking for.”

Asked if his own party could win a majority, Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “That’s my aim.”

He added however that the Liberal Democrats “have a long way to go on that”, with the party currently on five MSPs.

He said they are “coming into this election with optimism in our heart, with a credibility we haven’t had for a long time”.

While polls suggest Nigel Farage’s Reform UK – led by former Tory peer Malcolm Offord in Scotland – could come in second place and form the main opposition at Holyrood, Mr Cole-Hamilton said he is “not worried about Reform” and that support for them is “overpriced” in polling.

Speaking about the May ballot, he declared: “This is a change election and I think people are starting to realise you don’t have to settle for Nigel Farage’s mean spirited world view when it comes to change.”

With the Liberal Democrats having won six seats in Scotland in the last general election – only three fewer than the SNP – he said the party is approaching the Holyrood vote “off the back of our best ever election result as the Liberal Democrat Party”.

The Liberal Democrats could “gain more constituencies in this election from the SNP than any other party”, he predicted, adding his party could win constituency seats “right across the board” but also had a “big opportunity” to make gains on the regional ballot.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “I think this election will surprise people, not least with the gains the Liberal Democrats will make.”