SP Bill (Draft)[cite: 1]

Scottish Parliament
(Electoral Reform) Bill[cite: 1]

[DRAFT — PREPARED BY POLTECH POLICY FOR CONSIDERATION BY A MEMBER IN CHARGE — NOT YET INTRODUCED][cite: 1]

An Act of the Scottish Parliament to make provision about the system by which members of the Scottish Parliament are elected; to make provision about nomination deposits and the return of such deposits; to make provision about the filling of casual vacancies; and for connected purposes.[cite: 1]

PART 1
Interpretation[cite: 1]

1 Interpretation[cite: 1]

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—[cite: 1]

2 Application[cite: 1]

This Act applies to a general election of members of the Scottish Parliament held after the date on which section 17(2) comes into force, and to any casual vacancy occurring after that date.[cite: 1]

PART 2
The Electoral System[cite: 1]

3 Single national ballot[cite: 1]

(1) A general election of members of the Scottish Parliament is to be held on a single national ballot.[cite: 1]

(2) A person entitled to vote at the election may cast one, and only one, vote, for—[cite: 1]
    (a) a Registered Party List, or[cite: 1]
    (b) an Individual Candidate.[cite: 1]

(3) Schedule 1 to the Scotland Act 1998 (constituencies and regions) ceases to have effect for the purposes of an election to which this Act applies.[cite: 1]

4 Registered Party Lists[cite: 1]

(1) A registered political party may submit a single national list of candidates, not exceeding the Chamber Capacity in number, in such form and by such date as the Chief Counting Officer may direct.[cite: 1]

(2) The order in which candidates are placed on a Registered Party List determines the order in which seats allocated to that list under this Act are filled.[cite: 1]

5 Determination of the Effective Quota[cite: 1]

(1) As soon as practicable after the close of the poll, the Chief Counting Officer must calculate the Base Quota by dividing the Total Valid Ballots by the Chamber Capacity.[cite: 1]

(2) Where the votes cast for an Individual Candidate exceed the Base Quota, the excess is to be treated as surplus and is not to form part of the Effective Quota calculation; and the Effective Quota is the figure produced by dividing the Total Valid Ballots, less the aggregate of all such surpluses, by the Chamber Capacity.[cite: 1]

(3) Where no such surplus arises, the Effective Quota is equal to the Base Quota.[cite: 1]

6 Stage 1: integer allocation[cite: 1]

(1) A Registered Party List is entitled to a number of seats equal to the whole number produced by dividing the votes cast for that list by the Effective Quota, disregarding any fraction.[cite: 1]

(2) An Individual Candidate is entitled to one seat if the votes cast for that candidate are equal to or exceed the Effective Quota, and to no seat otherwise.[cite: 1]

(3) The fraction disregarded under subsection (1) in respect of a Registered Party List is that list's unused remainder for the purposes of section 8.[cite: 1]

(4) The Cascade Pool is the number of seats, if any, by which the Chamber Capacity exceeds the aggregate number of seats allocated under subsections (1) and (2).[cite: 1]

7 Stage 2: cascade allocation[cite: 1]

(1) This section applies where the Cascade Pool is greater than zero.[cite: 1]

(2) The Chief Counting Officer must rank, in descending order of the votes cast for each, every Registered Party List and Individual Candidate that received no seat under section 6.[cite: 1]

(3) Beginning with the highest-ranked entrant under subsection (2), one seat from the Cascade Pool is to be allocated to each entrant in turn until either the Cascade Pool is exhausted or every such entrant has received one seat.[cite: 1]

(4) An entrant that received no valid votes is not eligible for allocation under this section.[cite: 1]

(5) No Individual Candidate may receive more than one seat under this Act.[cite: 1]

8 Stage 3: surplus remainder allocation[cite: 1]

(1) This section applies where seats remain unallocated in the Cascade Pool after the operation of section 7.[cite: 1]

(2) The Chief Counting Officer must rank, in descending order of unused remainder recorded under section 6(3), every Registered Party List that received one or more seats under section 6(1).[cite: 1]

(3) The remaining seats are to be allocated one at a time, in the order produced by subsection (2), until the Chamber Capacity is reached.[cite: 1]

(4) Where two or more Registered Party Lists have an equal remainder for the purposes of subsection (2), priority is to be given to the list with the greater number of votes cast for it; and where those numbers are also equal, the Chief Counting Officer must determine priority by the drawing of lots.[cite: 1]

PART 3
Casual Vacancies[cite: 1]

9 Vacancy: Registered Party List member[cite: 1]

Where a member returned in respect of a Registered Party List ceases to be a member, the seat is to be filled by the next available candidate on that list, determined by the order in which the list was submitted under section 4(2).[cite: 1]

10 Vacancy: Individual Candidate or exhausted list[cite: 1]

Where a member returned as an Individual Candidate ceases to be a member, or where a Registered Party List has no further available candidate, the seat is to be filled by the entrant standing highest, at the time of the vacancy, on the certified ranking prepared under section 7(2) and not already returned as a member.[cite: 1]

11 Abolition of by-elections[cite: 1]

No by-election is to be held to fill a casual vacancy in the Scottish Parliament arising after the coming into force of this section.[cite: 1]

PART 4
Nominations and Deposits[cite: 1]

12 Nomination deposits[cite: 1]

(1) A nomination under this Act is valid only if accompanied by a deposit of—[cite: 1]
    (a) £5,000, in the case of a Registered Party List, or[cite: 1]
    (b) £2,500, in the case of an Individual Candidate,[cite: 1]
paid to the Chief Counting Officer in such manner as that officer may direct.[cite: 1]

13 Return and forfeiture of deposits[cite: 1]

(1) A deposit is to be returned in full, no later than the next working day after the declaration of the result, where the entrant to which it relates is allocated one or more seats under Part 2.[cite: 1]

(2) Where an entrant is not allocated a seat but is certified among the five highest-ranked unseated entrants on the ranking prepared under section 7(2), one-half of the deposit is to be returned immediately, and the remaining one-half is to be held and returned in full if that entrant is subsequently allocated a seat under section 10 during the term of the Parliament.[cite: 1]

(3) Where an entrant does not qualify for a return under subsection (2) but the votes cast for that entrant are within 100 votes, or 0.005% of the Total Valid Ballots, whichever is greater, of the fifth-ranked entrant referred to in that subsection, one-half of the deposit is to be returned.[cite: 1]

(4) A deposit, or part of a deposit, not returned under this section is forfeited and is to be paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund.[cite: 1]

PART 5
General[cite: 1]

14 Ties[cite: 1]

Where an exact equality of votes arises in relation to the final seat to be allocated under Part 2, the Chief Counting Officer must order a recount; and if the equality remains after recount, the officer must resolve it by the drawing of lots.[cite: 1]

15 Regulations[cite: 1]

(1) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations make provision that is incidental to, or consequential on, any provision of this Act.[cite: 1]

(2) Regulations under this section are subject to the affirmative procedure.[cite: 1]

16 Minor and consequential amendments[cite: 1]

The schedule contains minor and consequential amendments.[cite: 1]

17 Short title, commencement and extent[cite: 1]

(1) This Act is the Scottish Parliament (Electoral Reform) Act [XXXX].[cite: 1]

(2) This Act comes into force on such day as the Scottish Ministers may by regulations appoint.[cite: 1]

(3) This Act extends to Scotland only.[cite: 1]

SCHEDULE
(introduced by section 16)
MINOR AND CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS[cite: 1]

1 In the Scotland Act 1998, in section 1(2) and (3), for the words from "one member" to the end substitute "members are returned in accordance with the Scottish Parliament (Electoral Reform) Act [XXXX]".[cite: 1]

2 Schedule 1 to the Scotland Act 1998 (constituencies and regions) is repealed.[cite: 1]

3 In the Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 1999, omit rules 2 to 10 (regional and constituency counting rules) and substitute rules giving effect to Part 2 of this Act.[cite: 1]

SP Bill (Draft)–PM[cite: 2]

Scottish Parliament (Electoral Reform) Bill[cite: 2]

POLICY MEMORANDUM[cite: 2]

[DRAFT — PREPARED BY POLTECH POLICY — NOT YET LODGED][cite: 2]

Introduction[cite: 2]

1. As required under Rule 9.3.3 of the Parliament's Standing Orders, this Policy Memorandum is published to accompany the Scottish Parliament (Electoral Reform) Bill, prepared for introduction by a Member in charge.[cite: 2]

2. The following other accompanying documents are prepared separately: a Financial Memorandum; and (in due course, prior to introduction) Explanatory Notes, a Delegated Powers Memorandum, and statements on legislative competence made by the Presiding Officer and the Member in charge.[cite: 2]

3. This Policy Memorandum has been prepared by PolTech Policy on behalf of the Member who intends to introduce the Bill. It does not form part of the Bill and has not been endorsed by the Parliament.[cite: 2]

Policy Objectives of the Bill[cite: 2]

4. The Bill replaces the Additional Member System ("AMS"), by which members of the Scottish Parliament are currently elected, with a single-ballot proportional system (the "McNamara Cascade Protocol"). The Bill's objectives are to—[cite: 2]
    (a) reduce the disproportionality between the share of the vote a party receives and the share of seats it is allocated;[cite: 2]
    (b) reduce the proportion of ballots cast that do not contribute to the return of any member;[cite: 2]
    (c) provide a clearer route to election for independent candidates and smaller parties than the existing regional list thresholds allow; and[cite: 2]
    (d) remove the need for mid-term by-elections, by providing for automatic succession to casual vacancies.[cite: 2]

Background[cite: 2]

5. The Scottish Parliament has, since 1999, been elected under AMS: 73 members returned for single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post, and 56 members returned for 8 multi-member regions by a corrective, party-list top-up calculated under the d'Hondt formula.[cite: 2]

6. Independent analysis of recent general elections to the Parliament shows that the disproportionality produced by AMS varies significantly between elections, and can be substantial where one party performs strongly in constituency contests: at the 2026 general election, the Scottish National Party won 58 of 129 seats (45%) on 27.2% of the regional vote, a result driven by its performance in the 73 first-past-the-post constituency contests rather than the regional list. Modelling carried out by PolTech Policy indicates that a single-ballot system of the kind proposed by the Bill would have returned a Gallagher Index of disproportionality of approximately 1.1% at that election, against an equivalent figure of over 13% for the actual AMS result.[cite: 2]

7. The Member in charge considers that these figures illustrate a structural weakness in AMS: because regional list correction operates only within eight separate regions, a party's constituency performance in one region cannot be offset by list votes cast elsewhere in Scotland. A single national ballot removes this boundary effect entirely.[cite: 2]

Consideration of Alternative Approaches[cite: 2]

8. The Member in charge considered three principal alternatives before settling on the approach taken in the Bill.[cite: 2]

9. Single Transferable Vote (STV). STV is already used for Scottish local government elections and would improve on AMS in candidate choice and voter engagement. However, because STV operates within multi-member wards rather than as a single national count, its proportionality remains sensitive to ward magnitude; the Member in charge's modelling indicates STV wards of the size practicable for a 129-seat chamber would not match the proportionality achievable under a single national ballot.[cite: 2]

10. Nordic-style compensatory list PR (as used for the Danish Folketing). This approach — a two-tier system of constituency seats topped up by a fixed number of national "leveling" seats allocated by the Sainte-Laguë method — achieves strong proportionality in practice. The Member in charge considers it a reasonable alternative, but concluded that it offers no material advantage over the Bill's approach while requiring the retention of constituency boundaries and a statutory vote threshold, which the Bill's approach avoids.[cite: 2]

11. Retaining AMS with a lower regional threshold. The Member in charge rejected this as insufficient to address the boundary effect described in paragraph 7, which arises from the existence of separate regions rather than from any specific threshold within them.[cite: 2]

Consultation[cite: 2]

12. [To be completed following the pre-introduction consultation required for a Member's Bill under Rule 9.14 of the Standing Orders. A consultation document setting out the proposal in this Memorandum, and inviting views from political parties, electoral administrators, and the public, will require to be published for a minimum period before the Bill can be introduced.][cite: 2]

Effects on Equality, Human Rights, Island Communities, Children's Rights, Sustainable Development, and Data Protection[cite: 2]

13. The Member in charge does not consider that the Bill gives rise to any adverse impact in these areas. The Bill applies uniformly to electors and candidates across Scotland, including island constituencies, and does not alter the franchise, the treatment of personal data by electoral administrators, or the rights of any protected group. A full assessment against each of these matters will be completed and published ahead of introduction, as is required practice for Member's Bills.[cite: 2]

Delegated Powers[cite: 2]

14. Section 15 of the Bill confers a power on the Scottish Ministers to make regulations that are incidental to, or consequential on, the Bill, subject to the affirmative procedure. A Delegated Powers Memorandum addressing this power in the detail required by the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee will be prepared separately.[cite: 2]

SP Bill (Draft)–FM[cite: 3]

Scottish Parliament (Electoral Reform) Bill[cite: 3]

FINANCIAL MEMORANDUM[cite: 3]

[DRAFT — PREPARED BY POLTECH POLICY — NOT YET LODGED. FIGURES ARE ILLUSTRATIVE ESTIMATES REQUIRING VERIFICATION WITH THE ELECTORAL MANAGEMENT BOARD AND COSAP BEFORE INTRODUCTION.][cite: 3]

Introduction[cite: 3]

1. As required under Rule 9.3.2 of the Parliament's Standing Orders, this Financial Memorandum sets out best estimates of the costs, savings, and changes to revenue to which the provisions of the Scottish Parliament (Electoral Reform) Bill would give rise, and an indication of the margins of uncertainty in those estimates. It distinguishes, so far as practicable, between costs falling on the Scottish Administration, on local authorities, and on other bodies, individuals and businesses.[cite: 3]

2. The estimates in this Memorandum are illustrative. As a Member's Bill prepared without access to the Electoral Management Board's internal costings or to COSLA's assessment of local authority impact, the figures below should be treated as an order-of-magnitude starting point for scrutiny, not as validated Government costings.[cite: 3]

Costs on the Scottish Administration[cite: 3]

3. The principal cost driver is the replacement of eight separate regional counts with a single national count, and the associated changes to count software, staff training, and public guidance.[cite: 3]

4. The removal of separate regional counts is expected to produce a partially offsetting recurring saving from the second general election onward, reflected as a negative figure above. The Member in charge estimates a net one-off cost in the range of £1.16 million to £2.67 million ahead of the first general election to which the Bill applies, with reduced net costs at each subsequent general election.[cite: 3]

Costs on Local Authorities[cite: 3]

5. Local authorities currently administer polling places and postal voting within constituency and regional boundaries that mirror, in most areas, local government ward structures. The Bill does not alter local government electoral arrangements and is not expected to require significant change to local authority polling infrastructure.[cite: 3]

Costs on Other Bodies, Individuals and Businesses[cite: 3]

6. Political parties and candidates are affected principally through the nomination deposit schedule in Part 4 of the Bill.[cite: 3]

7. The Member in charge notes that, because a single national deposit replaces the need for a party to lodge separate deposits in multiple constituencies and regions to achieve full ballot coverage, the aggregate cost of standing a full slate of candidates is expected to fall for most parties compared with the current system, notwithstanding the £5,000 headline figure.[cite: 3]

Margins of Uncertainty[cite: 3]

8. The principal uncertainties are: (a) the actual cost of national count software redevelopment, which depends on decisions not yet taken about the counting system's technical specification; (b) the scale of the public information campaign judged necessary, which may vary with the timing of introduction relative to a general election; and (c) deposit forfeiture receipts, which depend on the number and vote share of minor-party and independent entrants at a future general election and cannot be predicted with precision from past results alone.[cite: 3]

Summary[cite: 3]

9. Subject to the uncertainties set out above, the Member in charge's best estimate is a net one-off cost to the Scottish Administration and local authorities in the range of £1.4 million to £3.2 million ahead of the first general election to which the Bill applies, with lower net costs at each subsequent general election, and no material recurring cost to other bodies, individuals or businesses beyond the nomination deposit arrangements described above.[cite: 3]