What Holyrood party leaders will have on their New Year's wishlist for 2025

The First Minister will be chomping on his Christmas leftovers pretty satisfied with the end of 2024, but will be under no illusion that next year will be no walk in the park.

His first New Year’s wish will be for his Budget to be passed by MSPs in February. The Liberal Democrats are poised to support it, or at least abstain to let it pass, but he will need more work and some leftover Christmas spirit to get it over the line.

Read more: Inside John Swinney's thinking around scrapping two-child benefit cap as SNP leader weighs up legacy

Once the Budget is ticked off, Mr Swinney’s year will be about building support and trying to edge ahead of Labour in the polls - with at least one eye on that 2026 Holyrood election.

The SNP having a chance of retaining power will depend on Mr Swinney’s government being able to follow through with delivery - essentially putting its 17-year record on the line. That may be no mean feat.

Russell Findlay

The new Scottish Tory leader has eased into life in his new job. Mr Findlay seems to be thriving with the banter he and Mr Swinney are throwing at each other at FMQs - chuckling away in the Holyrood chamber.

Read more: Russell Findlay: From facing down gangsters and surviving acid attack to leading the Scottish Tories

His 2025 will be spent trying to win back support from Reform UK. Trying to out-Reform the Reform party is a risky strategy for the Scottish Tories who have relied on a centralist core vote for more than a decade.

2025 will very much be about trying to find a way to win those voters back who have been switched on by Mr Farage’s rhetoric.

Anas Sarwar

The Scottish Labour leader is crying out for his colleagues in the UK government to provide some cheery news that doesn’t cause another headache.

It is no coincidence that Labour has plummeted in the polls since Keir Starmer entered Downing Street.

Read more: Anas Sarwar to focus on public sector reform to revive Labour's Bute House bid

Next year will be all about regaining a foothold over the SNP for Mr Sarwar and some much-needed positivity around the Scottish Labour conference in February to give the public confidence that a Labour government at Holyrood won’t be more doom and gloom.

Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater

This year has largely been one to forget for the Greens - having been unceremoniously booted out of government by Humza Yousaf in a misguided act of self-sabotage by the former first minister.

The Greens might not even get to play a role in the Budget being passed, while 2025 will all be about carving out a route to increase the number of Green MSPs at the 2026 election.

Alex Cole-Hamilton

The Lib Dems are desperate for a Holyrood election. The party is probably the only one, other than Reform, who would thrive in an early poll.

Mr Cole-Hamilton will likely play a role in the Budget being passed in February - and can boast about all the Lib Dem wins contained in it. Propping up the SNP could be electorally risky, but in many parts of Lib Dem heartland and parts of the Highlands, Mr Cole-Hamilton’s party will be positioning itself in 2025 to take some scalps at the next Holyrood election.

Ash Regan

It’s hard to see Alba having a successful 2025, given the entire history of the party has arguably been one big electoral bin fire.

That job will get even harder following the death of leader Alex Salmond and Ms Regan will need a miracle if she is to hang onto her seat in 2026. Building support, carving out an identity and crucially being noticed will be Ms Regan’s priority in 2025 - a task much easier said than done.