Lively FMQs buoyed by 'chuntering backbenchers' as Holyrood vote nears

Yet for the past year it has become a chance for party leaders to platform their Holyrood election campaign. Each week we are subject to blatant electioneering rather than the nitty-gritty of day-to-day politics.

The first FMQs of 2026 saw all pretence of this going out the window. The questions between Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and First Minister John Swinney were dominated by election campaign slogans and struggled to stay on topic.

Mr Findlay initially started the questions on tax cuts, which makes sense given it is less than a week to go until Finance Secretary Shona Robison unveils her budget for 2026/27.

The Scottish Conservatives have said tackling the cost-of-living crisis will be the focus of their election campaign - a smart choice given it is the second most important issue for Scottish voters.

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But the exchange between him and the First Minister was a whistle-stop tour of the Tory election manifesto.

We had accusations that Scots pay more tax than their counterparts in other parts of the UK, criticisms of a culture of dishonesty in the SNP (with very audible groaning coming from the nationalist benches), the cost of bed blocking and concerns about the rising benefits bill.

In response, Mr Swinney chose to segue onto other topics that he would rather voters think about over the next 120 days. When Mr Findlay brought up bed blocking, the First Minister launched into tales of how NHS waiting lists of over a year are falling. When he brought up the benefits bill, Mr Swinney reminded the audience that the SNP’s Scottish child payment is bringing down child poverty.

Moving onto Mr Sarwar, who is perhaps the worst culprit for turning every FMQs into an election hustings.

His party is focusing on the NHS in this election campaign - it is a topic Mr Sarwar returns to almost every week at FMQs (another good tactic, as this is the top priority for voters).

An Audit Scotland report found 720,000 hospital bed days are lost to bed blocking every year.

Normally Mr Sarwar waits until his last question to urge voters to back Scottish Labour at the polls in May. That tactic was completely abandoned, as his very first question was on how this Audit Scotland report is “720,000 reasons why Scotland needs a new government and a new leadership”.

Again Mr Swinney used it as an opportunity to rewrite the narrative, asking voters to see this as 97 per cent of patients leaving hospital on time rather than 3 per cent of patients being stuck without a care package to go home to.

The election was a constant theme throughout Mr Sarwar’s questions, ending with reminding voters that “in four months Scotland can get rid of this useless SNP government”.

All three party leaders were clearly having a good time today, and the lively atmosphere made for far more entertaining watching than previous iterations of FMQs.

But spare a thought for poor Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone who needs to officiate all of this. She had to stop proceedings several times on Thursday to stop everyone shouting over each other and to stop backbenchers “chuntering from a sedentary position”.

Perhaps all MSPs can think on her warning during one of her interventions, when she said: “I appreciate we don’t work in a library, but we need to treat each other with more courtesy and respect.”