We Meet Scotland’s Next Generation of Politicians

Leaflets arrive daily now. Party colours, party logos, party promises – they all tell us that change is possible, if only we’ll give them our vote. And it’s a hard vote to win: it’s no secret that young people are increasingly tired of party politics and its incessant failings.

The last Scottish Parliament Election, in 2021, largely unfolded within the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic and the various social inequalities and political corruption it exposed. In 2026, however, the playing field has shifted. The rise of Nigel Farage’s far-right party Reform is a terrifying yet unignorable reality, set to make advances here in Scotland. Meanwhile, the success of the Green Party of England and Wales is pointing towards a collapse of the two-party system, with the Scottish Greens expected to reflect some similar gains north of the border. Polling conducted by Savanta for the BBC finds that top of mind for voters is the economy (including the cost of living crisis), health and social care, and immigration. Unsurprisingly, housing remains a key issue, most often mentioned by younger voters.

While many turn to grassroots organising within our local communities, the electoral system rages on. And so, we’re wondering: can the youth save party politics – or can party politics save the youth? Probably not, but Scotland’s next generation of politicians are keen to offer some much-needed hope.

Iris Duane

Scottish Greens candidate for Glasgow Kelvin and Maryhill constituency and list candidate for Glasgow region

“I didn't get involved in politics, politics got involved in me,” says Iris Duane, named one of The Young Women’s Movement 30 Under 30 in 2023. “People look at me, a person of colour, working class, single parent household, transgender and whatever else and see me as a bit of a box ticking exercise instead of a person.” As a full-time student who also works in community engagement and policy, Duane has a lot on her plate but still manages to campaign for “a future that goes beyond taglines,” believing that politics can and should bring tangible benefits to all. 

“I don't think grassroot organising should be portrayed as divorced from party politics,” says Duane. “It's truly my belief that that is what has led to the significant distrust in party politics is the fact that grassroot organising has been ripped away from parties.” For Duane, the far-right has capitalised upon our collective exhaustion, blaming those within our communities for all ills, rather than elites with too much money and too much power. 

In future, Duane would love to see the Greens more closely involved with the trade union movement and further engaging with communities of colour. The success of the party down south is an exciting prospect. Meanwhile, here in Scotland, Duane will continue to champion full rent controls as well as cost-of-living saving policies, with a focus on truly local devolution. “When we say the youth want the politics of hope, it's not just about the feelings of hope, it's about the idea that our lives won't continue to be dragged along by managed decline, that building a future for ourselves might actually be possible.” 

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Fatima Joji

SNP candidate for Aberdeenshire West constituency and list candidate for North East Scotland region

“I didn’t set out to be a politician. I wanted to work in journalism and hold truth to power,” says Fatima Joji, who was born and raised in Aberdeenshire and studied at both Robert Gordon University and the University of Birmingham. “It became clear to me that if I wanted to create real change, politics was the most effective way to do it rather than remaining on the outside.” Currently an elected Aberdeenshire Council councillor, representing her home ward of Westhill and District, Joji hopes to find herself in Holyrood come May. In collaborating with campaign groups such as Engender and Elect Her, Joji is keen to use her background in policy, advocacy and communications to encourage women’s active participation in politics.

Joji has always voted SNP. “I was raised in an independence-supporting household, but even beyond that, my research and understanding of countries gaining independence globally, including Nigeria from Britain, showed me the damage caused by Scotland being tied to Westminster,” she says. With the SNP’s track record – maintaining free tuition and prescriptions, and introducing the Baby Box alongside free bus travel for under-22s and older people – Joji feels the party has proven itself time and time again.

Speaking to young voters in her area, Joji has found that many are concerned about the ongoing cost of living crisis, job security, housing affordability and climate change. Ensuring such voters have a seat at the “decision-making table” is integral; the SNP’s lowering of the voting age to 16, Joji says, is testament to their belief in this. “[I]f policies directly affect young people, who better to listen to than those living through those decisions?” 

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Q Manivannan

Scottish Greens list candidate for Edinburgh and Lothians East region

Q Manivannan moved to Scotland in 2021; alongside their activism and campaigning, they’re an artist and are currently completing a PhD in anthropology at the University of St Andrews. They first joined the Scottish Greens when the party set up a Palestine Solidarity Group in 2023. “When activist demands go through a political process, they often come out the other side, completely stripped of that radicalism,” Manivannan says. However, the Scottish Greens give them hope: “It feels like a party that listens to movements rather than just trying to manage them and triage them.”

These days, Manivannan finds themselves knocking on nearly one hundred doors a day, hoping to speak with their local community about the Scottish Greens and their candidacy. “The one thing that's common to everybody is that they're not apathetic, as a lot of people would like us to believe.” Today’s young people are grieving, says Manivannan: for the destruction of our climate, the housing system, and queer and trans rights. Feelings of political disillusionment are a direct consequence of this grief; Manivannan hopes, however, that there’s a better way.

Reflecting on running for the Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart by-election last year, Manivannan notes that the Scottish Greens were “very sweet, in the sense that they took care of me, they were kind.” The party also introduced free bus travel for refugees and asylum seekers, while also backing Scotland for Decrim’s campaign against MSP Ash Regan’s Prostitution Bill, which would have seen Scotland adopt the Nordic Model. “It's an actual politics of care that is emotional but then oriented towards joy and justice rather than fear and exclusion.”

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Isla McCay

Scottish Labour candidate for Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch constituency and list candidate for Highlands and Islands region

For four years, Isla McCay has lived in Aviemore, moving up north after graduating from university to work in outdoors education. With family in Moray, McCay knew the Highlands well; calling it home herself was an exciting prospect.

However, the area isn’t without its issues. “The availability of affordable housing across Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch is at a critical level. I know it’s a problem in a lot of places, but here it’s undermining our communities by contributing to staff shortages for essential public services, and driving depopulation,” she says. “If we’re to secure the future of the Highlands and Islands, particularly so young people can live here, housing needs to be a priority.” Such matters are at the forefront of McCay’s campaign.

For McCay, her passion for politics “has been driven by witnessing the rise of populism, nationalism, division and the far-right.” Voting for the first time in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, McCay’s adolescence was steeped in political uncertainty: the 2010 Cameron-Clegg coalition government, followed by the 2014 Independence Referendum and the 2016 Brexit Referendum. “Scottish Labour was the party that offered me hope that we could build a better Scotland, and I believe that Holyrood is where we achieve that.”

McCay wants young people, like her, to take their politics beyond social media – into the streets, into councils, into parliament. “Politics should offer hope, and it does that when people who are concerned for their community and those across our country step up and engage meaningfully. If you let the negativity and division drive you away from politics, it certainly won’t get any better.” 

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Jack Middleton

SNP candidate for Aberdeen Central constituency

Since 2011, Aberdeen Central has been an SNP stronghold, held by former Scottish Government minister Kevin Stewart. Following Stewart’s decision not to stand this spring, 30-year-old Jack Middleton is now stepping up to the plate. Working in Holyrood for nearly a decade, Middleton is excited to stand in the constituency where he was born and now lives. “I’m driven to improve the lives of working-class people in Scotland, and I reckon that real change is a team sport.” 

For Middleton, SNP policies have been hugely beneficial as a young person living in Scotland – specifically, maintaining free university tuition. However, he notes that such policies can only go so far in a nation bound by Westminster. “The younger generation are the first in the post-war era that are promised by Westminster that they’ll have it worse than their parents, grandparents and those that came before them. That means they’ll have less money in their pocket; they’ll need to work longer into old age and for many the pursuit of homeownership is simply a dream that feels unobtainable.”

With the SNP promising limits on essential supermarket groceries and a £2 cap for single bus fares in their 2026 manifesto, Middleton is hopeful for Scotland’s future – ideally, for Middleton, one without the “embarrassment” of the Royal Family.

While recent years have largely put talk of Scottish independence on the back burner, Middleton believes that an SNP majority at this election would deliver another referendum. “Young people are guided more by ‘political movements’ just now and the independence campaign remains the most exciting and radical campaign on these islands.”