Angus Robertson

Angus Robertson lost Edinburgh Central to Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater on 7 May 2026, polling 7,702 votes against Slater's 12,680. Robertson had held the constituency since 2016 and served as Scottish Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture in John Swinney's government — making his defeat one of the most high-profile ministerial losses of the election night.

Robertson spent 16 years as a Westminster MP for Moray (1997–2017), serving as the SNP's leader at Westminster from 2007 until he lost his seat in the 2017 general election. He returned to frontline politics through the Holyrood constituency PATH, winning Edinburgh Central in 2021. At Holyrood he was a senior figure in the Scottish Government's international and constitutional affairs brief, a central portfolio given the SNP's independence strategy.

His loss deprives Swinney's government of an experienced hand at a constitutional moment: the SNP finished with 58 seats, seven below the 65 that Swinney named as the trigger for a 2028 independence referendum. Robertson's departure from the cabinet — his seat is gone and he holds no list seat — removes one of the party's most experienced communicators precisely when the independence case needs reframing.