Scotland conference season 2026

After a busy year in Scottish politics, we’ve just had the respite of conference season to get out and engage with political parties, form new relationships and speak up for cycling ahead of the local elections in May 2027.

First post-election conference

This time last year, we were preparing for a busy election period. You can still catch up on our election hustings event here and remind yourself with what the parties were saying pre-election.

While the result brought few major surprises, the SNP was returned to Holyrood without an overall majority, leaving it with a minority government. The party will therefore need to govern on a deal-by-deal basis, relying on support from other parties to pass legislation and budgets.

The Liberal Democrats, having supported the previous two SNP budgets, and the Scottish Greens, with whom the SNP previously entered a power-sharing agreement, are likely to be influential in these discussions.

This year, I managed to attend all three party conferences taking place in Scotland: the Scottish Liberal Democrats, the SNP and the Scottish Greens.

(Reform UK, the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour all don’t hold autumn conferences in Scotland in favour of their wider UK conferences.)

Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

The Scottish Liberal Democrats’ autumn conference was in Edinburgh this year, despite much of their recent success coming from the Highlands and Islands.

Party leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP now sees the Scottish Lib Dems as the most powerful party in Scotland after they passed the last two SNP budgets – that said, they have the fewest MSPs of any party in Holyrood.

In the week before the conference, Cycling UK’s new Director of External Affairs, Steve Brooks, and I travelled up to Cupar to meet with Scottish Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesperson and Convenor of the Transport Committee Willie Rennie MSP in his constituency.

Willie was interested to hear about our ‘My ride. Our right’ campaign and is keen to see where the Transport Committee can hold the government to account on cycling. We’re looking forward to welcoming him to one of our projects in Glasgow, so he can witness the incredible work our projects do in real time.

At the conference, I had an interesting discussion with Sanne Dijkstra-Downie MSP prior to her speech on her new role as Shadow Environment Minister. During her speech, she described herself as a champion of walking, wheeling and cycling.

It will be great to have her push the government to make the connection between transport (the largest emitting sector, with private cars accounting for the largest part of that) and climate in Scotland.

I also met with Adam Harley MSP, who was keen to hear about the Bears Way campaign in his constituency and their glow ride. Adam is keen to join the dots between everyday journeys and preventative health as part of his role as Shadow Health Minister.

SNP

The following week, I travelled to Aberdeen for day one of the SNP conference. After a successful election, though not securing the thumping majority that First Minister John Swinney had forecast, the party seemed upbeat and pragmatic.

The major policy announcement – that the SNP plans to take buses into public control – was slightly muted by Prime Minister Andy Burnham's arrival in Scotland earlier in the day.

It’s great to see transport firmly at the centre of the government's plans, but how buses and trains link with walking, wheeling and cycling can still feel like a missing piece of the puzzle.

I managed to chat briefly with Stephen Flynn MSP after his opening remarks to conference. Stephen Flynn is the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Tourism and the Economy, a brief which has grown somewhat compared to previous years.

Mr Flynn assured me that the political will still exists to create successful cycling projects in Scotland. We discussed the incredible progress we’ve seen in Glasgow as a result of the South City Way, and I was able to follow up by sharing some of the contents of our recent report, The Route Forward, which features the South City Way as one of its 11 case studies.
https://www.cyclinguk.org/route-forward

During the conference, I also managed to speak to Jack Middleton MSP and Hannah Mary Goodlad MSP about the Cycling UK projects each has in their constituency.

Jack is keen to advocate for sport and preventative health and had recently visited our project in Aberdeen, so it was great to catch up.

I was also able to send this incredible project video from Shetland to Hannah Mary Goodlad MSP, which goes some way towards describing how brilliantly our projects work, even in the remotest of places!

Scottish Green Party

My final party-political conference of the year was in Inverness, where the Scottish Greens were taking shelter in Eden Court.

Unfortunately, the stormy weather cut short my visit and also meant that Cycle Advocacy Network group Highland Cycle Campaign had to cancel their special Green Party Glow Ride, which we’d helped plan. A real shame!

I did manage a quick chat with Holly Bruce MSP, who was key to bringing a ‘feminist planning’ approach to Glasgow City Council. We’re keen to work with Holly to explore how we can implement ‘feminist planning’ throughout Scotland, both nationally and in more local authorities, as part of ‘My ride. Our right’.

Local elections…

The conversations we had throughout conference season are important. Cycling has a huge role to play in addressing some of Scotland’s biggest challenges. However, we need politicians across the political spectrum to recognise its value – not just in transport, but also in climate, health and the economy.

We’re making sure politicians from all parties across the country understand the benefits of cycling. As we look ahead to the local elections in May 2027, our Cycle Advocacy Network will be making those same arguments locally. You can get involved here.

We’re able to attend political conferences and speak up for cycling thanks to your membership and donations. If you're not a member, join here to support our work across the country!