Political gatekeeping in Scotland has reached a fever pitch. If you’ve been watching the Scottish Parliament lately, you’ll see a strange sort of playground logic unfolding. The establishment parties are trying to pretend a growing political force doesn't exist. It’s a tactic that usually backfires, yet Holyrood leaders seem determined to keep the door bolted.
Recent complaints from MSPs highlight a glaring double standard in how the Scottish Parliament operates. Specifically, the decision to exclude Reform UK from formal leadership discussions and cross-party cooperation has been branded "childish" by those within the building. It’s a harsh word, but it’s hard to find a better one. When you have an elected representative sitting in the chamber, but the "grown-ups" in the room refuse to let them play, the democratic process starts to look like a high school clique.
The core of the issue is simple. Reform UK now has a presence in Holyrood. Whether you like their policies or find their rhetoric grating, they have a mandate. By freezing them out of the usual parliamentary courtesies, the SNP, Labour, and the Greens aren't just snubbing a party. They’re snubbing the voters who put them there.
Why the Cordon Sanitaire Strategy is Failing
In European politics, they call it a cordon sanitaire. It’s a fancy French term for "don't touch the outsiders." We see it in France against the National Rally and in Germany against the AfD. The idea is that if you ignore the "insurgents" long enough, they’ll eventually go away or look so marginalized that voters will lose interest.
Scotland is trying its own version. But here’s the problem. It never works. Honestly, it usually does the opposite. It allows the excluded party to claim the mantle of the underdog. It gives them a "people vs. the elites" narrative on a silver platter. Every time a Holyrood committee chair or a party leader skips over a Reform MSP, they’re basically writing the next Reform campaign leaflet.
Look at the numbers. Reform UK’s polling across the UK, including parts of Scotland, has shown a steady climb. People are frustrated. They’re tired of the same old circular debates about independence vs. the union that have stalled Scottish progress for a decade. When the main parties act like a closed shop, they prove the "insurgent" point. They look scared of the debate.
The Hypocrisy of Inclusive Politics
Holyrood prides itself on being a different kind of parliament. Since 1999, the "Scottish way" was supposed to be about consensus, proportionality, and a departure from the "yah-boo" politics of Westminster. We hear about "inclusion" and "diversity of thought" every single week in the chamber.
That rhetoric rings hollow when it’s applied selectively. You can't claim to lead an inclusive institution while actively engineering the silence of a specific political group. The Scottish Greens, for instance, were once the outsiders. They fought for years to be taken seriously and to get a seat at the table. Now that they’re part of the establishment, they’re among the loudest voices calling for the exclusion of Reform. It’s a classic case of pulling up the ladder behind you.
This isn't about whether Reform UK’s policies on Net Zero or immigration are "right." It’s about the mechanics of a healthy democracy. If a party meets the threshold to be in the building, they should be treated with the same procedural respect as anyone else. When MSPs call this behavior "childish," they’re pointing out that the Scottish Parliament is starting to prioritize personal distastes over democratic duty.
What This Means for the 2026 Election
We’re heading toward a massive shift in the Scottish political map. The SNP is no longer the invincible juggernaut it was under Nicola Sturgeon. Labour is resurgent but carries the heavy baggage of their Westminster performance. This creates a vacuum.
Reform UK thrives in vacuums. They target the disillusioned. In Scotland, that’s a huge demographic. There are plenty of voters in former industrial heartlands and rural areas who feel the Edinburgh bubble is totally disconnected from their lives. When these voters see their chosen representatives being blocked from speaking or joining committees, they don't think, "Oh, I guess I picked the wrong party." They think, "The system is rigged against me."
If the goal of the SNP and Labour is to stop Reform from gaining ground, their current strategy is a disaster. They’re providing the conflict that feeds Reform’s social media machine. A three-minute clip of an MSP being "bullied" or "silenced" by the establishment gets more views than a dozen dry policy announcements.
Moving Past the Playground Tactics
The Scottish Parliament needs to grow up. That means engaging with ideas you hate. It means debating Reform UK on the merits of their arguments rather than trying to delete them from the program.
Voters aren't stupid. They can tell when a process is being manipulated. If Reform UK’s ideas are as dangerous or "wrong" as the other parties claim, then those ideas should be easy to dismantle in open debate. Shunning them suggests the opposite—it suggests the establishment is worried they can't actually win the argument.
If you’re a voter in Scotland, keep a close eye on how your MSPs spend their time. Are they focusing on the NHS, the crumbling schools, and the stalled economy? Or are they spending their energy on parliamentary gymnastics to keep a rival out of the room? The answer tells you everything you need to know about their priorities.
Stop expecting the establishment to change on its own. They only change when the pressure becomes unbearable. Demand that your representatives focus on policy, not personhood. Democracy is messy. It’s full of people you don't like. That’s the point. The moment we start deciding who is "allowed" to be a leader based on their party badge rather than their mandate, we’ve lost the plot.
Pay attention to the committee assignments and the speaking lists in the coming months. If the exclusion continues, expect the "outsider" parties to grow even faster. The establishment is literally building the bridge for their own replacement.
