The 2nd Scottish Parliament was a group of 129 elected people who worked together to make laws for Scotland. They were called Members of the Scottish Parliament, or MSPs. This group met from May 2003 to April 2007.

These MSPs were chosen in the 2003 Scottish Parliament election. Out of the 129 members, 73 were elected from specific local areas called constituencies. The other 56 members were chosen from eight larger areas called regions. Each region elected seven MSPs. This system helps make sure different voices are heard.

The 2nd Scottish Parliament was special because no single political party won enough seats to be in charge by themselves. This is known as a hung parliament. Because many different parties were elected, it was sometimes called the Rainbow Parliament. This name showed that it had the most political parties with many different ideas ever elected in Scotland at a national level. The government during this time was a partnership between the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. They continued to work together for a second term.

How the Parliament Was Made Up
How Party Strengths Changed
Changes During the Parliament's Term
More to Explore
Images for kids

How the Parliament Was Made Up

This section shows how many MSPs each political party had when the 2nd Scottish Parliament started in May 2003 and when it finished in April 2007.

Party		May 2003 election	April 2007 dissolution
•	Scottish Labour Party	50	50
	Scottish National Party	27	25
	Scottish Conservative Party	18	17
•	Scottish Liberal Democrats	17	17
	Scottish Green Party	7	7
	Scottish Socialist Party	6	4
	Solidarity	0	2
	Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party	1	1
	Independents	3	5
	Presiding Officer	0	1
Total		129
Government majority		5	6

The parties that formed the government coalition are marked with bullets (•).

How Party Strengths Changed

These pictures show how the number of MSPs for each party changed from the 2003 election to when the Parliament ended in 2007.

Party strengths after the 2003 election

Party strengths at the end of the 2nd Parliament

Please note that these pictures do not show the actual seating arrangement inside the Scottish Parliament.

Changes During the Parliament's Term

Sometimes, things change for MSPs during their time in Parliament. This table shows some of those changes.

Date	Constituency/region			Note
7 May 2003	Ochil	Presiding Officer	SNP	George Reid became the Presiding Officer. He paused his membership with the Scottish National Party.
10 July 2004	West of Scotland	Independent	SNP	Campbell Martin left the Scottish National Party.
10 January 2005	Mid Scotland and Fife	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats	Keith Raffan stepped down from Parliament due to health reasons. Andrew Arbuckle took his place.
17 June 2005	South of Scotland	Conservative	Conservative	David Mundell left the Scottish Parliament after being elected to the UK Parliament. Derek Brownlee became an MSP in his place.
1 September 2005	Glasgow Cathcart		Labour	Mike Watson resigned from the Scottish Parliament.
29 September 2005	Glasgow Cathcart	Labour		Charlie Gordon won the special election for Glasgow Cathcart.
08 November 2005	Mid Scotland and Fife	Independent	Conservative	Brian Monteith left his party.
21 March 2006	Moray		SNP	Margaret Ewing passed away.
7 April 2006	North East Scotland	SNP	SNP	Richard Lochhead left his regional seat to run in a special election for Moray. Maureen Watt took his regional seat.
7 April 2006	Highlands and Islands	Conservative	Conservative	Mary Scanlon left her regional seat to run in a special election for Moray. Dave Petrie took her regional seat.
27 April 2006	Moray	SNP		Richard Lochhead won the special election for Moray.
3 September 2006	Glasgow	Solidarity	Scottish Socialist	Tommy Sheridan left the SSP and started a new party called Solidarity.
3 September 2006	South of Scotland	Solidarity	Scottish Socialist	Rosemary Byrne left the SSP and joined Solidarity.

More to Explore

2003 Scottish Parliament election
Executive of the 2nd Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament

Images for kids

Wendy Alexander
Jackie Baillie
Richard Baker
Mark Ballard
Sarah Boyack
Rhona Brankin
Robert Brown
Bill Butler
Malcolm Chisholm
Cathie Craigie
Bruce Crawford
Roseanna Cunningham
Frances Curran
Margaret Curran
Helen Eadie
Fergus Ewing
Linda Fabiani
Patricia Ferguson
Alex Fergusson
Ross Finnie
Colin Fox
Murdo Fraser
Rob Gibson
Karen Gillon
Marlyn Glen
Annabel Goldie
Christine Grahame
Robin Harper
Patrick Harvie
Hugh Henry
Fiona Hyslop
Adam Ingram
Cathy Jamieson
Alex Johnstone
Andy Kerr
Johann Lamont
Richard Lochhead
George Lyon
Kenny MacAskill
Lewis Macdonald
Margo MacDonald
Ken Macintosh
Paul Martin
Tricia Marwick
Michael Matheson
Stewart Maxwell
Frank McAveety
Tom McCabe
Jack McConnell
Jamie McGrigor
David McLetchie
Michael McMahon
Duncan McNeil
Pauline McNeill
Des McNulty
Nanette Milne
Margaret Mitchell
Bristow Muldoon
Mary Mulligan
John Farquhar Munro
Elaine Murray
Alex Neil
Peter Peacock
Jeremy Purvis
George Reid
Shona Robison
Mike Rumbles
Mark Ruskell
John Scott
Tavish Scott
Tommy Sheridan
Elaine Smith
Iain Smith
Nicol Stephen
Stewart Stevenson
Jamie Stone
Nicola Sturgeon
John Swinney
Jim Wallace
Maureen Watt
Sandra White
Karen Whitefield
David Mundell
Mary Scanlon

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2nd Scottish Parliament Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.

2nd Scottish Parliament facts for kids

Contents

How the Parliament Was Made Up

How Party Strengths Changed

Changes During the Parliament's Term

More to Explore

Images for kids