If you’re interested in this episode, you may also like ‘Are Starmer’s Scottish MPs sick of him?’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002mz40

Party leaders including John Swinney of the SNP and Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar (both pictured) have kicked off 2026 with a pitch to voters ahead of May’s Holyrood election.

David Wallace Lockhart explains what their speeches told us about the upcoming campaign.

And Martin and Natalie predict what other news stories will be among the biggest of the next 12 months. Scotcast is the BBC’s Scottish news podcast.

This episode is hosted Martin Geissler and Natalie Higgins.

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