Orkney and Shetland (EU membership referendum), More in Common MRP projection, June 2026: Rejoin: 74% (+14) Stay out: 26% (-14) +/- vs. 2016 referendum

Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Today's schedule for Shetland Pride can be found here: www.shetlandpride.co.uk/shetland-pri...

Which Holyrood committees have Shetland's MSPs become members of? -Max Bannerman (Reform): Public Service Reform Committee -Ariane Burgess (Green): Climate Action Committee -Vic Currie (Reform): None -Tim Eagle (Conservative): Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee (1/2)

Jersey: Lyndon Farnham (Independent), the incumbent Chief Minister of Jersey since 2024, appears on course to be re-elected next week in an uncontested vote.

Jersey (UK Crown Dependency) election: after a decade of growth, centre-left Reform Jersey (RJ-*) suffered its first electoral decline and fell back to 9.5% of the vote, while its leader, Sam Mézec, lost his seat. However, with 7 seats, it remains the most established party in Jersey.

Jersey (UK Crown Dependency), parliament election: Final result, seats won Ind.-*: 42 (+11) RJ-*: 7 (-3) PF-*: 0 Majority = 25 seats +/- vs. 2022 election #JerseyElection2026

Jersey (UK Crown Dependency), parliament election: Final result, vote share (Senators, Deputies & Constables) Ind.-*: 89.5% (+28.2) RJ-*: 9.5% (-3.3) PF-*: 0.3% (new) +/- vs. 2022 election #JerseyElection2026

Jersey (UK Crown Dependency) election: chief minister (head of government) Lyndon Farnham (Ind.-*) has been re-elected on the senatorial ballot. Centre-left Reform Jersey (RJ-*) leader Sam Mézec failed to win a seat on the ballot, and has lost his seat in the parliament. #JerseyElection2026

Jersey (UK Crown Dependency), parliament election: Vote share, ~94% counted (Senators, Deputies & Constables) Ind.-*: 90.7% (-1.5) RJ-*: 8.2% (+1.9) PF-*: 0.3% (-0.1) +/- vs. ~70% counted #JerseyElection2026

Jersey (UK Crown Dependency), parliament election: Seats won (42/49 declared) Ind.-*: 39 (+10) RJ-*: 3 (+1) PF-*: 0 Majority = 25 seats +/- vs. 31/49 declared #JerseyElection2026

Jersey (UK Crown Dependency), parliament election: Seats won (6/49 declared) Ind.-*: 6 RJ-*: 0 PF-*: 0 Majority = 25 seats #JerseyElection2026

Jersey (UK Crown Dependency), parliament election: Vote share, ~49% counted (Senators, Deputies & Constables) Ind.-*: 94.5 (-0.8) RJ-*: 3.9% (-0.5) PF-*: 0% +/- vs. ~30% counted #JerseyElection2026

Some dramatic results from the recent election in Niue, a Pacific island in free association with New Zealand: in the constituency of Alofi South, the Prime Minister, Dalton Tagelagi, was re-elected by just one vote!

Shetland Times poll: Will Shetland see its first tunnel within the next decade? Yes: 46% No: 54% Period: 1-6 June 2026 Sample size: 52 (Note: unweighted, unscientific poll)

Jersey is holding an election on Sunday, and I'm very impressed by its official election website. Whether you're looking for candidate details, hustings events, information about the electoral system, nomination forms or even to check if you're registered to vote, it's all here: www.vote.je

Shetland's new MSP, Hannah Mary Goodlad (SNP), made her first speech in the Scottish Parliament today, closing a debate on wealth taxation on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Shetland Times poll: Should Commercial Street be fully pedestrianised? Yes: 61% No: 39% Period: 22-29 May 2026 Sample size: 131 (Note: unweighted, unscientific poll)

Isle of Wight council leadership election: Jonathan Bacon (Independent): 28 votes Andrew Garratt (Liberal Democrat): 9 votes Bacon previously led the council from 2015 to 2017. He was elected with support from Reform UK councillors.

How Shetland's MSPs voted on a motion calling for the powers to hold an independence referendum: For: Ariane Burgess (Green) Hannah Mary Goodlad (SNP) Kristopher Leask (Green) Maree Todd (SNP) Against: Max Bannerman (Reform) Vic Currie (Reform) Tim Eagle (Conservative) Morvern-May MacCallum (LD)

An interesting, thought-provoking article about the representation of island communities in the new Scottish Cabinet www.thenational.scot/politics/261...

Shetland Times poll: Would you support tougher sanctions against young offenders? Yes: 91% No: 9% Period: 16-22 May 2026 Sample size: 104 (Note: unweighted, unscientific poll)

Jim Fairlie (Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, SNP) has been appointed Minister for Agriculture, Marine and the Islands. He takes over over the islands brief from Mairi Gougeon (Angus North and Mearns, SNP), who stood down at the election.

Yesterday, MSPs in the Scottish Parliament voted to re-elect John Swinney (SNP) as the First Minister of Scotland - the 12th such vote to be held since 1999.

Shetland's new MSP, Hannah Mary Goodlad (SNP), has been appointed the next Minister for Public Finance. This is the first time that Shetland's constituency MSP has been part of the Scottish Government since 2007, when Tavish Scott (Lib Dem) served as Minister for Transport and Telecommunications.

Map of the 2026 council election results in the Isle of Wight (Wikimedia Commons, Iseethesea123).

Isle of Wight Council, 2026 election results (seats won): Reform UK: 19 (+19) Independents: 11 (-2) Liberal Democrat: 4 (+3) Conservative: 2 (-16) Green: 2 Labour: 1 +/- vs. 2021 election Majority = 20 seats

Isle of Wight Council, 2026 election results (vote share): Reform UK: 31.6% (+31.6) Independents: 21.4% (-3.0) Conservative: 20.7% (-18.0) Green: 13.2% (+2.1) Liberal Democrat: 8.8% (+3.6) Labour: 3.9% (-7.7) Vectis Party: 0.4% (-1.8 ) +/- vs. 2021 election

Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Scottish Parliament regional list), 2026 election result: SNP: 29.2% (-13.9) Labour: 26.2% (+4.9) Reform UK: 13.4% (+13.4) Green: 7.5% (+1.8) Conservative: 7.3% (-10.5) Liberal Democrat: 5.9% (+3.7) Christian: 2.8% (+2.8) Family: 2.2% (-1.2) ... +/- vs. 2021 election

Orkney (Scottish Parliament regional list), 2026 election result: Liberal Democrat: 39.4% (+8.2) SNP: 17.1% (-12.1) Green: 13.0% (+3.5) Reform UK: 12.2% (+11.9) Conservative: 9.4% (-9.6) Labour: 4.5% (-1.8) Family: 1.0% (-0.1) IGV: 0.6% (+0.6) ISP: 0.5% (+0.5) +/- vs. 2021 election

As with the constituency ballot, Orkney and Shetland's regional ballot has not proved to be an especially fruitful source of votes for Labour compared to the rest of Scotland. This year, Labour's decline was somewhat more pronounced in the Northern Isles than nationally.

Labour has consistently underperformed in Orkney and Shetland on the Scottish Parliament constituency ballot compared to the rest of Scotland, a trend that continued this year. However, for the first time since 2007, the party received a (slightly) higher vote share in Orkney than in Shetland.

In contrast to the constituency ballot, the Conservative vote share in Shetland has tended to correlate more closely with Orkney and the rest of Scotland, perhaps due to reduced tactical voting.

The Conservatives have consistently been stronger on the Scottish Parliament constituency ballot in Orkney than in Shetland, although the gap has shrunk as the party lost ground in the Northern Isles in the 2000s - failing to join the national upswing in support in the 2010s.

The Scottish Greens have consistently received a higher regional vote share in Shetland than the rest of Scotland. That trend has sometimes included Orkney, but this year the Green vote share in Orkney fell below the national vote share, increasing by less than in Shetland and Scotland.

While Reform UK's vote share surged across Scotland in last week's Scottish Parliament election, the scale of the increase was smaller in Orkney and Shetland than elsewhere.

Shetland Times poll: Have you told others how you voted in the election? Yes: 59% No: 41% Period: 9-15 May 2026 Sample size: 44 (Note: unweighted, unscientific poll)

The Lib Dems' regional vote has generally been less fluid and dramatic than their constituency vote, though we see the same trends of the Northern Isles vote share rising well above the rest of Scotland and, in recent years, the Orcadian Lib Dems outperforming their Shetland counterparts.

The Lib Dems consistently perform better on Orkney and Shetland's Scottish Parliament constituency ballot than in the rest of the country. However, in the past decade, the Lib Dems have lost considerable ground in Shetland - in contrast to their growing Orcadian stronghold led by Liam McArthur.

How has the composition of the Scottish Parliament changed over time? The Labour-Lib Dem coalition that governed Scotland from 1999-2007 has fallen away, with the SNP remaining dominant since 2011. The 2026-31 session will see one of the most diverse groups of MSPs in the history of the Parliament.

This is also a good one: shows both how hyper-concentrated the Lib Dem campaign was to gain (or come very close to, in Inverness and Nairn's case) the constituencies it did, but also, Shetland sticking out like a sore thumb as the only loss of votes

Today's election for the Scottish Parliament's Presiding Officer took place across three ballots, with Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North, SNP) being elected the Parliament's 7th Presiding Officer.

Hannah Mary Goodlad (SNP) was sworn in today as Shetland's constituency member of the Scottish Parliament, becoming the third person to serve in the role. She repeated her oath in Shaetlan - the first time that the oath has ever been delivered in the language.

The change in support for the Scottish National Party in Shetland's regional ballot versus Orkney and the rest of Scotland has been less dramatic than in the constituency vote, perhaps further highlighting the important role of the party's constituency candidates in recent elections.

For the first time, the Scottish National Party's Scottish Parliament constituency vote share in Shetland was higher than the total Scottish figure.

Although the Liberal Democrats lost Shetland's constituency to the Scottish National Party, Shetland remained the party's eighth strongest constituency in Scotland.

The Conservative vote share of 1.2% in Shetland's constituency was the party's lowest result in the country. The party's second worst result was in Fife North East, where it won 2.8%.

The Scottish Labour vote share of 1.5% in Shetland's constituency was the party's lowest result in the country. The party's second worst result was in Orkney, where it won 1.9%.

From being the SNP's weakest constituency in 2011, Shetland is now the party's fifth strongest constituency in Scotland - behind Glasgow Central, Coatbridge & Chryston and the two Dundee constituencies. In a sign of how the constituencies have diverged, the SNP's weakest constituency is now Orkney.

Nauru: Parliament has passed a constitutional amendment to rename the country 'Naoero' to better reflect its indigenous heritage and language. President David Adeang (*) stated a national referendum will be held to finalise the change. ➤ oceaniaelects.com/nauru #Nauru #Naoero

Orkney's MSP, Liam McArthur (Liberal Democrat), has confirmed that he will be seeking election on Thursday to be the Scottish Parliament's next Presiding Officer. He has served as one of the Parliament's two Deputy Presiding Officers since 2021.