Holyrood 2021: Seats to watch out for

Scotland goes to the polls today to vote for 129 members of the Scottish Parliament. Polls forecast victory for the ruling SNP but there are a string of seats where the result last time was close enough to inject some unpredictability into proceedings.

SNP targets

Dumbarton

Incumbent: Jackie Baillie (Labour) 

Majority: 109

This is the seat the Nationalists want more than any other. Politically, it is a stubborn west-coast hold-out against the glories of nationalism. Symbolically, it is home to the Clyde Naval Base and the UK’s nuclear deterrent, which the SNP wants to scrap. But perhaps most important of all is the personal dimension. Jackie Baillie, the Labour MSP who has held Dumbarton for all 22 years of the Scottish Parliament’s existence, sat on the Holyrood inquiry committee and was noted for her exacting questioning of Nicola Sturgeon. She was just as exacting with Alex Salmond, but that hardly matters. You don’t try to hold Nicola Sturgeon to account and get away with it.