Politics / Macdonald to represent Lib Dems in Scottish Parliament election
SHETLAND Islands Council (SIC) leader Emma Macdonald has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Shetland in the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.
She beat fellow councillor Moraig Lyall in a ballot among local Lib Dem members.
Speaking to Shetland News, Macdonald said she was “really excited and delighted” but added that there is a “huge amount of work that now needs to come”.
She also felt there was not a conflict of interest with her role as leader of the SIC and being a Holyrood election candidate.
However Macdonald said if there were to be any areas of possible of conflict then depute leader Gary Robinson could step in.
The Lib Dems were on the look-out for a new candidate for the 2026 Holyrood election after the party’s current Shetland MSP Beatrice Wishart confirmed she would be standing down.
The party has held the constituency ever since the parliament began in 1999.
The Lib Dems have also represented Shetland and Orkney in Westminster since 1950.
The only other candidate publicly confirmed for the Shetland election in 2026 is Hannah Mary Goodlad of the SNP.
It is the SNP who have given the Lib Dems’ their greatest challenge in the constituency, with Tom Wills for example coming only around 800 votes behind Wishart last time around in 2021.
Reflecting on her selection as Lib Dem candidate, Macdonald said it had been a “long process”.
She said a key priority in the campaign will be to carry on work started by Wishart in areas such as connectivity, including tunnels.
The cost of living is another topic on her mind.
“We know that Shetland is a fantastic place to live, we know that we are really important to Scotland – we deliver a huge amount of industry – but do we get enough back from that, and I think that really needs to be challenged,” Macdonald added.
Having owned a cafe business, she was first elected as a councillor in 2017 before becoming depute leader a year later. She was then appointed leader in 2022.
Although elected as an independent councillor, Macdonald joined the Liberal Democrats in 2023.
She stressed that becoming the party’s next Holyrood hopeful was not her intention when she joined.
“At that point Beatrice hadn’t made any indication what her plans were,” Macdonald said.
“It might have been something that I would consider way down the line in the future, but I didn’t see this opportunity arising now.”
The Shetland North member said while she “loves” being an independent councillor “you don’t get an awful lot of support from your peers within that area because you’re not part of something bigger”.
“So being part of something bigger as kind of a hobby was a way to tick that box for me. I just got really interested in it, and I met some really good people.”
When asked about a potential conflict of interests with the leader role, Macdonald said she is “very capable of wearing different hats in different places”.
She said as leader “my responsibility is for the entirety of Shetland and to make sure that we get the best deal at every level”.
Referencing her ongoing commitment to keep party politics out of the SIC chamber, Macdonald added: “I’ve been a member of the party for about 19 months, and you wouldn’t necessarily know that from listening to me in the council chamber.”
Macdonald has experience of engaging with government and national politicians through her leader role, and said it was important that there is a “strong voice in Shetland”.
She said this voice needs to stand up to government and make it clear that decisions in Edinburgh are sometimes “not the right decisions for here”.
Despite the Lib Dems’ dominance over the decades the candidate said no-one can be complacent in politics.
“I think every election has to be hard fought and that is certainly what we’re planning to do in this one,” she said.
Macdonald added that she felt some people have become a bit fed up with national politics – saying it was important to give people a reason to vote.
“We’re not seeing fantastic examples of fantastic politics being done well in a lot of places, and I think that makes people really not that interested in going out and putting their vote in a box,” she said.
Alistair Christie-Henry, chairman of the committee which oversaw the Lib Dems’ candidate selection process, said in a statement that party members will now “work hard to ensure that Shetland returns a Liberal Democrat representative to the Scottish Parliament so Shetland can continue to benefit from hard working and effective representation in Holyrood”.
Shetland Liberal Democrats chair Theo Smith added: “My congratulations to Emma on her selection as Liberal Democrat candidate for Shetland at next year’s Scottish Parliamentary elections and commiserations to Moraig Lyall.
“I was particularly pleased to see a contest between two very able applicants.
Smith added that Macdonald’s “knowledge and experience of local and national government will hold her in good stead as our candidate at next year’s election”.
“Emma cares a great deal about Shetland and has demonstrated her passion and commitment over her years on the council which will be of great benefit to her going forward for national election,” he added.
Macdonald also drew praise from Wishart, the party’s Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton.
Cole-Hamilton added: “This will be a straight fight between the SNP and the Liberal Democrats.
“I would urge voters to back a candidate who will be Shetland’s voice in Parliament, not another nationalist backbencher who will make excuses for out of touch ministers in Edinburgh.”
Meanwhile Lyall said she was “obviously disappointed” by the result but wanted to offer Macdonald her best wishes.
“I want to thank those who supported me – those within the party with their votes and those in the wider community with their encouraging messages,” the Shetland Central councillor said.
The Scottish Parliament election is expected to be held in May 2026.
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