THEY all agree on the need for independence – what else do they agree on and what separates them?

The SNP and the Scottish Greens were they only two pro-Yes parties in the Scottish Parliament last time, but independence supporters now face wider choice at the ballot box. Today the Sunday National compares the manifestos of five parties campaigning for your vote on May 6.

INDEPENDENCE AND EUROPE

THE SNP advocate a referendum on sovereignty for Scotland during the next parliamentary term – within the first 2.5 years “if the Covid crisis has passed” – and rejoining the EU.

The Scottish Greens also want the ballot during the next parliamentary session and to take Scotland back into the EU.

They say: “We believe that the UK Government’s refusal to respect a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament would not be politically sustainable and could be subject to legal challenge.”

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Alba don’t want to wait for recovery first, saying the new Scottish Government should begin immediate negotiations with Westminster and talks should “not be restricted to a formal demand for a Section 30”. If that’s not forthcoming, they want MSPs to pass a Referendum Bill and “be ready to fight it through the courts”. They also seek Efta membership as an alternative to the EU.

Scotia Future say a pro-indy majority will be a mandate for separation talks and also want Efta membership and to create a new “Celtic Council”.

Restore Scotland reject what they call the “backdooring of EU legislation through Efta” and “would seek to have positive, constructive trade relations with the EU and European non-member states”. They would also “support legislative action to secure a referendum on independence”.

COVID RECOVERY: HEALTH AND ECONOMY

FROM a minimum 20% increase to frontline NHS spending to the creation of a National Care Service and doubling of the Scottish Child Payment to £20 per week, the SNP are linking many of their policies to economic and social recovery. They’ve pledged to allocate an extra 25% to the mental health budget and invest £1 billion to close the school attainment gap and up teacher numbers, as well as a public inquiry into the handling of Covid in Scotland, help for low-income families and restart grants for businesses shut by the pandemic.

The Greens back the National Care Service and advocate a “green recovery” including the start of a 20-year £22bn railway renewal programme it says can support “at least 16,800 jobs”, with another 6000 rural jobs promised in a £895 million push to “restore Scotland’s natural environment”.

They also seek the transition to a four-day working week “with no loss of pay”, £15-an-hour rates for social care workers and to put welfare rights officers in GP surgeries. They say they would commit “at least” 11% of health spending to general practice by the end of the next parliament.

Alba will promote “community wealth-building” to keep cash in local businesses and want to set up a Scottish National Housing Company to build public housing stock and provide jobs.

They want a Scottish Research and Development Fund “as an incubator of the industries of tomorrow” and to foster diversification. They’ve also pledged to “go beyond the current proposals for a National Care Service” to make it free at the point of need and publicly owned.

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Scotia Future would call their national housing company AlbaHomes and promote greater employee-ownership, plus the nationalisation of buses as well as trains.

They also want the Women’s Aid network taken into the NHS.

Restore Scotland say it’s “wrong” that corporations like Amazon have prospered during lockdown while local firms have been shuttered and “we will ensure that undue restrictions on citizens’ lives do not continue in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and, in the awful scenario of another wave, agitate for key freedoms being better protected”.

CLIMATE

THE SNP vow to put £100m into a “Green Jobs Fund” to help transform work and the economy and increase the target for new woodland creation by 50%.

They also aim to develop hydrogen production here and cut traffic emissions by giving children free bikes who can’t afford them and getting fossil fuel buses off the roads.

The Greens want to ban carbon-rich peat extraction and sale for horticultural use and outlaw the burning of peatlands.

They’d also engage councils in reforestation efforts and phase-out single use plastics by 2025, with plastic straws allowed for people with disabilities until better alternatives are found, and support the community-buyout of land that could be developed under Flamingo Land plans for Loch Lomondside.

Alba commit to a roadmap on the electrification of transport and the creation of a National Land Agency to oversee rewilding.

They also want to introduce a Wellhead Production Tax on the offshore oil sector to fund moves towards carbon capture storage.

Scotia Future seeks an expansion of community-owned hydro schemes and Restore Scotland supports this plus the expansion of geothermal energy.

THE GIST OF THE REST

The SNP: Introduce paid miscarriage and stillbirth leave, reduce waiting times for diagnosing endometriosis from eight years to under 12 months and consider the creation of a recognised Gaidhealtachd.

Greens: Abolish the not proven verdict, block new salmon farms and end financial support for the arms sector.

Alba: Dual the A77 from Ayr to Stranraer, replace Creative Scotland with an Academy of Arts and cut paperwork for teachers.

Scotia Future: Establish a Rosyth to Stavanger ferry, encourage a Duolingo Scots app and increase rape sentences.

Restore Scotland: Merge the Scottish Welfare Fund with Social Security Scotland, repeal the Hate Crime and Public Order Act and outlaw self-ID.