THE Scottish election is fast approaching, with polling day set for May 7. The parties are all out on the campaign trail battling for your vote, here's the key points from all of their manifestos.
A quick recap of the latest polls shows that the SNP are likely on course for another victory, with some polls pointing towards an outright majority.
READ MORE: All the latest Scottish election polls – find results for your constituency
Our poll, conducted by Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now, shows the seat distribution as:
- SNP (67 seats)
- Scottish Labour (17 seats)
- Scottish Greens (14 seats)
- Reform UK (14 seats)
- Scottish Conservatives (9 seats)
- LibDems (8 seats)
SNP
The SNP launched their manifesto at an event in Glasgow, promising action on the cost-of-living, food prices, public transport and, of course, independence.
- Price caps on supermarket essentials
The SNP pledged to cap prices on key groceries in Scottish supermarkets , covering 20-50 essential items like bread, milk and eggs.
- The £2 bus fare cap
John Swinney made a trip in the SNP's new battle bus after pledging to cap fares at £2 per journey , building upon an existing pilot scheme being trialled across the Highlands, Orkney and Shetland.
- Enhanced Scottish Child Payment
The largest new expense pledged by the party would be on childcare, with a core pledge of £500 million per year to extend care to every child in Scotland from nine months to the end of primary school and for 52 weeks a year.
Find our summary of the manifesto here, or the full document here.
Scottish Labour
Scottish Labour are running on a campaign to "fix the messes" created by the SNP, despite being criticised for building on a number of policies that they introduced while in government.
- Tackling NHS waiting times and obesity
Anas Sarwar's party focussed much of the manifesto on the NHS, saying they will use "all available capacity, no matter where it is” to tackle waiting times, including the use of the independent care sector.
READ MORE: Labour peer defends Number 10 push for Matthew Doyle ambassador role
A central focus of the health push is obesity, with the party pledging a wider rollout of weight-loss jabs.
- Ban mobile phones in school
Banning mobile phones in all schools will make them “safe and calm places for learning again”, the manifesto claims. It also says the party backs a UK-wide ban on social media for under-16s to “better protect young people from cyberbullying and harmful online content”. Further focus will also be given to increasing school attendance and understanding why absences are occurring.
- The war on potholes
Scottish Labour are also pledging a £350m fund to fix Scotland’s roads and fill up to five million potholes. They say this cash will allow local councils to “fix the state of Scotland’s roads for all road users, repairing almost five million potholes over the course of the Parliament and improving oversight of maintenance and road repairs”.
Find our summary of the manifesto here, or the full document here.
Scottish Greens
The Greens are looking to win their first constituency MSP, as well as making gains on the regional list. Their 165-page manifesto outlined several key pledges, here's the headlines.
- Wave of new taxes and council tax reform
Out analysis of the Green's manifesto outlined their plan to "tax, tax, tax" and "spend, spend, spend", the first half of this, the taxation, would see a raft of new levies, including a Carbon Emission Land Tax, a Cruise Ship Levy, a new “point of entry” tourist tax, a domestic flight surcharge, a frequent flyer levy, a Building Safety Levy, a public health levy, an infrastructure levy, and a Demolition Levy. Another key measure would be scrapping Council Tax and replacing it with a variable “Residential Property Tax”.
- Free bus travel for all
One of the key areas of the spending is public transport. The Greens are pledging free bus travel for everyone in Scotland, as well as a single ticket across all transport modes, making multi-leg journeys easier.
- Independence and the monarchy
Party co-leaders Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay recently staged an anti-monarchy campaign outside Holyrood Palace, the pledge to ditch the monarchy and make Scotland an independent republic form a key part of their manifesto, with the goal of forming a pro-indy majority with the SNP.
Find our summary of the manifesto here, or the full document here.
Reform UK
Reform's core pledge is cutting the size and scope of the Scottish government, and pausing any suggestion of independence.
- Slashing the size of parliament
Reform is proposing to reduce the number of constituency MSPs from 73 to 57, aligning Holyrood constituencies with Westminster.
READ MORE: Scottish Greens to address leading trade union event for first time
- Independence "parked"
The manifesto says the party would rule out another independence referendum for at least 10 years, with a formal 10-year review of Scotland's devolved powers.
- Councils to raise, spend and keep their own money
A major shakeup of the council system has also been pledged, including potentially cutting the number of councils, and the pledge that councils will "raise their own revenue, decide their own spending and keep their own surpluses”.
- Tax cuts
The party has said it would to scrap Scotland’s six income tax bands to mirror the rest of the UK’s three, then set them initially at 1p below, aiming for 3p below within five years.
Find our summary of the manifesto here, or the full document here.
Scottish Conservatives
The Tories have focused on tax and cutting the cost of benefits, as well as the constitution.
- 'Neutrality' and independence
Russel Findlay's party has argued that civil servants should sign a pledge that they will be "neutral on the question of independence when carrying out their work for the Scottish Government", as well as proposing the abolishment of the Constitution Secretary position currently held by Angus Robertson.
- Trump-inspired cost cutting
The Tories have said they would create a new body called the Scottish Agency of Value and Efficiency (Save). Save would be tasked with finding £500m of savings in government bureaucracy.
READ MORE: Unionists want to deny Gen Z their chance to vote on Scotland’s future
At the same time, the Tories have their sights on the benefits bill, which they want to slash by £2bn, through cuts to payments for people with disabilities.
- Tax cuts for high earners
Proposed changes to the tax system would see cuts for higher earners, while the tax-free allowance would be raised to £13,892 by 2031. Their plans would see earnings up to £43,663 taxed at 19 pence in the pound and the higher rate would be uprated throughout the next parliament until it matches the threshold in England at £50,270.
Find our summary here, or the full document here.
LibDems
Some of the areas the LibDems are focussing on are the care sector, ferries and the cost of living.
- Acceleration of insulation and energy transition
The LibDems have said they would bring down energy bills and insulate voters from volatile oil and gas prices by launching an emergency home insulation programme and “by accelerating the rollout of smart climate-friendly heating and solar panels”.
- More funding for the care sector
Claiming that "2000 people a night" are in hospital when they don't need to be, costing the NHS £1m a day, the manifesto says the party will reward care workers with a new career ladder and halve the problem of delayed discharge by the “end of the decade”.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer is 'weak, desperate and fighting for his career', says John Swinney
They also say they will increase the Carer Support payment by £400 a year and “give every young carer someone they can turn to”.
- "Ferry fiasco"
They have pledged a ferries bill “to end the SNP ’s fiasco for good”. They say this will include a new legal requirement for the Scottish Government to produce a 30-year ferry and port infrastructure replacement strategy, which would have to be renewed every five years and approved by the Scottish Parliament.
Find our summary of the manifesto here, or the full document here.
The others
There are dozens of smaller parties and independents running in the Scottish election. We have selected a few to summarise, but you can find all of the candidates in our constituency guide and regional list guide.
Scottish Socialist Party
The SSP laid out their manifesto pledges, focusing on the cost of living and public services.
Some of the key pledges include free public transport for all, across all modes of services, the abolition of council tax, to be replaced with a “Scottish Service Tax”. This would be based on incomes, with those on less than £12,000 per year paying nothing, while people earning £75,000 (the salary of MSPs) would pay £6710 a year.
The party has put forward plans to bring in a £15 minimum wage for all public sector workers and for those employed at private companies which have public sector contracts. The party is also calling for a four-day week for public sector workers and private sector workers at companies contracted by the state.
You can find our summary of the SSP's manifesto here, or the full document here.
Alliance to Liberate Scotland
Alliance to Liberate Scotland is a single-issue party focussed on independence.
While independence is the core of the party's pledge, it also includes pledges to reduce inequality and poverty and a major reform to the parliamentary system, saying they want to "end to party control and the rise of independent representatives who answer only to their constituents and the people of Scotland."
You can find their "what we fight for" page here.
You can watch The National's podcast episode about the major party's manifestos here or below.
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