Scottish Parliament Election 2026 — Archived Policy Comparison & Manifesto Tracker

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💼Economy & Jobs

Committed

Make Scotland the best place in Europe to start and scale a business, with a new 'High Growth Unit' for unicorn-scale companies. 150,000 apprenticeships over the parliament, including 8,000+ graduate apprenticeships.

Committed

9,000 new apprenticeships and a new industrial strategy. Plans to replace business rates and create a Scottish Treasury.

Committed

A 'growth test' for every government policy. Enterprise-style zones, cut red tape and lower business rates to attract investment.

Committed

New industrial and skills strategies on day one, inviting business leaders to shape the Programme for Government. Job Transition Loans of up to £5,000 for retraining. New SME-focused arm of the Scottish National Investment Bank. Halve Scottish Government spending on private consultancy.

Committed

Tax wealth and polluting industries to fund public services. Establish regional green skills hubs linking colleges, employers and unions.

Committed

Slash quangos to save £7.5bn and return powers to ministers. Cut spending to grow the private sector.

🏥Health & NHS

Committed

At least £10 billion in capital investment over ten years and £200 million annually to tackle waiting times. End the 8am GP rush with walk-in clinics across Scotland, open 7 days a week.

Committed

End the 8am rush for GP appointments and bring back the 'family doctor'. Speed up rollout of an NHS app, invest in AI-enabled scanners and use all available NHS capacity to cut waiting times.

Committed

Guarantee a GP appointment within 48 hours. £350m extra NHS funding above inflation. Bring back recently retired doctors and nurses to reduce waiting lists.

Committed

Embed 900 new multidisciplinary staff across GP practices — the equivalent of an extra clinician per practice. National lung cancer screening programme. 10-year NHS workforce plan. Walk-in mental health services. Guarantee NHS dentist access. Halve delayed discharge from hospital before the end of the decade.

TBC Committed

NHS to remain free at the point of need. Establish an independent Scottish Healthcare Reform Commission to develop a workforce plan, train more nurses and solve delayed discharge.

🎓Education

Committed

Maintain the best pupil-teacher ratio in the UK and legislate for a national mobile phone ban in all classrooms. A Teacher Jobs Guarantee of minimum 3 years for newly qualified teachers.

Committed

Up to 2,000 specialist education recovery teachers. Breakfast clubs in all primary schools, ban mobile phones in classrooms, more classroom assistants and two weeks of funded summer holiday clubs.

Committed

Raise educational standards, increase classroom assistants and ban mobile phones. Support for teachers as a priority.

Committed

Recruit 2,000 more pupil support assistants and roll out specialist support including speech and language therapists. Play-based learning until age 7. Legislate for smartphone-free schools. End zero-hours teacher contracts. Inflation-proof Pupil Equity Funding. Restore colleges to a strong role in local economic development.

TBC Committed

Scrap Education Scotland. Move to a knowledge-based curriculum and restore exams, reversing what the party calls a decade of declining standards.

🏠Housing

Committed

Record £4.9 billion investment in affordable house building over four years, targeting 110,000 affordable homes by 2032. A First Homes Fund of £100 million a year offering up to £10,000 deposit support for first-time buyers.

Committed

125,000 new homes by 2031, including more than 50,000 affordable. A dedicated Housing Bank to direct investment. LBTT relief threshold raised to £200,000 for first-time buyers.

Committed

80,000 affordable homes over the next five years. Abolish LBTT on primary residences entirely. Opposes rent controls.

Committed

Target 25,000 new homes built annually. 10,000 dedicated key worker homes. Help to Renovate loan scheme for neglected properties. Young Homeless Guarantee. Replace council tax with a land value system. Consult on LBTT exemptions for brownfield sites and downsizers.

Committed

All new homes must meet net-zero standards. Strengthen rent controls by removing exemptions for mid-market and build-to-rent properties. Four-month notice period for evictions and ban on evictions for sale or owner-occupation in the first 12 months.

Committed

Target 75,000 affordable homes over five years.

🌿Environment & Climate

Committed

End Scotland's contribution to climate change by 2045 in a just and fair way, backed by a £500 million Just Transition Fund. Restore more than 400,000 ha of peatland by 2040 and fund 18,000 ha of woodland creation annually by 2029.

Partial

Support renewables expansion and remove what they describe as the SNP's block on new nuclear energy in Scotland.

Partial

Back oil and gas industry alongside support for new nuclear power. Less emphasis on accelerating net zero targets.

Committed

Net zero by 2045 with a clear roadmap. Emergency insulation programme to cut household bills. Clean Water Act to tackle sewage dumping. Expand woodlands using at least 50% native species. Double fixed penalty for littering. Remove ideological opposition to Small Modular Reactors. Oppose fracking.

Committed

Get Scotland back on track for net zero by 2045 with a coordinated climate action delivery programme. £600m investment in onshore and offshore wind, wave and solar to lower energy bills.

Opposed

Scrap all Scottish Government net zero targets. Fast-track planning for new energy projects including open cast coal mining. Prioritise energy security over climate targets.

Energy

Committed

Accelerate investment in offshore wind, solar and pumped storage, and establish a ScotWind Wealth Fund for future generations. Will not greenlight any new nuclear power stations, backing renewables as faster, cheaper and safer.

Committed

Support renewables expansion. Remove the block on new nuclear energy to diversify Scotland's energy mix.

Committed

Back North Sea oil and gas alongside support for new nuclear power as part of a balanced energy policy.

Committed

Emergency insulation programme and accelerated rollout of heat pumps and district heating. Quadruple solar energy generation this parliament. Overhaul community benefit rules so local areas get more from nearby renewable projects. Open to Small Modular Reactors subject to proper scrutiny. Support carbon capture, creating up to 15,000 jobs.

Committed

£600m investment programme in onshore and offshore wind, wave and solar. Zero-carbon energy to lower bills and cut emissions.

Committed

Scrap net zero energy targets. Fast-track planning approvals for new energy projects including open cast coal. Back North Sea oil and gas.

🚆Transport & Infrastructure

Committed

Legislate for a £2 bus fare cap across Scotland by end of parliament. Complete dualling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness by 2035, backed by almost £200 million investment.

Committed

£350m dedicated potholes fund. Deliver the Glasgow Airport Rail Link.

Committed

National pothole fund, trunk road upgrades and bridge restoration across Scotland.

Committed

Ferries Bill to end the island ferry fiasco. TfL-style bus model giving communities control over routes. Nationwide tap-and-go transport with a daily spend cap. A9 dualling accelerated; A96 dualling timetable within 100 days. Dangerous Roads Programme. More late-night ScotRail services and new stations.

Committed

All new homes must be connected to zero-carbon public transport. Reduce transport emissions as part of the climate action delivery programme.

Committed

Fix potholes as an immediate priority. Abolish ULEZ-style schemes. End what the party calls 'the war on the motor car'.

🛒Cost of Living

Committed

Establish legal price ceilings on a basket of 20–50 essential food items at large supermarkets. Expand childcare to all children from 9 months to end of primary school, 52 weeks a year.

Committed

Making life more affordable is the first manifesto priority. Commitments include tax relief for first-time buyers and breakfast clubs to reduce household costs.

Committed

Cut taxes so people keep more of their own money. Raise the income tax threshold and reduce rates to ease cost-of-living pressure.

Committed

Emergency insulation programme to cut energy bills. Job Transition Loans up to £5,000 for retraining. UK-EU customs union described as the single biggest lever for reducing costs. 25,000 new homes a year to ease housing costs. Fairer childcare for working families.

Committed

Lower energy bills through £600m renewable investment. Stronger tenant protections to limit housing costs.

Committed

Cut Scottish income tax below rest-of-UK rates. Save households money by cutting what the party calls wasteful government spending.

💰Taxation

Committed

No increase to income tax band numbers or rates over the parliament, aiming to simplify the system. From 2028, a mansion tax adding two new bands for properties over £1 million and £2 million, with funds going to local services.

Committed

Raise LBTT relief threshold to £200,000 for first-time buyers. Replace business rates with a fairer system.

Committed

Raise the income tax threshold to £13,892 by 2031 (saving ~£250/year). Income tax rate of 19% up to the higher rate. Higher rate threshold raised to £50,270 to match the rest of the UK. Abolish LBTT on primary residences entirely.

Committed

Lift tax thresholds with inflation where funds allow and gradually close the income tax differential with England. Replace council tax with a land value system. Reform business rates with a land value element. Air Departure Tax devolution. Private jet tax. Point of entry levy powers for councils.

Committed

Tax wealth and polluting industries to pay for public services. Ask the richest in society to pay more.

Committed

Cut Scottish income tax below rest-of-UK rates, funded by closing quangos and cutting £7.5bn in spending.

🤝Social Care

Committed

Legislate for a legal right to breaks for unpaid carers and commission annual health checks for them. A new £20 million Complex Care Investment to free up around 400 hospital beds.

TBC TBC Committed

National bargaining on care worker pay and a new career ladder. Increase Carer Support Payment by £400 a year. Young Carers' Leads in every school and college. Halve delayed discharge from hospital before the end of the decade. Key worker housing to help care staff take up posts.

Committed

Free social care at the point of need — ending non-residential care charges as a first step. Gradually end outsourcing to private companies by bringing care homes into public or community ownership. Raise social care worker wages as a priority and recognise the third sector as an equal partner in delivery.

Partial

Tackle the 'bloated welfare budget' with rigorous face-to-face assessments for claimants. Focus on reducing dependency rather than expanding entitlements.

⚖️Justice & Public Safety

Committed

Record £1.7 billion for police, maintaining the highest officer numbers per head in the UK. Introduce a Misogyny Bill to outlaw harassment and abuse based on misogyny, and ban deepfake intimate images.

Committed

Named local police officers for communities. Stronger action on antisocial behaviour.

Committed

Repeal the Hate Crime and Public Order Act. Tougher sentencing and more prison capacity.

Committed

Strengthen the Retail Crime Taskforce. Invest in robust community sentences as credible alternatives to prison. Reduce reoffending through education and welfare checks within 48 hours of release. Independent director of prosecutions. Restorative justice. Inject local democracy back into Police Scotland.

Committed

Prevention and community justice over incarceration — reduce the prison population by investing in youth work, trauma-informed practice and community sentences. Recognise misogyny in Scots law and fund violence prevention services. Reverse cuts to legal aid and reinvest in housing, mental health and addiction services to address the root causes of crime.

Committed

Back the police. Repeal the Hate Crime and Public Order Act. Tougher approach to crime and sentencing.

🏛️Government Reform

Committed

Bring forward a Public Service Renewal Bill in the first year to substantially reduce the number of public bodies.

Committed

Cut one-third of quangos and return powers to ministers. Create a new Scottish Treasury to improve economic management.

Committed

Cut quangos by at least a quarter. Introduce a Taxpayer Savings Act to ensure public money is spent efficiently.

Committed

Accountability Act to enshrine the Ministerial Code in law and introduce MSP recall. End SNP centralisation and shift power to local government. Change Holyrood voting system to STV. Back a written federal UK constitution. Halve Scottish Government consultancy spend. Reboot the civil service.

TBC Committed

Shut down quangos entirely, saving £7.5bn. Reduce the number of MSPs from 73 to 57 by aligning Holyrood constituencies with Westminster boundaries.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Scottish Independence

Committed

An SNP majority is treated as a mandate — based on the 2011 precedent — for powers to be transferred to enable an independence referendum. Independence remains the central long-term goal.

Opposed

Opposes independence and a second referendum. Argues Scotland's challenges are best solved within the UK.

Opposed

Strongly opposes independence and any further referendums. Positions the election as a choice between SNP division and Conservative stability.

Opposed

Firmly opposes independence and a second referendum. Backs a federal UK with a written constitution instead, with power devolved as close as possible to communities.

Committed

Supports Scottish independence as part of building a greener, fairer country. Would use Holyrood to advance the case for independence.

Opposed

Strongly unionist. Opposes independence and any second referendum.