It’s not long until the General Election. Each of the main political parties has committed itself to a manifesto explaining what they would do if they were elected.
A manifesto explains everything a party promises to do if they win the election.
Some of the bigger political parties have a ‘Scottish’ manifesto, so be sure to check if that party has a Scottish version too.
You should read through the different manifestos to ensure their wider goals align with your views.
Young Scot BIG Survey
We recently published the results of our Young Scot BIG Survey, and over 2,000 young people took part – with a lack of affordable housing and the climate emergency being the main issues worrying them about their future – and mental health identified as a key issue too.
- Climate change: 58% of respondents named climate change as something which worried them.
- Housing: We asked young people if there was anything in the recent news worrying them – lack of affordable housing was the top selection.
- Mental health: 64% of respondents had concerns about their own or other people’s mental health.
Below are some of the key proposals made on these key topics. The information is from parties’ manifestos and quality-assured news outlets. The information is not a comprehensive nor exhaustive account of the manifestos and shouldn’t be taken as such. We hope it’s a helpful insight into each party, but the choice of who to vote for is yours.
As Young Scot is a registered charity, we aren’t party-political, and we do not endorse any particular party.
Scotland Election 2024 Candidates
Below are most of the main parties standing for election in Scotland. However, for information including your nearest polling station and all the candidates for your area, please enter your postcode here.
Alba Party
Climate change: Rapid deployment of carbon capture technology. A halt to the importation of any form of nuclear waste. Oppose any expansion of nuclear power in Scotland. A minimum 20% public share in all offshore wind energy projects administered by a public Scottish Energy Company. An industrial strategy which encourages the use of locally sourced goods and materials wherever possible to reduce carbon emissions and increase Scotland’s domestic productive capacity. Oppose Highly Protected Marine Areas that are not evidence-based and do not have the support of Scottish fishing communities.
Housing: Create a publicly owned house-building company. Ensure public housing is delivered by public bodies accountable to their tenants. Public housing should not be taken over by the financial interests of international capital. Introduce a statutory obligation on all property owners to satisfy to the Scottish Housing Regulator that they have exhausted all options other than demolition before this is recommended. Ensure that the Scottish Housing Regulator be elected by social housing tenants. Reinstate the entire Scottish affordable housing budget that was cut in order to fund active travel, such as cycling, walking or wheeling.
Mental health: Opposed to privatisation of NHS Services in Scotland and any reductions to the Scottish budget as a result of privatisation of the English NHS. Local authorities to offer well-being (sleep, diet and exercise) psycho-education to be provided as part of the curriculum in schools, ensuring they are age and stage appropriate. A commitment to universal free access to health services at the point of use. Free access to sports facilities to young people to support physcial and mental health
Reform UK
Climate change: End subsidies for renewable energy to tackle energy poverty. Fast track a “dash for gas”, gas-powered power stations being the only reliable, affordable and flexible way of providing electricity to meet varying demand. Maximise North Sea oil and gas extraction and test for reserves of shale gas. Prioritise the use of productive farmland to grow more food within the UK. Support farms of under 500 hectares by reducing the red tape, recognising their value.
Housing: Stop mass immigration to prevent house prices and rents rising faster than wages. Use modern modular construction techniques to provide housing on vacant ground in towns and cities, a modern high-standard version of the post-WW2 prefab initiative. Review the planning system to fast-track development of brownfield sites, and to repurpose vacant high street properties for residential use. Encourage private sector landlords by ending punitive regulations, reversing the increased stamp duty surcharge and interest tax relief loss from recent years. Local authorities and house builders must collaborate better to remove barriers which slow new house building. Central government must provide more funds for enabling infrastructure.
Mental health: Boost NHS and social care staffing with a basic income tax rate of zero for staff in the sector for three years. Increase doctor and nurse numbers by ending cap on numbers for all UK medical students. Writing off student fees pro rata per year over 10 years of NHS service for all doctors, nurses and medical staff. Make the NHS more efficient. Use private health providers to take the pressure off the NHS. Introduce a tax relief of 20% on private healthcare and insurance to incentivise people who can afford to pay more, bringing extra funds into UK healthcare and boosting capacity.
Scottish Conservatives
Scottish Conservatives Manifesto
Climate change: Deliver net zero in Scotland by 2045. Support the 100,000 jobs in Scotland’s oil and gas sector and new developments in the North Sea. Improve community benefit from wind farms and other energy infrastructure whilst ensuring they have community consent. Create a National Centre for Green Jobs in Aberdeen. Support a new generation of nuclear power stations.
Housing: Reduce the tax on buying a home by raising the threshold for the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax to £250,000. Restore the Help to Buy Scheme. Support house building in rural areas. Oppose the cap on rents to increase the availability of rental properties. Deliver a national Housing First programme to end homelessness in Scotland. Restore funding for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, when it is financially viable to do so . Pilot a rent to own model – which would see the government give renters back a quarter of their rent to help them purchase the property that they live in.
Mental health: Increase mental health spending to 10% of the frontline NHS budget. Deliver better community mental health services offering support to people with mild to moderate health problems. Develop dedicated national programmes for serious mental health issues, such as a strategy to reduce and prevent self-harm. Take forward a specific Rural Mental Health strategy, to combat social isolation. Use Scotland’s natural environment to facilitate mental health recovery.
Scottish Greens
Climate change: Drop the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, revoke recently issued North Sea oil and gas licences, and prohibit licences for new onshore oil, gas and coal extraction/exploration. Establish a Four Nations Climate Response Group and deliver a UK-wide climate plan. Expand environmental taxation, such as a carbon land tax and an incineration tax. Invest in restoring the natural environment, including expanding native woodlands and restoring peatlands. Protect farmers by ensuring post-Brexit trade deals include high health and environmental standards. Give regulators more power to crack down on water companies.
Housing: Scrap the “bedroom tax” across the UK. Scale up energy efficiency and green heat programmes. Establish a Private Rented Sector Regulator to investigate tenants’ complaints and recommend reforms. Increase the role of councils in assembling land for housing and enhance their ability to buy properties to increase social housing. Ban winter evictions and end unfair evictions by making all grounds for eviction discretionary. End homelessness.
Mental health: Increase the number of funded university places for nursing students and create a bursary for student paramedics. Commit at least 11% of health spending to general practice by end of the next Parliament. Build the GP workforce to ensure 15-minute appointments are standard. Introduce a mental health impact assessment for all changes to social security and wider social policy, to understand the impacts government decision making has on mental and physical health and wellbeing. Establish a mental health triage system in every community.
Scottish Labour
Climate change: Set up GB Energy, a publicly owned clean power company, headquartered in Scotland, to deliver clean power by 2030. A Warm Homes Plan to insulate hundreds of thousands of homes across Scotland, improving their energy efficiency to cut bills and tackle fuel poverty. Improved monitoring of Scotland’s waterways to tackle the rising levels of sewage and end the large bonuses and expenses claims of Scottish Water bosses. Support the delivery of agriculture support that encourages sustainable farming practices whilst also supporting jobs and championing Scottish food production. Improve Scotland’s resilience to changing weather and prioritising climate adaption, such as flood defences.
Housing: Support first time buyers with a permanent and comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme across the UK and reforms in Scotland to help support low income buyers. Ensure no-one loses their home in Scotland due to “soaring” interest rates by revamping the Mortgage to Shared Equity scheme. Reform the planning system to support more housebuilding across Scotland and tackle the housing emergency by increasing supply. Support renters with a fair deal for tenants and workable regulations in the private rented sector. Target empty and derelict houses that blight communities by introducing council tax surcharges and plans to turn neglected houses back into homes.
Mental health: Cut NHS waiting times and fund 160,000 additional appointments every year in Scotland. Build an NHS fit for the future with a proper workforce plan and modernising services with new technology and treatments. Work collaboratively to ensure that patients can access specialist care and participate in cutting-edge clinical trials, regardless of where in the UK they live. Ensure a mental health professional is present in every GP practice so people can get the mental health support they need when they need it. Cut NHS bureaucracy by reducing NHS territorial boards from 14 to three and ensuring that resources are focused on the frontline. Create a National Care Service with non-residential care charges abolished without further delay, unpaid carers given a right to respite, and continue to campaign for social care staff to be paid at least £15 per hour.
Scottish Liberal Democrats
Scottish Liberal Democrats Manifesto
Climate change: End the sewage scandal across the whole UK. £1bn more for agriculture across the UK, including £170m for Scottish farmers. Cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045. Create a new Net Zero Delivery Authority. Tackle the climate emergency with a green jobs revolution. New incentives for households to install solar panels.
Housing: Establish social renting as a long-term option. Bring long-term empty homes back into use. Make homes warmer and cheaper to heat through energy upgrades. Remove dangerous cladding from all buildings.
Mental health: Get everyone fast access to GPs and a wider range of skilled staff locally, including mental health and physiotherapy. Fund the transformation of mental health services by increasing the tax paid by social media companies. Boost the minimum wage for care workers by £2 an hour to boost recruitment and retention. An NHS and Social Care Staff Assembly to put frontline staff at the heart of government decision-making. Treat drug misuse as a health problem rather than prosecuting those who experience it.
Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party Manifesto
Climate change: Devolve powers over regulation, pricing and production of energy sources to Scotland. Deliver fair funding for climate action. Establish a four nations Climate Response Group. Decarbonise the heating of one million homes by 2030. Deliver sustainable funding for rural industries.
Housing: Deliver a further 100,000 affordable homes by 2032. Call on the UK government to reverse the cuts to Scotland’s capital budget. Deliver a New Deal for Tenants, through the Housing (Scotland) Bill. Call on the UK government to scrap the Local Housing Allowance freeze. Call on the UK Government to scrap the cruel bedroom tax. Devolve Housing Benefit and Local Housing Allowance.
Mental health: Protect the NHS from the twin threats of privatisation and austerity. Call for an increase in health spending in England which would result in an increase to the amount of money available for the Scottish NHS. Match Scotland’s NHS pay deals. Devolve Misuse of Drugs Act to Scotland so drug harms can be treated as a public health issue.
More Information
Click here to learn more about voting and this year’s UK General Election.