Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation. –  Atifete Jahjaga

The Scottish Election season is underway and parties are now laying out their positions and are courting your votes. As I have with every other election since I started this blog, I’ll continue keeping a place here for party neutral information, including a post aimed at first time voters on how to vote in the elections and how that vote is translated into seats. I have written a guide on how to vote in the upcoming election and how your vote is translated into MSPs’ seats. You can read that guide here.

In this post I intend to gather as many of the political party manifestos as I can as they are published. I can’t cover independent candidates fairly (by definition, an independent can stand in only one region at best) and whilst I would like to be as inclusive as possible I may miss a few of the smaller parties or they may not be publishing a full manifesto (particularly if they are a single issue party). If I do miss a party manifesto, please let me know and I’ll add it.

All of the manifestos below are presented for your information and the presence or absence of any of them should not be taken as an endorsement or otherwise of any of the parties or of any of the policies that they may be promoting.

Incumbent Parties

(The following parties were represented by at least one MSP during the 2016-2021 Parliament. All of these parties are standing candidates in every electoral region but many not be fielding a candidate in every constituency.)

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Scottish Green Party

Scottish Labour Party

Scottish Liberal Democrats

Scottish National Party

Insurgent Parties

(The following parties were not represented in the 2016-2021 Parliament. Insurgent parties may not be standing in all constituencies or electoral regions.)

Alba Party

All For Unity

Communist Party of Britain

Independence for Scotland Party *

Reform UK

Restore Scotland Party

Scottish Family Party

(Note: Newsletter sign-up required)

Scottish Libertarian Party

Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

UK Independence Party

 

Check back frequently as more manifestos are published.

*Note:- On March 29th the Independence for Scotland Party stood down all of their candidates in the wake of the launch of the Alba Party. Nonetheless, they have published their manifesto hence its inclusion here.

[Update: 01/04/21 – Added SFP and STUSC. Clarified inclusion criteria. Re-grouped the parties into two categories to represent incumbents in the previous Parliament and other parties.]

[Update 07/04/21 – Added All For Unity]

[Update 14/04/21 – Added Scottish Green Party]

[Update 15/04/21 – Added Scottish National Party]

[Update 16/04/21 – Added Scottish Liberal Democrats]

[Update 17/04/21 – Added several insurgent party manifestos. Updated main body text with some clarifications and links to previous “How to Vote” guides.]

[Update 21/04/21 – Added Alba Party and link to latest “How to Vote” guide.]

[Update 22/04/21 – Added Scottish Labour Party]

[Update 23/04/24 – Added Restore Scotland Party]