SNP Manifesto 2019: Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands

by Olaf Stando
Posted on
5 years ago
4 min read

The SNP’s 2019 manifesto has set out our plans to end austerity, protect Scotland’s NHS from a Tory-Trump trade deal, put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands and escape from this Westminster Brexit chaos.

Scotland cannot afford another decade of Tory austerity and Boris Johnson’s desire to crash Scotland out of the EU with his dangerous Brexit deal would only make things worse.

In this manifesto we make a pledge to Scotland, elect a strong team of SNP MPs to represent you in Westminster and we will fight every day to build a better Scotland, protect you from Westminster’s austerity cuts and ensure that Scotland’s future in always in Scotland’s hands.

Here are just some of the promises we make to Scotland in our manifestio, or you can read our full manifesto here.

Protecting Scotland’s NHS

In Scotland, under the SNP Scottish Government, health funding, NHS staffing and patient satisfaction are all at record highs, and Scotland’s NHS has the best performing A&E services in the UK for four consecutive years.

However, despite devolution, our NHS is under threat from Brexit and an increasingly far-right Conservative government.

In order to fully protect Scotland’s NHS, we will propose a new National Health Service Protection Act. This act will guarantee that no trade deals, with Donald Trump or any other country, can undermine the founding principles of the NHS, nor open it to profit driven exploitation.

We will never allow Scotland’s NHS to be privatised, not ever.

An escape from Brexit

In 2014, the No campaign told Scotland that the only way to protect our membership of the European Union was to vote no to independence. However, despite every single local authority in Scotland voting to remain in the Europen Union, Boris Johnson and Westminster are now trying to drag Scotland out against our will.

This is unacceptable. Scotland voted to remain and so we should remain.

A strong team of SNP MPs will work with other parties across the UK to escape from Brexit. In a UK context, we will support a second EU referendum with Remain on the ballot paper.

And if it is the only alternative to a ‘no deal’ Brexit, we will support the revocation of Article 50. SNP MPs will always vote to protect Scotland’s place in the single market and customs union.

Ending a decade of Westminster austerity

More than a decade of austerity, years of low wage growth and a freeze on social security payments, has left families struggling and our public services stretched. We will not stand by whilst Westminster continues to inflict this needless suffering.

SNP MPs will demand an end to austerity and instead press the UK Government to invest in public services and the economy, starting with a reversal of the cut Scotland has seen to its real-terms budget and end Tory plans for tax cuts for big business and the wealthiest. It is time to crackdown on tax avoidance and evasion, not cut taxes for the most well-off in society.

Tackling the global climate emergency

The SNP were the first governing party in Europe to acknowledge that the world is facing a climate emergency, and we are leading the world with the most ambitious emissions reductions targets, but it’s time for the UK Government plays its part and meets its targets.

SNP MPs will demand the UK matches Scotland’s ambition, meets its Paris Climate Agreement responsibilities and sticks to future EU emission standards. We will propose a Green Energy Deal that will ensure green energy schemes get the long-term certainty needed to support investment and that a UK Government plays its part in delivering a Green New Deal for Scotland.

We have a moral duty, and a duty to future generations, to lead the way in showing how our society can transition to net zero emissions. The SNP are ready and willing to take on that duty and deliver that better and greener society.

Scrap Trident

SNP are, and will always be, unequivocal in our opposition to weapons of mass destruction and we are the only major party in this election that is committed to scrapping Trident nuclear weapons.

Despite this, SNP MPs will work to build a cross-party coalition to scrap Trident as quickly and as safely as possible, so we can invest the billions wasted on Trident into our public services.

Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands

We believe that the best future for Scotland is to be an independent, European nation. Not for its own sake, but because it allows Scotland to become the open, tolerant, inclusive and democratic nation we are determined to build.

By making all our own decisions here in Scotland, we could end poverty faster, play our full part in tackling the climate emergency, ensure a fair deal for pensioners and create new opportunities for jobs and our economy.

We have a clear mandate to deliver a new referendum on becoming an independent country, and we are making it clear at this election that next year we intend to offer the people of Scotland a choice over their future.

To ensure that a referendum is put beyond any legal challenge, before the end of the year, we will demand that the UK Government transfers the necessary powers under the Scotland Act to ensure the decisions about the referendum can be taken by the Scottish Parliament.