What a vote for the SNP means
by Scotland has so much going for it.
A country rich in energy, talent and opportunity. A country with world-class industries, strong communities, and enormous potential.
We are truly fortunate to call Scotland home.
But people also know the reality.
Times are tough.
Food prices have risen. Household bills are high. And for too many people, it feels like things are getting harder, not easier.
That is why this election matters.
Because a vote for the SNP on May 7 is about putting Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands and delivering real improvements in people’s lives, but it is also to put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands with referendum on independence where Scotland can make our enormous wealth work for our people.
A referendum we intend to win.
A government on Scotland’s side.
Focused on what matters most: the cost of living, the NHS, and the future of our country.
When the SNP has had the power to act, we have used it to support people.
- Free prescriptions — saving many people hundreds of pounds a year.
- No tuition fees — because opportunity should be based on your ability to learn not your ability to pay.
- Free bus travel for millions.
- Expanded childcare.
- Direct financial support for families.
These are not abstract policies.
They are real differences in people’s lives. Real savings. Real support.
At the same time, despite the pressures of recent years, we have continued to invest in our NHS by increasing staff, increasing activity, and now bringing waiting times down.
That is our record.
And it is a record we are ready to build on.
But there’s more still to be done.
Because people are still feeling the pressure and this election is about what changes next.
This is not about small adjustments.
It is about making Scotland more affordable, improving access to healthcare, and giving people confidence that things are moving in the right direction again.
A re-elected SNP government will act in three clear areas.
First, bringing down the cost of living.
- Cutting the cost of getting to work through a £2 bus fare cap.
- Reducing the cost of raising a family through a major childcare expansion worth up to £11,000 a year.
- Taking action to keep essential food prices affordable.
Second, improving the NHS.
- Making it easier to see a GP.
- Reducing waiting times further.
- And modernising how people access care.
Third, building for the future.
- Supporting people into home ownership.
- Driving economic growth and job creation.
- And preparing Scotland to take the next step as a country.
These are practical changes that will affect people’s lives week to week. In their finances, their health, and their future.
That’s what you get with a government on Scotland’s side.
Scotland’s NHS
The NHS is our most important public service.
Progress is already being made.
Waiting times are falling. More patients are being seen. Capacity is increasing.
But the next five years are about going further and making that progress something people feel directly.
A re-elected SNP government will deliver:
Faster access to GP care
For many people, the NHS experience starts with frustration.
Trying to get a GP appointment. Calling repeatedly. Being told to try again tomorrow.
That has to change.
A re-elected SNP government will:
- Roll out GP walk-in clinics across Scotland, open seven days a week
- Make it easier to access urgent care without the 8am rush
- Reduce pressure on traditional GP appointments
A modern NHS you can access
Too often, patients are left chasing appointments, referrals, or results.
That is time-consuming, frustrating, and inefficient.
So the NHS will be modernised through:
- A new digital way to access health and social care through MyCare.scot
- A national online booking system for appointments
- New technology to support diagnosis, expand capacity and deliver more joined-up care
Shorter waiting times
Waiting times have been one of the biggest concerns for patients.
And the only way to reduce them sustainably is to increase capacity across the system.
That is why a re-elected SNP government will:
- Invest at least £200 million every year in elective care
- Grow elective capacity
- Deliver shorter waiting times and more appointments and operations
Fixing pressure in the system
One of the biggest pressures on the NHS is not just demand – it is flow.
Patients who are ready to leave hospital cannot always do so, because the right care is not in place elsewhere.
That has a knock-on effect across the entire system.
So action will be taken to:
- Improve access to health and social care through MyCare.scot
- Deliver more joined-up care
- Increase NHS capacity and reduce waiting times
Prevention and early intervention
A sustainable NHS is not just about treatment.
It is about prevention.
That is why the SNP will expand:
- New ‘one stop shops’ across communities for heart and lung health MOTs
- Early detection of conditions like heart and lung disease
Because catching problems earlier:
- Improves outcomes
- Reduces pressure on hospitals
- Saves resources in the long run
Supporting the workforce
No NHS plan works without staff.
Our NHS staff are the backbone of our beloved national health service.
That is why the next term will include:
- Increase the number of NHS staff
- Introduce an NHS Job Guarantee for graduates, with a minimum 3-year contract
- Introduce targeted incentives to attract staff to rural and island communities
Investment and infrastructure
Alongside day-to-day delivery, the NHS must be built for the future.
That means:
- £10 billion in capital investment over the next ten years
- Use new technology to support diagnosis and expand capacity
- Shift the balance of care towards community services
- Expand Hospital at Home to care for more people at home
Protecting the NHS
At its core, the NHS must remain true to its founding principles.
- Publicly owned
- Publicly delivered
- Free at the point of need
- Prescriptions will remain free
- Eye checks will remain free
- Dental checks will remain free
- Personal and nursing care will remain free
No privatisation. No selling off services. No compromising on universal access.
Extra help with the cost of living
Right now, Scotland already has support not available elsewhere in the UK:
- Free prescriptions — saving hundreds each year
- Free bus travel for millions
- Lower household costs
- Childcare support worth thousands
- Direct payments to families
But we know that the ongoing cost of living crisis is still causing you and your family hardship and uncertainty. So will go further:
Lower transport costs you can see clearly
By the end of the parliament, the SNP will introduce a nationwide £2 bus fare cap.
Right now:
- Edinburgh to Dunbar: £6.40 → £2
- Saving £4.40 per journey
- Peterhead to Aberdeen: £11.50 → £2
- Saving £9.50 per journey
- Dundee to St Andrews: £7.10 → £2
- Saving £5.10 per journey
- Dumbarton to Glasgow: £9.30 → £2
- Saving £7.30 per journey
- Peebles to Edinburgh: £8.85 → £2
- Saving £6.85 per journey
That is potentially hundreds of pounds back in your pocket every month.
Just from getting to work.
And while this will be delivered by the end of the parliament, the direction is clear: cheaper travel, lower household costs, and more money in people’s pockets.
Lower food costs
For too many families, the cost of food is now a real pressure on daily life.
This policy is simple, targeted, and rooted in public health.
The SNP will use public health powers to set a maximum price on a defined basket of essential food items. That means:
- A limited basket of everyday essentials
- A maximum retail price for those essential items
- Application across major retailers
- Oversight and monitoring to make sure the policy works as intended
- Everything outside that basket would remain market driven.
This is not about setting every price in every shop.
It is about protecting the essentials.
It is about recognising that when the cost of basic food rises too far, it stops being just an economic issue and becomes a public health issue too.
Because when people cannot afford the basics of a decent diet, that affects health, wellbeing, and the pressure on public services.
In a country as wealthy as Scotland, basic food should never be beyond people’s reach.
Transformational childcare expansion
We already provide 1,140 hours per year of funded early learning and childcare to all three-and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds regardless of their parents’ working status.
Families can receive up to 30 hours per week of funded childcare during term time, or 22 hours year-round.
If families were to pay for this themselves, it would cost them around £6,000 per child per year.
But we need to go further because the workday does not end at school bell and parents have told us they need more support.
We will extend Childcare provision across Scotland from 9 months to the end of primary school – for all 52 weeks of the year. Saving families up to £11,000 per year.
We will also deliver a free breakfast club in every single primary and ASN school by August 2027.
Breakfast clubs not only give children a nutritious meal before school starts, but they can also help improve school attendance and confidence in children.
It means:
- More parents able to work
- More income coming into households
- Less financial pressure
Housing
Housing is one of the biggest pressures people face.
For many young people, owning a home feels further away than ever.
For many renters, high costs and insecurity make it harder to plan.
And for too many families, finding a decent, affordable home has become a constant source of stress.
That is why housing has been a priority, and why it will remain one over the next five years.
Since 2007, the SNP has delivered more than 141,000 affordable homes, including over 101,000 for social rent.
We have also supported people into home ownership through schemes that reduce the upfront cost of buying, helping thousands of people who would otherwise have been locked out of the market.
But we know that demand is still high, supply is still too tight, and for many people the system is not working as it should. That is why the next five years are about going further.
A re-elected SNP government will:
Help more people own their first home
- Provide up to £10,000 deposit support for First Time Buyers
- Continued shared equity support for those who cannot afford full market prices
- Unlock pension fund investment for social and affordable housing
- Create a £50 million fund to tackle homelessness
Make renting fairer and more secure
- Give tenants the opportunity to buy their home if it is put up for sale
- Reform tenement and property factors law to make it easier to maintain shared buildings
Build more homes across Scotland
- Continue high levels of investment in affordable housing
- Establish a new Scottish housing agency, More Homes Scotland, to speed up the delivery of homes
- Build more high-quality, affordable homes
This is about increasing supply because without more homes, costs will continue to rise.
Support communities across the whole country
- Take action to support housing delivery in rural and island communities
- Improve affordability so people can continue to live in their communities
Housing pressures are not the same everywhere and solutions must reflect that.
The opportunities of independence
Everything set out in this plan is about improving life in Scotland with the powers we have right now.
But there are clear limits to what can be achieved without full control.
Scotland is one of the most energy-rich countries in Europe.
We produce more energy than we use, much of it from low-cost renewables, yet households pay some of the highest energy bills in Europe. That is because the key decisions about energy, pricing, markets, and regulation, are not made here.
The same is true across the economy. Decisions on investment, migration, trade, non-devolved taxes and growth are shaped elsewhere and often in ways that do not reflect Scotland’s needs.
That is why independence matters.
With independence, Scotland would be able to:
- Use its energy wealth to bring down bills
- Design an economy around its own strengths
- Rejoin the European Union and expand opportunity
- Make decisions here, with full accountability to the people who live here
Independence is about turning Scotland’s strengths into better living standards.
Lower costs. Stronger growth. More opportunity.
And crucially, it is about choice.
The choice to decide our own future.
That is what a majority SNP government will secure – the opportunity for Scotland to vote on independence.
A referendum that puts that decision in the hands of the people.
Independence is how we move from managing the system we have, to building the one Scotland needs.
Why both votes SNP
At this moment Scotland needs experienced, principled, reliable leadership in the highest office in the land and the SNP and John Swinney are offering you exactly that.
In this election, we are asking people to give us the mandate to act always with, and for, the people who live here.
We want to create the best future we can for Scotland, with the powers we have right now – stretching them to their very limit. But also, to build the very best Scotland with the full powers of independence.
An SNP majority does two things.
- It unlocks the potential for truly transformational change with independence.
- It locks Nigel Farage out of any influence in Scotland’s Parliament.
That is the goal we are setting ourselves in this election, and that is the outcome we intend to deliver for Scotland.
Because be in no doubt: depending on how the numbers stack up after the election, without an SNP majority there is always the potential for a grubby backroom deal between Labour and Reform.
We will take Reform on. We will defeat them. We will make sure Nigel Farage is locked out of power.
The SNP will have no talks, no deals and no common cause with Reform. Full stop.
And we will make sure Scotland’s future is in Scotland’s hands.
On May 7th, your first vote is for an SNP government that will deliver more cost-of-living support, a stronger NHS, and a stronger economy.
But it is by trusting us also with your second vote that the SNP can win a majority, a majority that will secure a referendum.
On 7th May, make it both votes SNP for a government on Scotland’s side with the trusted, experienced leadership of John Swinney.
Make it both votes SNP for bold action on the cost of living and on our health service.
Make it both votes SNP for a fresh start with independence.
On May 7th choose a Scottish Government that works for Scotland. Choose an SNP government that, day in and day out, is always on Scotland’s side.John Swinney
