WITH just one full day of campaigning left before the General Election, candidates up and down the country will be looking to win over voters before they head to the polls.
In the lead-up to the election, all the major parties have outlined their stance on the big issues in their manifestos. Over the next few days, we're taking a close look at all of the pro-independence parties' documents.
The Alba Party launched their manifesto at the end of June and are pledging to be the only party “putting independence on the ballot paper”.
Ahead of polling day, here’s a look at the main points.
Scottish independence
The first policy in Alba’s manifesto is dedicated to “taking action on independence,” with the party saying it is not “an aspiration for the hereafter but for the here and now”.
The party claims the route to a referendum is currently “blocked” due to the Supreme Court ruling in 2022 that Scotland couldn’t hold a referendum without the consent of Westminster who have persistently refused to grant a Section 30 order.
In the manifesto, Alba explain that they believe the list vote at the 2026 Holyrood election will provide the chance for the “most suitable” test of such a mandate because they claim it is not affected by tactical voting.
The manifesto states the threshold would be a simple majority of votes cast for all pro-independence parties.
However, it also adds that should Westminster continue to refuse engaging with independence talks, then it would be for the Scottish Parliament to “mobilise domestic and international pressure to bend Westminster to the will of the Scottish people”.
This includes a variety of options, including the formation of an independence convention, the holding of a referendum within the powers of the Scottish Parliament to ask the people whether they wish decisions on independence to be made in the Holyrood chamber, or securing support through the International Court of Justice.
Saving Grangemouth
The Alba Party have said they are “deeply concerned” about the announcement from Petroineos in 2023 to begin a transition project which would end oil refining at its Grangemouth complex as early as 2025.
The document says this threatens the jobs of 500 employees and 2000 contractors at the plant and that it “could have a potentially devastating impact on the local population, businesses and communities”.
As such, the Alba Party have said they will:
- Fight to save Grangemouth from closure
- Support a sustainable future for North Sea oil and gas workers
- Support new oil and gas licences with carbon neutral requirements placed on them secured by private and public carbon capture investment
- Oppose the SNP and Labour stance on the future of the North Sea that could cost over 100,000 jobs direct and indirect across the UK
The manifesto also points to last year’s Gers figures pointing out that North Sea oil and gas revenue created £9.4 billion for Scotland and that it would be “criminally insane to sacrifice such an overwhelming bounty”.
Tackling the cost of living crisis
There’s also plenty in the document about pledges to tackle the cost of living crisis, including making sure there is compensation for Waspi women.
Waspi represents a cohort of women born in the 1950s who have been adversely affected by changes to the state pension age.
We told on Monday how Labour were slammed for appearing to rule out to committing to any compensation.
The manifesto also says Alba will push to end Tory welfare policies such as the bedroom tax and the two-child cap which it says would “free up £70 million for the Scottish Government to spend on other measures to tackle the cost of living crisis”.
The party also wants to increase the Scottish child payment to £40 a week and establish an annual £500 payment targeted at every low earnings household in Scotland in receipt of council tax reduction.
Alba also want to see the triple lock system improved which they say, over a five-year period, would result in the state pension in an independent Scotland rising to more than £1000 a year more than the expected UK version.
A revolution in housing
The document also lays out the party’s plans to tackle housing issues and hits out at the “unjustified SNP cut in the Scottish housing budget”.
It reads: “Alba propose the immediate reversal of the £200 million cut to the housing budget in the December 2023 budget and bringing substantially more land into housing availability to reduce the cost.”
Pledges on housing include:
- Establish the target to build 200,000 houses in the five-year term of the Parliament
- Expand the skilled construction workforce by some 50,000
- Take powers to ensure housing associations fulfil their fundamental purpose
- Appoint a Cabinet secretary for housing to be responsible for the housing revolution
It adds: “Councils and housing associations will be encouraged to build houses for sale but with the explicit purpose of increasing socially-rented stock.
“We will intervene where necessary when housing associations act like private corporations and designate housing for demolition as opposed to imaginative renovation.”
Other key points
The document also sets out Alba’s position on a range of other key issues, including women’s rights and the NHS and social care.
Alba say they will “say without hesitation that a woman is an adult human female” and pledge to “support changes to the Equality Act that make clear that in regards to protection from sex-based discrimination sex means biological sex”.
The manifesto also sets out a continued commitment to call for the renewal of Trident to be scrapped and, on the NHS, prioritise measures to get Scotland “back on target to achieve 500 new GPs by 2027”.
It also says Alba will continue to support free tuition in Scotland and call on the UK Government to scrap tuition fees in England.
On transport, Alba say they want to see an increase to Scotland’s capital budget to bring forward the targeted completion of the duelling of the A9.
