UofG Centre for Public Policy

21 May 2026: Read a series of thematic briefing papers on where each party in the Scottish Parliament stands on key issues drawn from their manifestos, to get a sense of where they align, and where we might see cross-party collaboration.

The Centre for Public Policy has developed a series of briefing papers that analyse the party manifestos from the Scottish Parliament election focused on key policy areas, from health, to transport, to social security. 

The papers are a useful tool for illuminating areas we may see potential for cross-party collaboration.

You can read them in plain text on our Elections 2026 webpage.

Read an introduction to the papers by Professor Kezia Dugdale on our News and Commentary page.

Briefing papers and key takeaways

Energy 

Read the briefing paper: Scottish manifesto analysis: Energy

Key takeaways:

• There is substantial overlap across parties on expanding Scotland’s renewable capacity, with SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens all backing major growth in offshore wind, grid upgrades, home energy improvements and worker transition schemes, creating scope for post election cooperation on practical delivery of the energy transition.
• Most parties acknowledge the need to cut household energy costs, reflected in SNP community energy investment; Labour’s efficiency and ownership plans; Conservative bill discounts from Crown Estate revenues; Liberal Democrat emergency insulation; and Greens’ support for heat pumps and home upgrades. This signals shared ground on the need to tackle energy affordability. However, the approaches differ notably, suggesting potential challenges in cross-party consensus.
• A clear party split lies in the role of fossil fuels and Net Zero. SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens prioritise accelerated renewables and managed transition, while Reform UK and the Conservatives emphasise expanded oil and gas, scrapping Net Zero targets and scaling back renewable subsidies, a split between sustainable energy led and fossil fuel led energy strategies.

Fiscal and taxation

Read the briefing paper: Scottish manifesto analysis: Fiscal and taxation

Key takeaways:

• There is notable overlap across parties on strengthening Scotland’s fiscal foundations, with SNP, Labour and the Liberal Democrats all proposing reforms to council funding or expanded local tax powers, and several parties setting out multi year investment plans to stabilise public finances and support long term infrastructure.
• Most parties acknowledge the tight fiscal environment and the need for predictable revenue streams, reflected in SNP and Labour commitments to maintain income tax stability, Conservative and Liberal Democrat plans to uprate thresholds with inflation, and Greens proposing new property and wealth taxes to secure long term funding for public services.
• The clearest divergence lies in how parties propose to raise and use revenue: SNP, Labour and the Greens prioritise maintaining or increasing tax to fund public services, while Reform UK and the Conservatives centre their plans on income tax cuts, reduced public spending and shrinking the state, a split between investment led and tax cut led fiscal strategies.

Further and Higher education

Read the breifing paper: Scottish manifesto analysis - Further and Higher education

Key takeaways:

• There is strong overlap across parties on expanding apprenticeships and aligning colleges with economic needs, with SNP, Labour, Reform, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats all proposing larger apprenticeship programmes, multi year college funding and closer employer links, creating scope for consensus on strengthening vocational and technical routes post-compulsory education.
• Parties acknowledge the need for more stable, better coordinated college funding, reflected in the proposal for a review of college funding by the SNP; Labour’s multi year settlements; Reform’s long term technical college model; increased funding and expanded borrowing powers from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrat commitments to secure college finances. This indicates shared recognition of the need to reform college funding to improve financial sustainability and strengthen colleges’ contribution to skills and workforce priorities.
• The clearest divergence lies in the role of universities: SNP, Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Greens aiming to maintain a more mixed tertiary system, while Reform UK propose shifting large numbers of school leavers away from university into technical colleges. This is a split between maintaining broad higher education access and redirecting learners into vocational pathways.

Health

Read the briefing paper: Scottish manifesto analysis: Health

Key takeaways:

• Policy overlap on health is substantial across the parties, particularly around early diagnosis, cancer screening, primary care access, women’s health, digital NHS reform, delayed discharge, mental health, and neurodiversity. There is significant scope for post-election consensus on practical service improvements.
• Across all six parties there is a shared perception of NHS pressures, long waits, GP access, community capacity, mental health demand, and delayed discharge. This creates unusually wide scope for consensus on expanding primary care teams, boosting diagnostics, and strengthening local and rural provision.
• Divergence lies in the underlying model of NHS reform: while SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens emphasise improvements in publicly delivered community capacity, prevention and integration, the Conservatives and Reform UK place greater weight on independent sector involvement, performance driven governance and streamlined management. This likely limits consensus on long term system redesign even where short term priorities align.

Housing

Read the briefing paper: Scottish manifesto analysis: Housing

Key takeaways:

• There is broad overlap across parties on the need to expand housing supply, whether through large scale affordable and social house building (SNP, Labour, Greens), higher overall annual housing building targets (Liberal Democrats), or accelerated planning reform (Reform UK, Conservatives), creating scope for consensus on boosting construction capacity and speeding up delivery of new supply.
• Most parties link housing to wider system pressures including rural and key worker shortages, homelessness, energy efficiency, and planning bottlenecks, suggesting shared space for cooperation on improving quality standards, strengthening prevention, and aligning housing with health, care and economic development. However, the parties differ on which of these different systems pressures to focus their policy efforts.
• The clearest divergence lies in the role of regulation and the private rented sector: SNP, Labour and Greens favour stronger tenant protections and rent controls, while Conservatives and Reform UK propose scrapping or repealing these measures. This creates a structural divide that limits consensus on affordability, rights and market intervention.

Justice 

Read the briefing paper: Scottish manifesto analysis: Justice

Key takeaways:

• Across the SNP, Labour and Liberal Democrats and Greens there is clear alignment on tackling justice pressures through community level interventions: expanding diversion and early intervention programmes, embedding mental health specialists alongside police, and improving system flow through faster case progression and reduced court delays. It is therefore likely that we will see action in this area in coming Parliament.
• Most parties acknowledge that reducing reoffending and crisis demand requires stronger coordination between justice, health, housing and local services, creating scope for consensus on practical measures such as integrated release support, specialist victim services, and improved links between policing, courts and community organisations.
• There is a notable divergence in how parties propose to deliver safety: SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens prioritise prevention and community-based responses, while Reform UK and the Conservatives focus on tougher sentencing, expanded prison capacity and repealing legislation. This is key ideological split between rehabilitation led and enforcement led approaches.

Local government

Read the briefing paper: Scottish manifesto analysis: Local Government

Key takeaways:

• Across parties there is a focus on improving the financial stability of councils, with SNP, Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats all proposing new funding formulas, multi year settlements or expanded local revenue powers; creating scope for consensus on stabilising local budgets and strengthening core services.
• There is cross party support to giving councils more control over local decisions. This ideological consensus varies in delivery, however, with differing proposed legislation: SNP regional economic powers and Community Wealth Building; Labour’s Local Democracy Act; Conservative multi year budgets; Liberal Democrats general power of competence (mirroring legislation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland); and Greens fiscal framework reform.
• The clearest divergence lies in the scale and direction of reform: SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens emphasise empowering councils through new duties, community rights and expanded local powers, while Reform UK and the Conservatives prioritise structural overhaul, reduced bureaucracy and leaner public-sector models.

Education (primary and secondary)

Read the briefing paper: Scottish manifesto analysis: Education (primary and secondary)

Key takeaways:

• Across parties there is consensus in improving in-school support and classroom conditions. SNP, Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Greens all commit to investing in more support staff, proposing behaviour measures such as mobile phone bans, and expanding provision for pupils with additional needs, creating scope for consensus on practical improvements to everyday learning environments.
• Most parties emphasise early intervention and targeted support, from SNP’s expanded Additional Support Needs provision and Labour’s education recovery teachers, to Liberal Democrat specialist staff and Greens’ wellbeing focused reforms, signalling shared ground on strengthening early help for pupils who are struggling.
• The clearest divergence lies in the structure and direction of the school system: SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens broadly retain Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) and focus on inclusion, while Reform UK and the Conservatives propose scrapping CfE, abolishing Education Scotland and expanding school autonomy.

Social care

Read the briefing paper: Scottish manifesto analysis: Social care

Key takeaways:

• There is overlap across most parties on improving workforce stability and supporting unpaid carers, with SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens all committing to better pay, clearer career pathways or enhanced respite for care workers. This consensus will likely result in policy activity on improving the conditions of people who deliver social care.
• Parties emphasise the need to expand community based care to reduce delayed discharge, including: SNP hospital to home pathways, Labour’s step down beds, Conservative temporary placements and Liberal Democrats prevention focused support. This indicates shared ground on expanding community-based care and intermediate support.
• There is a notable divergence in how the parties believe the social care system should be structured: SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens support national standards, rights based approaches and stronger integration, while Reform UK and the Conservatives prioritise decentralisation, reduced regulation and a larger role for independent providers. Again, this is a split between public service led and market oriented models of care seen also in health policy.

Social security

Read the briefing paper: Scottish manifesto analysis: Social security

Key takeaways:

• There is notable overlap across left-leaning parties on improving the accessibility and fairness of social security, with SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens all committing to higher take up, clearer entitlements or automatic payments. This suggests further reform of Social Security Scotland on reducing administrative barriers and ensuring support reaches those eligible.
• There was an emphasis across most parties for strengthened support for families and carers, from SNP and Labour commitments on increasing the Scottish Child Payment for particular family types, Liberal Democrat reforms of carer payments and Greens’ expanded child payment supplements. Reform UK also mentions improving support for carers. There is a shared recognition, particularly across left-leaning parties, that income support for children and carers is central to preventing poverty.
• The clearest divergence lies in the role and generosity of social security: SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens prioritise expanded entitlements, higher payments and rights-based support, while Reform UK and the Conservatives focus on tightening eligibility, reducing costs and strengthening conditionality.

Transport and infrastructure

Read the briefing paper: Scottish manifesto analysis: Transport

Key takeaways:

• There is substantial overlap across parties on the need to improve everyday connectivity, with SNP, Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats all committing to major road maintenance funds, ferry reform or replacement, and upgrades to rail links, signalling shared ground on addressing long standing reliability and infrastructure failures across Scotland’s transport network.
• Most parties emphasise strengthening public transport through better integration, governance or service quality, from SNP integrated ticketing and publicly owned rail to Labour public control of buses, Liberal Democrat commuter focused ScotRail improvements and Greens’ expanded rail network, indicating shared recognition that Scotland’s fragmented system needs more coherent planning.
• Divergence is seen in the role of cars and climate policy. SNP, Liberal Democrats and Greens prioritise low carbon travel, electrification and public transport expansion, while Reform UK and the Conservatives centre their plans on road upgrades, reduced regulation and opposition to LEZs. This is an ideological split between decarbonisation led and car dominant transport strategies; we will therefore see legislative work fall along party lines as it relates to low-carbon transport policy.

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First published: 21 May 2026