Scottish election 2021: Scottish Greens manifesto at-a-glance

Co-leader Patrick Harvie at the Scottish Greens manifesto launch event

The Scottish Greens have unveiled their vision for Scotland ahead of the 6 May Holyrood election.

Below are the main policies from the party's manifesto. The full document can be found here.

Top priorities

• A fair and green recovery from the pandemic

• Tackle the climate emergency with direct investment in transport, warm homes and renewable energy

• Re-join the European Union as an independent country

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Covid-19

• Introduce a universal isolation grant to support everyone asked to isolate due to an infectious disease like Covid-19

• Launch a public inquiry into the Scottish government's response to the pandemic

• Develop "robust" PPE procurement processes and make sure there is "equitable access" to treatment and rehabilitation for people with long Covid

• Make an extra year of SAAS funding available for students who need it, for example those who need to repeat a year because of the pandemic

• Establish a Good Business Council to advise the Scottish government on the delivery of a green economic recovery

• Use a one-off windfall tax on the profits made by larger companies as a result of the pandemic to "rebalance" the economy and support recovery

Independence

• Campaign and vote for a referendum within the next Parliamentary term

• In the event of Scottish independence, introduce taxes on the wealthiest members of society, luxury goods and carbon emissions from corporations

Economy

• In manufacturing, set conditions for Scottish content in supply chains where possible and invest in deployment of innovative renewables

• For businesses with a turnover of £5m or more, make worker or union representation mandatory on company boards and require them to publish an environmental, social and corporate report alongside their annual financial reports

• Support the partial replacement of corporation tax at the UK level with a carbon tax that increases over time in line with our climate targets

• Introduce a 1% annual "millionaire's tax" on wealth and assets above £1m - including property, land, pensions and other assets

• Scrap council tax and replace it with a residential property tax related to property value

• Replace air passenger duty with a frequent flyer levy, where passengers pay increasing sums for flights after their first return in 12 months - but excluding domestic flights in the Highlands and islands

Education

• Teach "responsible citizenship" across the curriculum with topics including climate education, the "reality" of the British empire and slavery, rights at work, consent-based sex education, LGBT+ inclusivity and mental health

• Year-round free school meals for all pupils including breakfast

• Recruit 5,500 additional permanent teachers and 2,500 more additional needs teachers

• Reduce class sizes to a maximum of 20 pupils

• End P1-S3 Scottish National Standardised Assessments and end homework in primary schools

• Raise the school starting age to seven and introduce a kindergarten stage for three to six year olds

• In secondary schools, expand continuous assessment of coursework and reduce the role of exams

• Guarantee every primary and secondary pupil at least one one-week residential outdoor experience

• Increase support for apprenticeships and ensure they pay at least the living wage

NHS and care

• Commit at least 11% of health spending to general practice by the end of the next Parliament

• Introduce "safe and compassionate" laws that allow terminally ill adults the right to an assisted death

• Give 10% of frontline health spend to mental health and put £161m into Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services by 2026

• End competitive tendering in the care system

• Provide free access to sport and physical activity for children and young people

• Remove the rule that two doctors must approve abortions and retain the provision for abortions at home introduced during the pandemic

EU relations

• Campaign with the support of the European Green Party to re-join the EU as an independent nation

• Re-join the EU's Erasmus student exchange programme

Environment

• Phase out single-use and non-essential plastics by 2025

• Source at least 70% of the onshore wind supply chain domestically

• Invest in marine renewables and give financial support for innovation and to support early stage tidal turbines

• Withdraw support for hydrogen produced from fossil fuels and instead support the development of green hydrogen

• Call on the UK government to stop issuing new licenses for oil and gas exploration and development and end subsidies and tax breaks for the industry

• Ban the importation of shale and fracked gas for processing in Scotland, and ensure the Scottish government can deliver the transition to net-zero

• Deliver a just transition for Mossmorran and Grangemouth, and develop an international research hub for zero-carbon biochemicals processing at Grangemouth

• Introduce Low Emission Zones with immediate effect in all areas that breach air quality limits

Work and benefits

• Require firms to recognise trade unions, ban "precarious" contracts, and pay at least the real living wage by using public procurement

• For public sector jobs like social care and childcare, facilitate the creation of national collective bargaining structures

• Support the transition to a four-day week with no loss of pay

• Accelerate the roll-out of the new Scottish Child Payment and double it to £20 per week per child

• Increase grants for new born children in low income families and school clothing grants by £100

• Give funds to local authorities so they can introduce grants to mitigate the effects of the benefit cap

• Request the UK government end restrictions on welfare benefits to the first two children (the "two child limit") with the Scottish government funding the costs

• Introduce a Universal Basic Income pilot by negotiating the necessary powers from Westminster - and if refused, fund smaller-scale, more limited pilots that do not require powers

Housing

• £500m of public investment to ensure home/buildings goals are met - this includes a home upgrade programme ensuring that all homes reach a minimum Energy Performance Standard C or above by 2030

• Use legislation to deliver a target of zero-carbon heating for homes by 2040

• Introduce green heat grants for households to replace fossil fuel boilers with green alternatives, principally heat pumps, with the aim of installing 500,000 by 2030

• Ban new fossil fuel boilers from 2025 for buildings off the gas grid, and 2028 for all buildings

• Establish a regulator for the private rented sector and ban winter evictions

• Support the building of 120,000 homes by 2032 - 70% of which should be for social rent - and invest in innovative public housing for older people. Private mass housebuilders will be required to provide a proportion of affordable housing

• End homelessness

Transport

• Bring down the cost of rail travel and invest in rail network infrastructure

• Cease funding road building projects that add capacity to the network and redirect funds toward safety improvements, maintenance of existing existing infrastructure, public transport, cycling and walking

• Invest in cycling, walking and 15 minute neighbourhoods so everyone in towns and cities to be able to get what they need within a 15-minute walk

• Introduce workplace parking levies, congestion and parking charges, and a 20mph default speed limit in built-up areas

• Bring the rail network, bus companies and ferry routes into public ownership

• Ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2026

Crime

• Abolish the not proven verdict

• Support full integration of British Transport Police with Police Scotland

• Provide legal aid to all domestic abuse victims including in civil cases

• Decriminalise sex work, increase funding for Scottish Women's Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland and make funding available to the human trafficking awareness group TARA

• Deliver a Wildlife Crime Investigation Unit

• Reform prisons, including more funding for alternatives to custody and special provisions for offenders who are mentally ill and for women who are pregnant or have young children

• BASICS: A really simple guide to the election

• POLICIES: Who should I vote for?

• CANDIDATES: Who can I vote for in my area?

• PODLITICAL: Updates from the campaign

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