Scottish election 2021: Scottish Liberal Democrat policies explained

Willie RenniePA Media

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have launched their 2021 election manifesto. The full document runs to 52 pages. So, what is the party promising? BBC Scotland's correspondents have been analysing the pledges.

1. Direct 15% of health spending to mental health

It's no surprise that mental health support features highly in this Scottish Liberal Democrats manifesto. It has been a long-standing campaign issue.

Half of all mental health conditions start before the age of 14 and the latest figures for Scotland show more than 1,500 children and young people were waiting more than a year to access specialist support.

The Scottish Lib Dems say they will direct 15% of health spending to mental health. It will allow them to reform child and adolescent mental health services so that no-one has to wait more than a year.

They say they will train more mental health specialists to work in schools, community centres and GP practices and they will double training places for psychiatrists and councillors.

These are ambitious plans but the challenge will be how quickly they can be achieved. The Royal College of Psychiatry say we already face a "mental health emergency" exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.

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2. A job for every qualified teacher

All of the larger parties have a policy of hiring more teachers. The Scottish Liberal Democrats don't put a number on it, instead promising a job to everyone with the right qualifications.

It would use the larger workforce to cut class sizes and increase one-to-one help for pupils in a bid to help schools "bounce back" from disruption caused by the pandemic.

The party says this is the best way to make the most out of the existing school day rather than extending hours for "catch up".

In Finland children don't start school until the age of seven and that's a model the Scottish Liberal Democrats would like to see replicated in Scotland.

The party wants all five and six-year-olds to attend an education setting, but for this to be play-based and not focussed on formal learning.

3. Double the Scottish Child Payment

Before Covid, a pilot scheme to rapidly rehouse homeless people into stable long-term accommodation had been lagging behind its target. During the pandemic, the number of households living in temporary accommodation rose by 24% to more than 14,000, while the use of B&Bs to house rough sleepers doubled.

To tackle homelessness, the Scottish Lib Dems say they will build 60,000 affordable homes, as well as establish a Help to Renovate loan scheme that would transform derelict homes.

Meanwhile, their manifesto is the third to pledge to double the new Child Payment to £20 per week to address rising child poverty, and they will investigate the feasibility of a Universal Basic Income.

The Lib Dems also propose a new benefit to tackle fuel poverty and are campaigning for a £1,000 uplift to Westminster-controlled Carers' Allowance.

4. All energy to come from renewables

The manifesto details a long list of environmental measures, from creating a million homes with emission-free heating to skills development in renewables for oil workers.

To add to the urgency, the Lib Dems will declare a "nature emergency" alongside the one on climate, with legislation setting targets for nature recovery and the clean-up of air, soils, seas and rivers.

But a big emphasis will also be on energy, with a target for 100% of Scotland's needs coming from renewables by 2030. That won't be easy to achieve with our demand for electricity growing significantly by then to power our cars.

They haven't left much wriggle room either, with a further plea that electricity should be "100% renewable for 100% of the time". That would mean more batteries or other ways to store it, or a vast overcapacity in each of the wind, solar, wave and tidal fields to take up the slack on those dark, still days.

Scotland does have vast natural resources in each of these fields and that overcapacity would make us a net exporter of energy to the rest of the UK and beyond.

5. Push for a federal, not independent, Scotland

There is a somewhat crowded field for pro-Union parties, with the Conservatives and Labour traditionally sweeping up many voters who are opposed to independence. The Lib Dems have two niches that make their constitutional positioning slightly different.

Firstly, they seek to compare independence to Brexit wherever possible. The manifesto says Scotland should not "repeat the mistakes of Brexit with independence".

This is an effort to home in on what should in theory be the largest group of voters in Scotland - the crossover between the majority who voted No to independence in 2014, and who wanted to Remain in the EU in 2016.

It also plays on the party's pro-European credentials, which saw it finish third - ahead of the Tories and Labour - in the European Parliament elections in 2019.

The second is their proposed solution to the constitutional issue: federalism. The Lib Dems have been banging this drum for years without much success, but hope that the increasingly polarised nature of the debate may spark some interest in a "third way" forward.

6. Job or training guaranteed for under-24s

There are two threads that Lib Dems have running through their manifesto: recovery and greenery.

Both shape the party's plans for the economy, and are accompanied by emphases on being local, diverse and small-scale. The more detailed attention is paid to issues affecting rural Scotland.

Although big business is a big employer, a rare reference to it is for scaling up renewable energy manufacturing so as to win contracts for Scottish workers.

Otherwise, the Lib Dems want to see company creation given the same government emphasis as company growth.

There are skills policies - to provide a guarantee of a job or training for those aged up to 24, and a training bond of up to £5,000 to help people re-skill when they are losing jobs.

The party treads carefully around the challenge of moving away from the oil and gas industry.

7. New railways and local buses

On transport, the Lib Dems share a strong green streak with other parties, pushing the public sector into lower emissions while limiting aviation "outside of lifeline routes or those with no reasonable alternatives".

They want new rail lines opened and buses run locally.

The call for smart, through-ticketing on public transport is one that was being made when the transport minister was a Lib Dem. Despite repeated promises, it's proved resistant to change.

8. Support for policing

When the single police force was set up, the Lib Dems were among the biggest critics of the move.

Eight years on, the party's justice policies include plans to address the financial challenges facing Police Scotland - exacerbated, the Lib Dems say, by the 2013 merger.

Support for policing draws together other key themes, including backing for key workers and mental health provision.

There's a pledge to recruit specialist mental health staff to help relieve officers of some of their workload, and promises to invest in new IT equipment.

The Lib Dems have consistently raised issues around Fatal Accident Inquiries, arguing many cases take years, even as much as a decade to be completed.

Changes were made after a review was published at the start of the last parliament, but the party is pushing for more reform, with an independent review that will address timescales and public confidence in the process.

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