Analysis: Scottish Labour Manifesto 2026

This briefing was published on 13.03/26 for PoliMonitor Scotland clients.

Today (Monday 13th April), Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar unveiled his party’s manifesto for the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. Titled “Scotland Needs Change”, Sarwar presented the plan as a way to “fix the mess” that has been left by an SNP that is “tired, full of excuses, and out of ideas”. 

Announcing the manifesto at a press conference in Edinburgh this morning, Sarwar delivered a 20-minute speech focused on clear-cut policy announcements rather than ideological grandstanding. It reflected a message Sarwar has promoted for much of the campaign: 7th May is about holding First Minister John Swinney and the SNP to account for their record in Government, rather than a referendum on the success of the Labour Government in Westminster. 

Asserting that “The people who created the mess cannot be the ones to fix it,”  Sarwar suggested that Swinney had failed to grasp the challenges Scotland faced. He noted Sunday night’s leaders debate, in which he pressed Swinney on the number of people who have been on NHS waiting lists for more than two years, and presented himself as a First Minister who would be willing to get into the weeds of government to provide for Scotland. 

Below is a full rundown of the announcements in Scottish Labour’s manifesto, covering proposals across health, the cost of living, energy, and education among others. 

Health and social care

The NHS is clearly the battleground on which Scottish Labour are looking to appeal to the Scottish electorate, with Sarwar issuing a range of announcements in his speech today aimed at fixing the health service. Perhaps looking to capitalise on his confrontation with Swinney over the issue during Sunday’s debate, the NHS took centre stage in Sarwar’s speech despite coming after cost of living commitments in the manifesto itself. 

Chief among his announcements was a pledge to cut waiting times, driven by measures such as allowing patients willing to travel to be offered appointments elsewhere to receive treatment, reworked health board incentives that encourage money to “follow the patient”, and even using capacity from the private sector should it be necessary. The number of NHS territorial boards would also be reduced from the current fourteen to three. The manifesto sets targets to reduce A&E and ambulance wait times to four hours and 45 minutes respectively. 

There is also a commitment for a new mental health emergency service, an end to the 8 am rush for appointments, a guarantee for a GP appointment within 48 hours, increased investment in AI scanners, better cancer screening services and accelerated implementation of the NHS app. In the care sector, delayed discharge would be tackled by 300 step-down beds, while social care workers would receive a minimum of £15 an hour. 

Announcing the measures, Sarwar’s vision for the NHS was clear: a Scottish Labour Government would look to deliver an NHS that is “free, and available when you need it”. 

Cost of living

Many of the manifesto’s more headline-worthy announcements were framed within a suite of plans to decrease the cost of living.

The centrepiece of these measures is an increase in the value of tax-free childcare to £3,000 per child; in his speech, Sarwar also said this would rise to £6,000 for a child with a disability, however this figure isn’t present in the manifesto. Alongside this, parents would receive two weeks of funded holiday clubs during the summer along with an increase in the Scottish Child Payment to £40 per week for children under one. 

Alongside this, breakfast clubs would be introduced in all primary schools, with school meal debt write off funds protected and the threshold for free school meals at secondary schools being reviewed. 

Also in Scottish Labour’s aims on affordability is housing. 

The manifesto sees Scottish Labour pledge to raise the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax  (LBTT) relief threshold to £200,000, saving buyers up to £1,100 and ensuring around 40% of first-time buyers pay nothing at all. The costs of are proposed to be partly offset by increasing the LBTT rate paid by non-UK residents buying property. 

These measures coincide with a pledge to build 125,000 news homes over the next five years, including over 52,300 affordable homes and 20,000 mid-market rent homes, with a further 5,000 homes set aside for those saving for a mortgage deposit. Empty and second homes would be tackled by closing tax loopholes and giving councils powers to buy neglected and empty properties, as well as introducing compulsory sale and rental order powers.

David Henderson from BBC News noted the housing pledge will be “challenging” to meet. It will likely require a swift overhaul of planning laws and a strong buy-in from housing developers. With the potential for economic conditions to be upended by the Iran War, this could be difficult to see through. 

On the war in Iran, to tackle rising energy costs Scottish Labour would widen eligibility for the Warmer Homes Scotland energy efficiency scheme by dropping the age threshold to 70, and increase rural grant uplifts by £500. All 500,000 households eligible for the Warm Homes Discount would automatically receive £150 off their energy bills through improved automatic rollout, ending the current situation where many eligible households miss out. 

Transport costs would also be kept down, with rail fares prevented from returning to peak levels, while under-22s and older people would continue to benefit from free bus travel. A plan will be put in place to place local bus services under public control. 

Other announcements

In schools, mobile phones would be banned in classrooms. 2,000 education recovery teachers and 1,500 classroom assistants would be recruited, while digital skills and literacy would be embedded into the curriculum. Scottish National Standardised Assessments would be scrapped, being replaced with “standardised, sample-based testing” and international benchmarking. 

A new skills for Schools programme would be launched, ensuring schools are linked closely to local workplaces to demonstrate the range of career options to children. 9,000 new apprenticeships would be delivered to guarantee a place for qualified applications, with Scotland’s share of the Apprenticeship Levy ring fenced. A Digital Skills Passport, giving workers a clear record of their skill level. 

On energy, Sarwar promised in his speech to end the SNP’s “ideological block on clean nuclear energy”, with the party promising to pave the way for SMR development in Scotland. He outlined that Scottish Labour would support the transition plans for Grangemouth and Mossmorran, criticising the SNP’s failure to turn renewable energy into an opportunity for “domestic jobs and prosperity”. The Digital Skills Passport will be utilised to allow workers in the sector to seamlessly transition from roles in oil and gas to renewables. 

Scottish Labour would create a single industrial strategy developed in partnership with business, replacing the current patchwork of plans and frameworks. 

Meanwhile, the business rates system, deemed “unfair” in the manifesto, would be abolished and replaced with a new local business levy. 

The party has committed to no income tax rate rises for the full five years of the Parliament, with an ambition to lower taxes as economic growth is achieved. Economic agencies would be streamlined, with Scottish Enterprise refocused on growing Scottish businesses and a Scottish Board of Trade established as a single voice for business and trade unions.

To tackle crime, every neighbourhood would receive a named community and crime prevention officer. Sentencing guidelines for under-25s would be scrapped, while bail would be prevented for offenders with a history of violence against women. A Misogyny Reduction Unit would be established within the Violence Reduction Unit, and the Cashback for Communities Youth Work Fund would be restored with £1m of dedicated funding.

Finally, on the environment, Labour has committed to achieving net zero by 2045, with a national warm homes programme offering community-based advice on energy efficiency and new technologies. 

The deposit return scheme would be rolled out, clear nature restoration targets would be set under the Natural Environment Act, and 40GW of offshore wind would be developed by 2040. Scottish Water would be returned to public service values, with executive bonuses restricted and sewage overflow monitoring significantly increased.

The reaction 

Journalists in the room immediately zeroed in on the specifics of Scottish Labour’s plans; Sarwar was asked to provide specific examples of the taxes and quangos that he wants to reduce, with neither drawing specific answers. 

The manifestos costings also drew significant attention, with the Daily Mail’s Tom Gordon noting that the plans are based on budgets that don’t take into account the turmoil caused by the war in Iran. Sarwar remained firm, insisting that he didn’t expect the war to result in a significant economic downturn, but did assure that he would take emergency action should it be needed. 

Sarwar’s relationship with the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also loomed over the conference. Having publicly called for the PM to resign in the wake of the Peter Mandelson scandal, multiple journalists questioned Sarwar’s ability to work with the Westminster Government were he to come to power. 

His responses skirted around directly addressing his relationship with the Prime Minister, instead emphasising the inertia of the SNP Government in power and his desire to better utilise the Scottish Government’s economic powers. 

Perhaps the most notable answer from Sarwar came in response to a question about whether his new proposals would move the needle with Scottish voters. Sarwar took the criticism head on, insisting that the Scottish press had underestimated Labour for much of the last five years and the party had continued to exceed their expectations. “I look forward to proving you all wrong on 7th May”, he retorted. 

Proving critics wrong though will be a challenge as Scottish Labour continue to struggle to hold voters going into the election, now just 24 days away. Even with the party continuing to trade second place with Reform UK in the polls, all signs still suggest that the party will be well short of the votes required to form a Government. 

Given Sarwar’s strike on First Minister Swinney on the topic of the NHS during the debate on Sunday night, it was no surprise to see Sarwar hone in on this area for his speech today. His key mantra on a personal level was repeated both in that debate and this morning: “The SNP have had 20 years; give me five”. Fortunately, he won’t have to wait much longer to find out if voters are willing to give him the chance. 

Attention will now turn to Thursday, when the SNP will be the last major party to unveil their manifesto for the elections. PoliMonitor will also be publishing a full briefing covering its announcement. 

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