Analysis: SNP manifesto 2026

The Scottish National Party (SNP) launched its 2026 Holyrood manifesto in Glasgow today (Thursday 16th April 2026).

The document sets out five headline ambitions: tackling the cost of living, improving the NHS, growing the economy, raising educational standards, and delivering an independence referendum by 2028.

Leader and current First Minister of Scotland John Swinney framed the launch as a choice between experienced, stable government and the uncertainty of change. His pitch is personal as much as political: a leader who keeps promises, knows how government works, and is, in his own words, "only just getting started."

The political backdrop matters. 

The SNP is seeking a fifth consecutive term, a record in Scottish devolved politics. Polls consistently show the party with a double-digit lead, and an outright majority is within reach. Swinney has set his sights on exactly that: a majority is his stated route to forcing Westminster to grant a second independence referendum, on the basis of the 2011 precedent. His rivals will argue that if the policies announced today are the answers to Scotland's problems, he has had 19 years to try them.

No party has yet ruled out post-election arrangements with others. Swinney has not closed the door on another agreement with the Scottish Greens, though the two parties' economic positions have diverged significantly since their last cooperation deal.

The cost of living argument

The cost of living is the manifesto's organising theme, and Swinney has chosen his most prominent commitment carefully. 

An SNP government would establish statutory price ceilings on a basket of 20 to 50 essential food items at large supermarkets, covering staples such as bread, milk and eggs. The mechanism is explicitly modelled on Scotland's minimum unit pricing for alcohol: supermarkets would be required to offer one example line of each covered product at or below the capped price. Other varieties could still be sold at market rates. A sunset clause would be built into the legislation.

The constitutional question is not straightforward. Swinney intends to use Holyrood's public health powers to implement the policy, but the UK Internal Market Act is designed to maintain a level playing field for businesses across the UK. 

Scottish ministers would likely need an exemption from internal market rules. 

The SNP has called on the UK Government not to block the measure, though it cannot compel Westminster to agree. Minimum unit pricing for alcohol, the stated precedent, took six years to come into force due to legal challenges. The manifesto does not resolve how quickly a food price cap could realistically operate.

Reaction was swift. Abdul Majid, former president of the Scottish Grocers Federation, described the proposal as a "PR gimmick" offering people who are struggling "false hope."

A £2 cap on all single bus journeys across Scotland is also promised, building on a pilot already underway in the Highlands, Orkney and Shetland, with legislation committed by the end of the parliament. Mark Ruskell of the Scottish Greens welcomed the move but noted his party had proposed it previously and been rebuffed by the SNP. The Greens want to go further, to free bus travel and full public ownership.

Childcare sits across cost of living and economic policy. 

The SNP is promising to extend entitlement to every child from nine months old to the end of primary school, 52 weeks a year, with families benefiting from between £1,400 and over £11,000 depending on need. Additional commitments include a £10,000 deposit contribution for first-time buyers through an annual First Homes Fund with a £100 million budget, a new right of first refusal for private tenants if their landlord sells, and winter heating payments for pensioners and families with disabled children.

The health service

The NHS is the manifesto's second major pillar, and Swinney has positioned himself squarely as its defender. 

The SNP is promising to pass on every penny of NHS resource consequentials from the Treasury to health and care services, invest at least £200 million annually in elective capacity, and honour a £531 million deal with GPs over three years. Capital investment of at least £10 billion over ten years is promised for buildings and equipment.

The flagship delivery commitment is an expanded network of GP walk-in clinics, open seven days a week without an appointment. Sixteen sites are already open under a £36 million pilot. The manifesto commits to at least 14 further sites, alongside a new National Booking System through a MyCare.scot app. The SNP is promising no patient will wait longer than 26 weeks for treatment by the end of the parliament, backed by dedicated funding up £90 million on current levels. 

BBC Verify has already noted that the party's claim of over one million additional GP and nurse engagements from the clinic rollout requires context and raises questions about the pace of delivery.

A commitment to lower the bowel cancer screening age from 50 to 45 features as an early parliamentary priority, driven in part by Gillian Martin, the Energy Secretary, following the death of her sister from late-diagnosed bowel cancer. The manifesto commits to submitting a proposal to the UK National Screening Committee and, if rejected, to establishing a pilot independently.

Other health commitments include 24/7 thrombectomy services with £25 million additional investment, expansion of palliative care with NHS pay parity for hospice staff, rollout of Martha's Rule across Scotland, mental health triage cars in every region, and an NHS Job Guarantee for medicine, dentistry and nursing graduates.

Economy and public finances

The economic positioning is a deliberate break from the recent past. 

Swinney described this manifesto as the most pro-growth in SNP history, a contrast drawn explicitly against the Sturgeon-era framing of collective wellbeing over GDP. The language around business is warmer, the frustration with planning delays and bureaucracy more openly acknowledged.

The centrepiece is a new Major Projects Office to accelerate nationally significant investments, and a High Growth Unit to provide wraparound support to businesses with potential to scale to unicorn level. A National Council for Economic Growth would be established within the first 100 days. The Small Business Bonus, supporting more than 100,000 businesses, is retained.

On tax, the SNP is promising stability: no increase in income tax bands or rates over the parliament, a commitment that the majority of Scottish taxpayers will continue to pay less than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK, and an aim to simplify the system by the end of the term. A mansion tax adding two new council tax bands for properties valued above £1 million and £2 million will be introduced from 2028. A Private Jet Tax is also pledged.

150,000 apprenticeships over the parliament are promised, including over 8,000 graduate apprenticeships backed by a new Apprenticeship Accelerator Grant. Fundamental reform of local taxation is deferred to cross-party consensus, a process that has stalled before and shows little sign of becoming easier now.

Opposition parties have noted that an analysis of the SNP's 2021 manifesto found only 35 of 100 flagship pledges were kept in full. 

Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour's leader, has described the manifesto as another round of half-baked ideas the SNP will ditch at the first opportunity. 

Education

The SNP is promising to legislate for a national mobile phone ban in all classrooms. This reverses the party's own position from August 2024, when its review concluded a ban was not appropriate and Jenny Gilruth said she would not dictate to headteachers. Most other main parties had already moved to support legislation. The manifesto now commits to putting that guidance on a statutory footing.

A Teacher Jobs Guarantee for newly qualified teachers for a minimum of three years is promised, alongside protecting the pupil-teacher ratio as the best in the UK, a new Welcome to School Bag for every Primary 1 pupil, and the extension of free school meals to all primary school pupils. School clothing grants will be uprated in line with inflation.

Independence

Swinney is explicit: an SNP majority at this election is, based on the 2011 precedent, a mandate for the transfer of powers to enable a referendum. He has described a vote by 2028 as "very realistic." The manifesto frames independence as the route to EU membership, lower energy bills and full economic self-determination. A vote for the SNP on the regional list as well as the constituency ballot is the stated mechanism for securing a majority.

Following the campaign

The Scottish Parliament election takes place on Thursday 7th May 2026. Results coverage begins on Friday 8th May.

PoliMonitor will be monitoring the campaign and all major party policy developments in the weeks ahead. 

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