General Election Analysis: SNP Manifesto

SASW's Communications & Public Affairs Officer, George Hannah takes a look through the SNP Manifesto and what they're putting forward to voters in Scotland.

SNP Manifesto

The SNP recently launched their manifesto for the 2024 General Election. The SNP manifesto is dominated by independence, further devolution and rejoining the EU. These three intentions drive almost all the manifesto pledges. The first page of the manifesto is dedicated to the words “VOTE SNP FOR SCOTLAND TO BECOME AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY.” Independence is the main policy outlined on page 1.

In the foreword party leader John Swinney says, that only the SNP can protect Scotland’s interests including the NHS, and that independence is the only way to guarantee this can be achieved. The manifesto makes the case that this is a left-leaning, moderate and progressive set of policies.

Social Care is only mentioned twice in the document: once in referring to staffing issues caused by Brexit, and once in support of veterans. They pledge to rejoin the EU and to ensure that war veterans disablement pensions are exempt from social care income assessments.

Disappointingly, ‘social work’ is not mentioned in the 32-page document. However, as social work is devolved in Scotland and the SNP campaign solely on issues affecting Scotland, we would only expect to see social work policies that are UK-wide included in this manifesto, and there are some worthy and positive pledges. For example, scrapping the two-child benefit cap and rape clause, which has long been a BASW policy. We know the difference that would make for families in Scotland and across the UK. This coupled with ending punitive reductions in Universal Credit for young parents would genuinely improve lives if implemented. Additionally, the stance taken on immigration and asylum aligns positively with BASW policy and we welcome the clear vow to support a change in this policy by the next UK Government.

Some of the standout pledges the SNP have made that could benefit the social work profession and those we support in Scotland are to:

Devolve powers to create a bespoke migration system for Scotland
Call for the reversal of recent moves by the Tories to stop care workers from overseas bringing their families with them to work in the UK.
Introduce a rural visa pilot scheme in Scotland. And a call for Scotland to have full powers over immigration, including the devolution of overseas workers’ employment visas.
Scrap the two-child benefit cap and associated rape clause.
Take a public health approach to tackle the drug deaths crisis, devolving powers to the Scottish Parliament.
Protect people, particularly children, by ensuring the Online Safety Act comes into force on time.
Scrap Voter ID.
Strengthen children’s rights by demanding the UK Government follows Scotland’s approach and incorporates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into law.
Stand up for asylum seekers by scrapping the Rwanda scheme and opposing no recourse to public funds.

The framing of these issues around the constitution and across parliaments and the EU is, as always, often nuanced. It is not clear whether independence would enable or indeed be the only enabler to some of the policies outlined. This is likely to be a matter of continued national debate and may in large part be a crucial factor in how people choose to vote. It is worth noting that the SNP only stand in Scotland, so will likely be seeking to influence the UK Government as an opposition party. However, it also is possible they could enter into an agreement with another party if there is no overall majority.

The SNP will likely aim to be the biggest Party in Scotland to claim a mandate to ‘speak for Scotland’.