By Richard Wood
Scottish Labour were the last of the main five parties in Scotland to launch their manifesto ahead of the election on 6 May 2021.
Here’s what they have pledge to support in the next parliament.
Party overview
Anas Sarwar’s party unveiled his party’s policy priorities on Thursday 23 April and are hoping to take second place from the Scottish Conservatives on 6 May.
The party has lost seats at every single Scottish election since 1999 so reversing this trend would be a positive step for the party, which went from being Scotland’s dominant party in the 2007 Scottish General Election (and the 2010 UK election) to battling it out with the Conservatives for second place in 2016 and 2021.
The party is now on its tenth permanent leader since devolution but polls suggest Anas Sarwar is cutting through. A significant win for Scottish Labour would be to take second place from Douglas Ross’ Scottish Conservatives.
READ MORE: Scottish Labour MSP says he’s “sympathetic” to electoral reform at Holyrood
Manifesto pledges on Scottish democracy
The party’s main proposals on Scottish democracy in 2021 are to:
- Devolve further powers to Holyrood (borrowing and employment rights)
- Introduce a Clean Up Holyrood Commission
- Elect Holyrood committee conveners via the whole Scottish Parliament
- Give Holyrood committees more powers
- Further devolve powers to local government
- Introduce a “Right to Space” to ensure communities have places to meet and funding to build the capacity to participate as active citizens
Manifesto
The full Scottish Labour manifesto for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election can be accessed here.
READ MORE: A comparison of the five main parties’ 2021 manifestos
Scottish Labour and electoral reform manifesto commitments in 2016
Upgrade Holyrood 