By Richard Wood
The Scottish Liberal Democrats are the last of Scotland’s six main parties to publish their manifesto ahead of elections on Thursday 7 May.
Their plans for Scotland were announced on Friday 17 April, one day after the SNP published their own document.
Overall, the Scottish Lib Dems have some promising policies in their manifesto on the issues of democratic and electoral reform.
Changing the Additional Member System
The Scottish Liberal Democrats are the only one of the six main parties to have explicitly committed to replacing Holyrood’s Additional Member System with a fairer alternative, in this case the Single Transferable Vote.
Scotland is on track for its least representative election ever, yet other parties have failed to grasp the seriousness of this. If designed well, STV would improve proportionality and, crucially, strengthen voter power over individual candidates up for election.
READ MORE: Will the Scottish Parliament change its voting system?
Introducing an Accountability Act
An eye-catching proposal is Alex Cole-Hamilton’s plan for an Accountability Act, which would improve ministerial accountability and introduce a recall rule for MSPs.
READ MORE: SNP manifesto is limited on democratic reform ahead of 2026 election
Protect devolution
The Scottish Lib Dems have also pledged to protect drovlution by removing the ability of the UK Parliament to unilaterally change the powers of devolved parliaments.
There are also proposals to reform Quangos, implement a federal, written constitution, and devolve power to local communities.
The full Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto is available to download here.
READ MORE: Manifesto 2026: How would Scottish Labour and Anas Sarwar reform democracy?
What do you think of the Lib Dems manifesto? How does it compare to the other five, or any proposals put forward by minor parties?
Upgrade Holyrood 