Scottish Lib Dem manifesto: Key policies analysed

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have launched their 2024 election manifesto, in which leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has pledged that any Lib Dem candidates elected will be “strong local champions”.

The document sets out the party’s plans if it was to form a government.

Here are some of their key policies, analysed by BBC Scotland correspondents.

The Lib Dems have pledged fast access to a GP and an NHS dentist – these are the sort of pledges that go down well with voters.

In Scotland these commitments are up to the Holyrood government to make, but in this election we are being asked to vote for MPs who will serve at Westminster.

The Lib Dems may just want to shine a light on areas they feel the SNP – who are in power at Holyrood – are failing.

Even if we overlook this issue, it’s not clear how the Lib Dems are going to achieve their aims, without any detail on how many new GPs or dentists they want to recruit in Scotland.

The number of patients registered with a GP has been going up, while the number of fully-qualified, full-time GPs has decreased slightly.

The Lib Dems say they will take the pressure off by employing a broader range of health specialists, like mental health nurses or physiotherapists in practices. But doctors say they often struggle to fill vacancies for these positions.

While more dentists are choosing the private sector over the NHS, Scotland does fare slightly better than other parts of the UK when it comes to access.

But the Lib Dems say they will put pressure on the SNP government to bring dentists back into the NHS and to cut red tape that stops overseas dentists working in Scotland.

The reality is, recruitment and retention is a huge issue for the health service at all levels – in Scotland and the whole of the UK.

There’s a reminder from the Scottish Lib Dems of how much Westminster employment law applies here, with extensive plans to change it.

Some Lib Dem policies go further than Labour’s, which is frustrating to Labour’s trade union affiliates.

These two manifestos reflect the difference between a party cautiously planning on being in power, and a party which sees itself pushing and influencing ministers from the opposite side of the Commons.

The more distinctive policies include several measures to reduce the precarious nature of “gig”, or self-employed contractor, work. Lib Dems would like to enact a 20% premium on minimum hourly pay rates for workers on zero-hour contracts, with a right to ask for a contract after 12 months.

They argue for fairer tax and allowances between employed and self-employed people, and pensions and sick pay for such “dependent contractors”.

They argue also for a radical reworking of company law, requiring firms to redirect their “purpose” to society and the environment, as well as to shareholders. That could have far-reaching implications.

Poor productivity, one of the key challenges for the UK economy, would be addressed with improved incentives to invest in training, recognising also that the next government will have to tackle regulation of artificial intelligence.

Plus, there’s the idea of “reviewing the UK excise duty structure to better support whisky exports”. That may prove difficult, as UK excise does not apply to exports.

In the past, Lib Dems have tended towards emphasis on local economies and small businesses, linking tax rises to priorities such as the health service.

Not so much this time. The economic emphasis has shifted to larger-scale industrial strategy – supporting strategic sectors to grow, driven by new technology and supported by government investment banks. The manifesto highlights the case for improved trade and international co-operation.

The more local part is where central government is intended to work with partners at regional level, and devolved government including the one at Holyrood. Big banks are to be asked to create some system of more local banking – details to follow?

Lib Dems have avoided much of the Conservative-Labour flak over tax, as few, if any, expect them to be applying these policies from the Treasury. But if headroom allows, they would prioritise a rise in the starting threshold for tax, now at £12,570 throughout the UK.

On tax rises, they want to clobber big bank profits, social media and other tech giants, capital gains tax loopholes used by the wealthy and share buy-backs used by company directors who want to push up their share prices.

These are politically easy targets and claimed to bring in improbable amounts in revenue. But alongside Lib Dem spending pledges, including expensive ones on welfare and social care, they are not on a scale to solve the big dilemmas for the next government on already high taxation, public service shortcomings, and demographic challenges ahead.

At every opportunity during this campaign, the Liberal Democrats have been bringing up the “national scandal” of sewage entering Scotland’s rivers and seas.

But the manifesto contains perhaps the first acknowledgement that it’s not the same scandal which has been uncovered in England where thousands of cases have been identified of sewage overflowing into rivers on dry days when the sewers should be able to cope.

Experts assure me that there are big differences north and south of the border.

For a start, our sewers are not under the same pressure from rapid population expansion.

But Scotland has also been a decade ahead in requiring new developments to separate household waste water from the rainwater which enters the drains on our streets.

Nevertheless, the Lib Dems pledge to call for a Clean Water Act in Scotland to update the sewer network and monitor every outflow.

And they want a blue flag system to identify the cleanliness of each of our rivers.

One of the most striking things about this manifesto is that it barely bothers to mention Scottish independence.

Ten years on from the referendum, the Liberal Democrats believe the conversation has moved on so much that there’s no need to make more than a passing reference to their opposition to a second vote on whether Scotland should be in or out of the UK.

Instead, they talk a bit about new ways of sharing power across the UK. For example, they suggest the devolved governments should be more involved in shaping immigration policy on work and student visas.

There is no mention of Brexit either. But the Lib Dems do talk about improving relations with European countries and there’s a nod to the party’s long-term ambition to return the UK to EU membership.

Much of this manifesto is focussed on devolved policy like health and social care but they seek to make their Westminster policy agenda more relevant by talking about giving Holyrood extra funding or encouragement to follow their lead.

The Lib Dems would of course need to win a share of power at Westminster to implement their plans and on current polling trends that looks unlikely.

The Lib Dems outlined measures to give parents more flexibility in the months after babies are born to help them combine work and family life.

Two policies suggested by the party are six weeks of leave for each parent, paid at 90% of earnings, and 46 weeks of parental leave to share – paid at double the statutory rate.

These policies are described as an “ambition”, which comes with the caveat “when the public finances allow” and “in the longer term”.

That may well mean they are unlikely to ever happen.

Other policies – which don’t have the same caveats attached – include making parental leave a day-one right for workers, doubling statutory leave pay, increasing paternity pay to 90% of earnings (with a cap for high earners), and a “toddler top-up” enhanced rate of child benefit for parents of one-year-olds.

Culture can so easily slip down the agenda when it comes to manifesto launches, but the Lib Dems devote a section to culture, media and sport and declare it “a national treasure”.

There’s also an acknowledgement that the sector has been badly affected by the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

Aside from warm words, the Lib Dems promise to protect the BBC, BBC Alba, the Welsh language broadcaster S4C and Channel 4 as independent, publicly-owned, public service broadcasters.

They say they will negotiate short-term travel arrangements for UK artists to perform in the EU, and European artists to perform in the UK.

They also hope to boost participation in grass roots sports by investing in leisure centres, swimming pools and community facilities. That could prove challenging, with many cash-strapped councils having had to cut back their services.