Majority would trigger independence talks

John Swinney has said the Scottish government will be “empowered” to begin negotiations for a second independence referendum if the SNP wins a majority of Scottish seats at the general election.

Launching the SNP’s manifesto on Wednesday, the party leader said the election gave voters a chance to “intensify the pressure” to secure Scottish independence.

Mr Swinney also introduced plans for a legal guarantee to keep the NHS in public hands and an extra £1.6bn for the NHS each year to Scotland.

The manifesto also called for the two-child benefit cap and the House of Lords to be scrapped.

Speaking at the manifesto launch in Edinburgh, Mr Swinney – who is also Scotland’s first minister, said: “If the SNP wins a majority of seats in this election in Scotland, the Scottish government will embark on negotiations with the UK government to run the democratic wishes of people in Scotland into a reality.

“The best way to secure independence is through a democratic referendum, the obstacle to that is the intransigence of the United Kingdom government.

“So what this election gives people the chance to do is to intensify the pressure to secure Scottish independence and to bring that about by voting SNP in order for us to achieve a majority of Westminster seats at this election.”

An independent Scotland would re-join the EU, Mr Swinney said, adding that independence would help build a “fair and prosperous economy”, but “success is not guaranteed”.

The party manifesto sets out four demands to protect the NHS in Scotland – which is devolved, with the Scottish government having responsibility for it rather than Westminster.

The SNP said it would urge the UK government to invest at least another £6bn in the NHS to match Scotland’s most recent pay deals for healthcare staff.

The manifesto said that the extra investment would deliver about £600m for the Scottish government through the Barnett formula, which he said would then be spent on NHS staff numbers, pay and conditions.

The SNP also wants the UK government to boost NHS spending by a minimum of £10bn extra each year to “address rampant inflationary pressures and improve performance”.

Mr Swinney said taken together, these two policies would achieve a total additional investment of £1.6bn for the health service in Scotland.

He said SNP MPs would introduce a bill in Westminster aimed at creating a legal guarantee to keep the NHS operating as a “publicly-owned, publicly-operated” service.

“The SNP message on the health service is clear, it is simple and it will never change. The NHS is not for sale,” he said.

NHS Scotland spent £116m on external providers (0.7% of what it calls the frontline health budget) in 2022/23, compared to a bill of £11.5bn for the UK Department of Health (6.5%), according to the Scottish government.

But currently Scotland has a much higher proportion of patients facing very long waits for planned NHS treatment than England – with around 8,000 waits over two years for hospital procedures or specialist appointments.

Healthcare is a devolved issue in Scotland, meaning the Scottish government runs its own NHS.

However, the overall budget is affected by spending by the UK government and the SNP has previously blamed this for limitations in the Scottish NHS.

The party also wants a reversal on a Conservative policy which stops care workers from overseas bringing their families with them to work in the UK.

Speaking at the manifesto launch in Edinburgh, Mr Swinney also attempted to position the SNP as the only party committed to ending spending cuts.

The SNP wants taxation, including National Insurance rates and windfall taxes, to be made a devolved power.

Income tax rates and bands, stamp duty and air passenger duty are already controlled by the Scottish government.

The party said it would crack down on tax avoidance and the manifesto states that “companies making excess profits shoulder the burden that families face”.

The first minister reaffirmed his party’s pledge to eradicate child poverty in Scotland, an issue he said is being made “much much worse” by the two-child benefit cap.

The two-child cap, which was introduced by the UK government in 2017, restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has previously said that he would ideally want to scrap the cap, but that “we haven’t got the resources to do it at the moment”.

Mr Swinney said: “The future of the two-child cap is a simple test, are you in government to help children out of poverty or are you so morally lost that you push children into poverty?”

The SNP is also calling for the scrapping of the Trident nuclear weapons system, with the money instead being invested in conventional defence systems and public services.

The manifesto also calls for the UK government to match a £500m scheme set up by the Scottish government helping the transition away from oil and gas industries in the north of Scotland.

Other policies included in the SNP manifesto include:

• Scrapping zero hours contracts, banning ‘fire and rehire’ practices and repealing the Minimum Service Bill.
• Increasing maternity pay by bringing the UK into line with other European countries and promoting shared parental leave.
• Maintaining the triple lock pension and move to deliver a wellbeing pension, as well as opposing any further increases in the state pension age.
• Demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and calling on the UK government to recognise an independent Palestinian state.