Green MSPs will push for fair pay, decent jobs, workers’ rights and opportunities for cooperative enterprise.
We will support Scotland’s energy industries to begin a large-scale transition into renewable energy generation, design and research, creating over 200,000 jobs in sustainable industries.
We call for better support to help people find work and an end to the sanctions that punish those who can’t find a job.
Society and care
Introduce a Living Wage Plus. We want to raise the basic rate of pay for all social care staff.
Increase the Carer’s Allowance to recognise the value of unpaid care.
We will push to improve maternity and paternity benefits and provide high-quality childcare.
Housing
We will “build more homes, to create new jobs and help provide good homes for all.”
We will “make renting fair. We need many more social rented homes, fairer rents and better quality management in the private rented sector.”
End fuel poverty. Nobody should be unable to heat their home; Green MSPs will continue to make ending fuel poverty a national priority.
Communities
Modernise Scotland’s land laws to make them fit for the 21st century. Land should be owned and used in the public interest and for the common good. We will push for new laws on housing, compulsory purchase, forestry, transparency, agricultural tenancies and tax.
Unlock community enterprise. We will argue for new opportunities for communities to have greater control over the land and development decisions that affect them.
Protect human rights. Scottish Greens will defend our human rights legislation and protect all groups in society.
Education
We will tackle teachers’ unsustainable workload by pushing for an additional 4,000 full-time equivalent teachers to be hired over the course of the coming Parliament.
Scotland’s current attainment gap leaves thousands of pupils experiencing poverty without extra support. We will work with others to help tackle child poverty and reach every pupil with additional needs.
We will call for a guaranteed level of financial support for further education students and a fund for any student at risk of dropping out through hardship over the summer months.
Energy
Our MSPs will continue to take action to secure a permanent ban on fracking and unconventional fossil fuel extraction.
We believe that nobody should be in fuel poverty. In addition to our not-for-profit repair service, we will promote the wider uptake of combined heat and power (CHP) systems and call for all new buildings to meet high efficiency standards.
We support the establishment of socially-owned renewable energy companies.
Health
Scottish Greens support measures to make our society’s good health, equality and wellbeing the foundation of all Scottish Government policy.
We will promote policies that tackle child poverty, support healthy pregnancies, build children’s confidence and foster healthy lifestyle habits from a young age.
We will introduce nutritional targets for supermarkets and propose a levy on large retailers and caterers who choose to promote too much poor-quality food.
Environment
Introduce a Food, Farming and Health Act. This will establish a framework for action on food security, sustainable agriculture and healthy living at a national and local level.
We will support the development of more community greenspaces throughout the country, reducing environmental inequalities, improving people’s health and giving communities greater control over the management of valued open spaces.
We will support the transition to ‘climate-ready’ neighbourhoods that reduce emissions, limit flood risks, and increase resilience to extreme conditions through an expansion to the Climate Challenge Fund.
Equality & Justice
Bold, proactive measures are needed to achieve real equality in Scotland. Our Green MSPs will champion the Racial Equality Framework for Scotland, full equality before the law for LGBTI+ communities, a Strategy for Inclusion co-produced with disabled people, and a Gender Equality Bill.
Public spending must reflect Scotland’s policy commitments to increase equality. We will support measures to improve equality impact assessment and budget analysis, which take stock of how decision-making impacts differently on groups protected under equality law. Equality concerns must be embedded in all resource allocation and policy development.
A significant devolution of power and resources to local police forces is needed to tackle crime in Scotland more effectively. We will work towards local policing that is accountable to independent, democratically controlled police authorities and investment in community policing to focus efforts on crime prevention.
Democracy
A radically democratic written constitution, produced by the Scottish people in a citizen-led process.
Scotland can revive local democracy by devolving more powers to local councils and requiring them to include local communities in decision-making.
Scotland can finally fulfil the promise of Holyrood when it was set up by creating a more accessible ‘People’s Parliament’ that has more of the powers it needs to serve the Scottish public.
Transport & Infrastructure
We will work to increase the proportion of the transport budget spent on active travel to 10%. This equates to around £220 million per annum.
Regulating buses and bringing rail back into public hands can create an affordable, reliable public transport system for Scotland.
High-speed broadband access for all. Households and businesses throughout Scotland should have access to high-speed broadband and good telephone signal, so no part of the country is left behind.
Arts
We will provide protection for arts venues and studios and support a change in the planning framework to protect and encourage districts that enjoy strong cultural economies.
Introduce an Intermittent Work Scheme of a monthly compensation payment for professional artists comparable to unemployment compensation.
Boost community sport. Access to local venues is one of the biggest barriers to participation. Funding should be channelled into community sports to ensure they are inclusive and meet the needs of everyone.
Foreign Policy
Scottish Greens will push for a greater role for Scotland in world affairs by building our capabilities to engage with countries and communities overseas.
We will continue to resolutely oppose nuclear arms on the Clyde and seek to raise Scotland’s profile as a global peacemaker.
We will campaign for a ‘Green In’ in the forthcoming referendum, while working with allies across Europe to reform the EU from within.
