Yesterday the Scottish National Party published their manifesto for the 2017 election having delayed its launch following a suspension in campaigning last week.

This manifesto saw Nicola Sturgeon position the SNP as the party of opposition to a Conservative government making pledges which opposed much of what the Conservative manifesto set out.

It was made clear that the SNP would use a win in Scotland to support their calls for another independence referendum. Should Scotland choose to become independent the manifesto claimed that they would seek to remain a member state of the EU.

Here we take a look at what the SNP has to say:

Business and Economy 

  • Increase the Additional Rate of income tax from 45p to 50p across the UK from 2018/19
  • Double the Employment Allowance from £3,000 per business per year to £6,000 per business per year
  • Extend the Annual Investment Allowance to encourage to invest in plant and machinery from current £200,000 per year to £1 million per year.
  • Push for the establishment of the Independent Noise Authority.
  • Call for HMG Industrial Strategy to take better account of Scotland’s economic challenges and to support renewable energy technologies and the oil and gas sector.

Defence & Security 

  • Build cross-party support to scrap Trident as quickly and safely as possible
  • Support a new Strategic Defence and Security Review to assess the need for a permanent base of ocean-going conventional patrol vessels in Scotland
  • Greater transparency in UK defence spending with a full breakdown of spending by nation and region in the UK, including all procurement and SME expenditure and a full breakdown of component costs of all major projects by location

Brexit

  • Keep Scotland in the Single Market
  • Seeing clarity from UK government on what will replace Horizon 2020 funding
  • Press UK government to commit to the Open Skies Agreement in Brexit negotiations
  • Reintroduce Post-Study Work Visa scheme for Scotland

Further details 

  • Protect the Triple Lock on Pensions.
  • Replace the first-past-the-post system with proportional representation for elections to the House of Commons.
  • Abolish the House of Lords.