Opponents have accused the SNP of failing to fulfill numerous promises made to voters over the past five years.
According to critics, many commitments outlined in the SNP manifesto presented by Nicola Sturgeon half a decade ago remain unfulfilled.
These unfulfilled pledges include maintaining income tax rates and bands, hiring an additional 3,500 teachers, providing electronic devices to every school pupil, establishing a national care service, and launching an NHS patients app.
The Scottish Conservatives brought these shortcomings to light in a report released just before John Swinney was set to introduce the SNP’s new manifesto for the upcoming Holyrood election at a Glasgow event today.
Rachael Hamilton, the deputy leader of the Tories, stated, “Our report uncovers a series of broken promises from this underperforming SNP government.”
“Their previous Holyrood election manifesto was an example of overpromising and underdelivering, which is typical of the SNP. They make lofty promises to Scots during campaigns but fail to deliver,” she added.
‘Whatever John Swinney promises Scots today, voters should take his words with a huge pinch of salt.
‘The SNP’s obsession with independence means they simply cannot be trusted to deliver on what really matters to Scots.’
John Swinney out campaigning with supporters in Maybole, Ayrshire, today
The Scottish Tories highlighted 21 failures or broken promises from the SNP’s 2021 Holyrood election manifesto.
One of the SNP’s headline pledges was to ‘freeze income tax rates and bands and increase thresholds by a maximum of inflation’. An extra 1p was added on to the top two rates in 2023/24 and a new ‘advanced’ 45p rate was introduced in 2024/25 on earnings above £75,000.
As well as the headline pledge in the first main page of policies in the 2021 manifesto, the small print of the document had stated: ‘While it is important for any government to have flexibility to respond to a change in circumstances, our aim is to maintain current income tax rates for the duration of the parliament and increase thresholds by a maximum of inflation.’
Another pledge was to recruit an extra 3,500 teachers and classroom assistants during the five-year term, only for numbers of teachers to then decline by 810. A promise to provide every pupil with a laptop or other device was also subsequently delayed,
Wendy Chamberlain, deputy leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said: ‘From Salmond to Swinney, the SNP have created a culture of secrecy and broken promises which has had a highly damaging impact on the level of public trust.
‘No one will believe a word that their manifesto says.’
Ahead of today’s manifesto launch, the SNP said it would contain commitments to give the NHS the resources it needs to ‘continue delivering progress’ -–amid concern about declines in A&E performance and waiting times during the last five years.
Mr Swinney will say that his government would be ‘focused on improving Scotland’s NHS’.
The manifesto will also commit to a ban on displays of vapes, meaning they would be hidden from view in stores in the same way as cigarettes to reduce their appeal to children.
The SNP said if re-elected it would ban the ‘advertisement, promotion and retail visibility of vapes and nicotine pouches’ on public health grounds.
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: ‘Too often vapes are finding their way into the hands of children and their colourful displays are a clear enticement – that’s why it’s absolutely right we introduce a Vape Display Ban.
‘Vapes and pouches are nicotine products and their advertisement should be treated in the same way as tobacco.’
But UK Vaping Industry Association boss John Dunne said: ‘Reinforcing the false and dangerous belief that vaping is just as harmful as smoking is a serious mistake from a public health perspective and we urge the SNP to think again.
‘Removing vapes from sight in shops risks discouraging smokers from switching to a less harmful alternative and tempting former smokers back to cigarettes.’
The Nationalists will also pledge to roll out a ‘minimum income’ of almost £15,000 a year for artists and ‘creative workers’.
