Scottish Greens manifesto: Key policies analysed

For the first time, Scottish Greens can set out what they’ve done in government as well as what they would like Westminster to do next.

It gives their manifesto a sharper edge, or perhaps it just reads that way after having seen Scottish Green ministers at work. This is no longer the politics of wishful thinking.

The party’s programme for Westminster, however, remains that of a pressure group seeking opposition seats inside the Commons, with plans that don’t have to add up. They would, however, combine to bring radical change, and unabashedly so.

This plants the party firmly on the left of politics, in case there was any doubt, with nationalisation of buses to broadband to Loganair’s island air services.

There’s intervention in the economy, to cap food prices while inflation rides high, to introduce a universal basic income, a scrappage scheme for boillers and cars while reinstating dates for ending their sale, and lowering the Bank of England lending rate for green investments.

This puts Scottish Greens close to trade unions on ideas for stronger worker rights, parental and compassionate leave, and a four-day week with no loss of pay.

On tax, the target is wealth, with a tax on those with assets worth more than £3.4m, ranging from 1% up to 10% per year, bringing in an estimated £70bn. As with the SNP, it’s proposed that UK income tax should match Scotland’s higher rates and more thresholds.

At least one Green proposal is likely to be considered by the next Westminster government, even if bigger parties won’t admit it now: a system for charging drivers per mile for use of the road, to replace fuel duty revenue as petrol and diesel is extinguished.