Scottish nationalists launch UK election manifesto

ANKARA

Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon unveiled Monday her party’s manifesto, vowing to make “Scotland stronger at Westminster” and making a Labour Party government “bolder and better.”

The SNP are a left-wing separatist party whose popularity has risen exponentially in Scotland after the failed independence referendum on Sept. 18 last year. Its rise threatens the ability of the center-left main opposition Labour Party to form a majority government after the next election.

Speaking in Edinburgh, Sturgeon said her party would use any influence it had “responsibly and constructively” to build “alliances for progressive change.”

She denied that the SNP would be a disruptive force in a hung parliament.

On Thursday, in a debate with other opposition leaders, Sturgeon had repeatedly called for a coalition between Labour and her party, one that, she insisted, would "kick David Cameron out of Downing Street." 

But on Monday, Sturgeon made no mention of a coalition with Labour. 

“The SNP is not going to Westminster to seek to block budgets and bring down governments. We’re going to Westminster to bring positive change,” she said.

On Monday, Labour Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls emphasized Labour’s opposition to a formal coalition with the Scottish nationalists. Analysts said that what is likely to emerge is a Labour-minority government loosely supported by the SNP.

“We will seek to make common cause and build alliances with others of like mind across the U.K. to deliver the progressive change that so many want to see,” Sturgeon said.

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron said that instability that would ensue with such an alliance, warning there would be a “permanent, messy chaos negotiating day by day, vote by vote, favor by favor.”

Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing party UKIP, feared a loss of English influence. “None of them will guarantee that only English MPs will vote on English laws in the next parliament, meaning that any new influx of SNP MPs will be able to dictate the governance of England. This is outright appeasement and it has got to stop,” he said.

SNP manifesto ‘to end austerity’

Sturgeon said the aim of her party’s manifesto was, “above all else, to end austerity. That will be our number one priority."

She pledged her party would increase spending by 0.5 percent annually while still reducing the deficit every year, albeit at a slower pace than other parties.

The party would invest an extra £140 billion ($208.8 billion) in the economy and public services, including an extra £24 billion ($35.8 billion) for the NHS across Britain.

The SNP would also set an annual target to build 100,000 affordable houses across the U.K.

The minimum wage would be increased to £8.70 by 2020, the top rate of income tax for those earning more than £150,000 would be increased and zero-hours contracts, which do not guarantee regular or minimum working hours, would be made into regular contracts.

The SNP would also introduce a mansion tax and a tax on bankers’ bonuses.

In terms of government spending cuts, the SNP would block a replacement for Britain’s nuclear deterrent, a measure it claims will save £4 billion ($6 billion) by the mid-2020s and as much as £100 billion ($149.2 billion) over its lifetime.

Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat Scottish secretary, described the manifesto as one of “short-term thinking leading to long-term debt.”

 “They want to drag Scotland and the UK back to 2010 with their plans to borrow even more than Labour,” he told the BBC. "They're not going to play their part in rebuilding and rebalancing the economy they're going there to break up the United Kingdom.”

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron took an even grimmer view. 

Speaking at a campaign event in Crewe on Monday, Conservative leader David Cameron attacked a potential Labour-SNP government, saying, “It might be a match made in heaven for them but it is a match made in hell for the British economy.”

“Make no mistake, if Labour and the SNP get into power, you are going to see an alliance between a party that wants to spend, borrow and tax more with a party that wants to spend, borrow and tax even more,” he said.

Four EU referenda

On Britain’s continued membership in the EU, they propose that each of the four nations comprising the U.K. would have to vote to exit the EU before Britain as a whole could withdraw.

The SNP will oppose any withdrawal from the EU and propose that a “double majority” be required. This means each of the four home nations would have to vote for withdrawal before the UK as a whole could leave the EU.

The manifesto opposes limiting free movement within the EU, and backs the post-study work visa which allows foreign nationals easier access to work in the U.K.

With regard to Scotland’s place within the U.K., the party is pushing for a phased transition to “full financial responsibility” including devolution of powers over employment, welfare, business taxes and national insurance, which allows employees to qualify for certain benefits such as state pensions.

SNP 'will always support independence'

On Monday, Sturgeon said: "The pledge I make to the Scottish people is this. If you vote SNP on May 7, we will make your voice heard more loudly and clearly than it has ever been heard before at Westminster," she said.

The biggest cheers at the manifesto launch event came when Sturgeon said that her party “will always support independence.”

She quickly followed this up by underscoring that the 2015 general election was not about independence but about building “alliances across the UK for better politics and for better policies, because that will help people in Scotland and across the U.K.”

The SNP have seen a surge in support following their defeat in the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014.

A recent poll gave the SNP a 28-point lead over Labour. Just over half of Scottish voters, 52 percent, said they would vote SNP, with only 24 percent saying they would vote Labour.

According to Scottish newspaper The National, if the latest poll was converted to seats the SNP would take 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats, up from six seats in 2010.

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy said, “the SNP promised last year that the referendum was a once in a generation deal. By refusing to rule out another referendum in their manifesto today, the SNP have broken that promise to the Scottish people.”

Speaking in the question and answers session after her speech, Sturgeon said she did not expect another referendum in the next five years unless something “substantial” changed.

“I am being absolutely clear. If you vote SNP on May 7, you are not voting to give the SNP a mandate for a second referendum. Something substantial would have to change,” she said.