A fairer, stronger Scotland: a decade of progress worth defending
Since coming to office in 2007, the SNP has changed Scotland beyond all recognition. Families in Scotland enjoy opportunities and universal benefits that they would be denied if they lived in England.
The SNP has made a concerted effort to roll back the legacy of Thatcherism that Westminster parties continue to uphold. This Westminster orthodoxy has punished hardworking families, driven up house prices, hiked energy bills, suppressed wages and taken a hammer to living standards.
The Labour-Tory consensus isn’t working. Which is why we in Scotland have chosen a different way.
Together, we’ve remade Scotland in the mould of a modern, European social democracy. Our politics is fairer, kinder and safer than the circus in Westminster that most Scots have watched with horror.
Under the SNP, our health service has seen fundamental reform. We have the most GPs per head of the population, the best performing core A&Es in the UK, and the only NHS workforce to avoid pay-related industrial action. We spend the most per person on frontline health and have allocated £300 million to reduce waiting lists.
We’ve abolished charges for prescriptions, dental check-ups and hospital car parking. If you need help in sickness or old age, you’re entitled to free personal care.
And on education, we have the highest per person investment in education, the highest number of teachers and set the highest starting salaries in the entire UK. The SNP has built or upgraded more than 1,000 schools and has removed music and core curriculum fees. Higher passes are at a record high and we have a record high number of school leavers in work, training or further study.
We’ve expanded free school meals, expanded free childcare and seen the highest number of students at university – where they enjoy free tuition. This isn’t just a moral commitment; free tuition increases social mobility, boosting our economy and making us all better off.
Labour introduced tuition fees – and their finance spokesman has already signalled his willingness to bring them back.
Average house prices are lower. We’ve introduced rent controls to protect tenants. Scottish families don’t pay water charges and our trains are nationalised to ensure a fairer and more efficient system.
The Westminster consensus has failed. The UK is poorer and more unequal because of decades of mismanagement.
1 in 6 people live in poverty and businesses are reluctant to invest.
The results in Scotland show what we can achieve together if we reject the stale and toothless policies of successive governments in London.
Our economy is defying the trend – and game-changing innovations like the Scottish Child Payment have lifted 100,000 children out of poverty. Scotland is a fundamentally fairer and wealthier country than it was in 2007.
This is the change we’ve made together. And it’s a change worth protecting.
