Today the Scottish Liberal Democrats launched our manifesto for the Scottish Parliamentary elections. Its a manifesto which offers real solutions to the problems facing our communities and our country. Scottish Liberal Democrats have a proud record in Scotttish Government. It was the Scottish Liberal Democrats who scrapped the tuition fees which Labour had imposed on Scotland and it was Scottish Liberal Democrats who introduced Free Personal Care for the Elderly.
The main themes of our Scottish manifesto are:
Excellence in education
Raising standards in schools by giving head teachers more power, so that teachers spend more time teaching your children, not filling in government forms.
Giving every child a fair start in life with an Early Intervention Revolution so that no child is left behind.
Supporting colleges and keeping Scotland’s universities globally competitive by investing in science and research, modernising the sector and improving student support.
Working with other parties to keep higher education free – no fees and no graduate contribution.
Jobs and economic growth
Creating the conditions for 100,000 new jobs, supported by at least £1.5 billion of investment freed up by reform to Scottish Water.
Getting money to small businesses where the greedy banks have failed and bringing them together with colleges to provide the skills our economy needs.
Cutting energy bills and boosting the green economy with new help to pay for insulation in your home or business and new investment in renewable energy.
Helping Scottish business compete internationally by boosting exports, cutting regulation and making Scotland the most digitally connected economy in Europe.
Keeping services local
Cutting crime by keeping the police local, helping them tackle local problems and making offenders pay back to your community for the damage they’ve done.
Supporting less well-off pensioners by reforming the unfair council tax so they pay nothing at all.
Helping to protect local jobs and services by cutting high pay and bonuses at the very top, listening to frontline staff and driving out waste.
Improving out-of-hours care across Scotland by putting local GPs back at the heart of the service.
You can download the full manifesto here.