Reform Scotland calls on all parties to combine in the national interest
Reform Scotland, the independent, non-partisan think tank, today publishes Cross-Party Politics: a Holyrood Manifesto for 2021.
The document brings together a range of Reform Scotland policies which are shared by a mix of Holyrood’s five parties in an effort to display that the Scottish Parliament is capable of more than simply arguing about Scotland’s constitution.
Policies outlined in the manifesto include:
- Devolving VAT and Corporation Tax
- Creating a new land use strategy
- A feasibility study on pay-as-you-drive road pricing
- Directly electing mayors
- Allowing all children to take eight National 5 exams
- Setting a single date to start early years childcare
- Piloting the devolution of healthcare to local authorities
- Introducing a Basic Income Guarantee
- Banning short prison sentences
The full manifesto can be read below.
“Holyrood was supposed to be better than this. In the heady early days of its creation there was both the sense and the intention that the Scottish Parliament would work differently to Westminster. There would be less of the two-swords-length approach to politics, more constructive working across party lines, perhaps even a longer-term view of the national interest.
“Apart from a few rare occasions, it hasn’t worked out like that. That’s why Reform Scotland has decided to publish a manifesto ahead of May’s election that explicitly proposes policies that might garner cross-party support.
“We believe each of our suggestions would improve the state of the nation a little, and taken together would do a great deal of good.”