Party Policies Compare Scottish National policies against Respect policies

We will protect the Small Business Bonus, ensuring £450 million of support for the small businesses that form the lifeblood of local economies. The small business bonus has saved jobs in the downturn and create jobs in the recovery.

Food & Drink - We know this is an area of huge potential for Scotland and we will work to deliver higher value for Scottish food producers and further increase revenues and exports.

Government must not stand in the way of farm and rural businesses and so we will further co-ordinate inspections as we work towards a one visit approach.

We'll keep the Small Business Bonus, so 80,000 Scottish businesses continue to pay no rates or lower rates. The Small Business Bonus has protected local jobs in the downturn and will create jobs as our economy recovers.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Our commitment is to keep the 1000 extra police in our communities. We know this is essential if we are to keep crime rates falling.

Taking more ill-gotten gains from the criminals - We are extending the Cashback for Communities scheme. The law is being changed to let us take more money from more criminals and that extra cash will be invested in our communities.

We will introduce new Serious Crime Prevention Orders allowing us to restrict the activities of people involved in serious and organised crime.

We all know that cheap booze is a root cause of too much crime and anti-social behaviour. Our plans for minimum pricing will reduce the flow of the cheap alcohol and make our town centres and neighbourhoods safer and more pleasant places to live.

We will extend the successful schemes that have seen a 30% reduction in knife crime in Scotland since 2007 and support the ground-breaking police efforts to tackle gang violence.

The SNP supports effective tools such as the European arrest Warrant.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) is challenging the UK parties to make a commitment against cuts to conventional defence spending, manpower and bases in Scotland.

Our opposition to the Trident nuclear missile s y stem and its planned replacement remains firm - there is no place for these weapons in Scotland and we will continue to press the UK government to scrap Trident and cancel its replacement.

Conference calls for a Scottish Defence Review to look at all aspects of defence policy, from strategy to the structure of the armed forces, funding and equipment; notes that past reviews have failed to properly anticipate new trends and circumstances; expresses concern that more than 9,500 defence jobs have been lost in Scotland since Labour came to power in 1997, as well as a litany of base closures and regimental amalgamations; further expresses concern that, between 2002 and 2006 alone, the total accumulated defence underspend in Scotland - ie comparing our share of UK defence spending with population share - was a mammoth £4.363 billion; notes that Scottish taxpayers are disproportionately contributing huge sums towards the UK Ministry of Defence, at the same time as the UK's conventional defence footprint in Scotland is disappearing at an unprecedented rate; believes that the analysis of a Scottish Defence Review would demonstrate the modern benefits and opportunities offered by independence.

Source: http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2010/mar/championing-scotlands-defence

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

SNP oppose the plans outlined in the Infrastructure Bill that would allow oil & gas drilling, and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) underneath peoples homes without consent.

Support for an international bank tax, as well as limits to industry bonuses.

We will protect the Small Business Bonus, ensuring £450 million of support for the small businesses that form the lifeblood of local economies. The small business bonus has saved jobs in the downturn and create jobs in the recovery.

We will provide support for 125,000 modern apprenticeships over the lifetime of the Parliament and a commitment that every 16-19 year old in Scotland not in work, part of a Modern Apprenticeship scheme or receiving education is offered a learning or training opportunity.

At a time of inflation, higher VAT and sky-high fuel prices we will continue to protect family budgets here in Scotland by freezing the Council Tax.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We will introduce a new Early Years Fund so we can expand community based provision for pre-school and the very earliest years of life.

We are committed to a new phase of school building across Scotland as we work to lift all Scottish school children out of the worst condition schools.

We want to see local schools and their communities take more responsibility for our children's education. That will mean, for example, a greater role for head teachers.

We are bringing in a new legal limit on primary 1 classes in August and are committed to a progressive reduction in class sizes starting with the early years.

We are committed to maintaining this better teacher-pupil ratio and over time improving it.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Tough action against corporate polluters.

Public accountability of the oil companies.

No return to nuclear energy, close all nuclear plants.

Stop the import and export of nuclear waste and the dumping of it on third world countries.

The introduction of clean-burn technologies into fossil fuelled power stations.

Increased public investment to make homes energy efficient.

Bring the water industry back into public ownership under democratic control; invest in a clean-up of rivers lakes and sea.

High quality recycling facilities to maximise recycling, no new incinerators.

Stop the commercial use of GM foods; a moratorium on trials pending further research.

We will build on the popular and effective Climate Challenge fund to encourage more towns, villages, neighbourhoods or streets to come together to make their community a low carbon community.

We will introduce Green Skills Academies, to ensure we have the right green skills mix for the future.

We will plant millions of new trees, protect our peatlands and protect and expand our marine carbon sinks as ways of rebalancing Scotland's carbon account.

Emergency steps to reduce the use of fossil fuels, alongside massively increased investment in sustainable energy including solar, biological and wind and wave power.

Scotland is leading the world in offshore renewable technologies and the SNP will continue to support the rapid growth of this sector. The National Renewables Infrastructure Fund will help leverage private investment into Renewables, part of over £200 million of investment in Renewables.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We will seek to: Improve the internal market and promote sustainable Scottish jobs

Maximise the opportunities for Scottish companies

Co-operate with other countries on organised crime and terrorism

Promote progressive policies to help build better societies

Help Scottish citizens to live and work across the EU

We will not seek membership of either the Eurozone or the Schengen area. We will retain sterling as our currency and remain a member of the common Travel area.

The SNP will work with other progressive voices in the European Parliament to ensure that economic recovery is built on a strong foundation of social justice.

We believe that workers’ rights should be safeguarded and that equality should be at the heart of all EU policy.

The SNP will work to promote EU policies aimed at improving the lives of Scotland’s younger generations.

Legislation should be passed by the EU to complete the single market and remove remaining trade barriers between member states. We are particularly keen that Scottish businesses are able to benefit from the freedom to provide services but are equally convinced that public services should remain free from a privatisation agenda.

We believe that the EU should be ambitious in driving forward initiatives on environmental protection and climate change, with the role of member states enhanced. There should be greater flexibility in target setting and coherence across policies.

We are seeking structural reform of the Emissions Trading System and want to encourage EU action on developing new technologies such as offshore wind, marine energy, carbon capture and storage, and energy storage in general.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

At a time of inflation, higher VAT and sky-high fuel prices we will continue to protect family budgets here in Scotland by freezing the Council Tax.

We have also removed prescription charges, saving people with long-term health conditions £180.

We support a rapid expansion of high speed broadband across Scotland so that people in rural Scotland can share fully in the digital age.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We are protecting spending in the NHS over the next few years - with an additional £826 million to the health revenue budget, allowing us to continue efforts to improve healthcare in Scotland.

We will deliver an 18 week referral to treatment standard, ensuring prompt and effective diagnosis.

One stop cancer diagnosis - As part of our plans to ensure shorter cancer waiting times.

We have set up a new watchdog to keep our wards clean and will use this to build on the recent big falls in hospital acquired infections.

More flexible access to healthcare - We want services to more closely reflect the realities of family and working life.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We have reaffirmed our commitment to social housing and thanks to support from the Scottish Government; councils are now building more houses than at any time since the early 1990s.

We intend to build 30,000 new homes over the lifetime of this Parliament.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

The SNP would allow a devolved government to have complete control over immigration into Scotland, and to introduce a system similar to Canada to attract highly-skilled immigrants.

While the Scottish Government wants to see Scotland with a positive and effective immigration policy- as things stand we are hamstrung by the policies of a Westminster establishment engaged in a race to the right in an attempt to outflank UKIP and which is putting economic growth and our international reputation at risk as a result. - SNP MSP Christian Allard

Scotland needs an immigration policy which suits our economic needs, and keeps up with the likes of Canada, Australia, Germany and New Zealand who all have explicit strategies to bring in talent to the benefit of their economies. - SNP home affairs spokesperson Pete Wishard MP.

The Scottish National Party say they would 'celebrate' more people arriving from overseas, reversing what they claim is years of 'depopulation'. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2759128/An-independent-Scotland-celebrate-soaring-immigration-How-SNP-s-plan-open-borders-24-000-year-offer-backdoor-England.html

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

A cheap and integrated transport system to provide an alternative to car use, making the current road-building programme unnecessary.

End the £9 billion tax-break to the airlines.

We will invest in the electrification of the central Scotland rail network, reducing journey times between Glasgow and Edinburgh to just over 30 minutes.

Our investment in the rail network will deliver shorter journey times between Scotland's cities including faster times from Inverness and Aberdeen to the central belt and journeys of just over 30 minutes from Glasgow to Edinburgh.

Work will soon start on the crucial Forth Replacement Crossing. This is an essential project for Scotland's economy and will also create thousands of new jobs.

We are increasing the budgets for low carbon transport and will support the creation of the infrastructure for electric vehicles and continue to expand the number of 'park and rides'.

Improvements for commuters - Our actions are designed to make the commute easier for thousands of Scots with faster and more frequent rail services into our major cities and improvements to our road network to remove bottlenecks.

We will begin the electrification of much of Scotland's rail network, delivering big carbon savings and with faster journey times encouraging more Scots to leave the car behind.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We will provide support for 125,000 modern apprenticeships over the lifetime of the Parliament and a commitment that every 16-19 year old in Scotland not in work, part of a Modern Apprenticeship scheme or receiving education is offered a learning or training opportunity.

We'll deliver 100,000 training opportunities each year for young Scots, including 25,000 modern apprenticeships.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We will continue to support the work of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his efforts through the Nuclear Weapons Convention to eradicate nuclear, chemical and biological weapons across the planet.

Scotland has responsibilities in the wider world and so we will continue and protect our current level of investment in international development. We are proud of the work under taken through our International Development Fund. It is making a difference to the lives of many people across the world. We will increase our efforts to support developing nations as they respond to the challenges of climate change. We have heard the calls from many for Scotland to create a Climate Adaptation Fund. Given the pressures on the Scottish Government's budget we will work with partners in business, charitable foundations and non-governmental organisations so we can co-ordinate efforts to build a Scotland-wide climate adaptation fund.

We will continue to update and implement our China and South Asia engagement plans with a focus on business, trade, education, culture, science and tourism.

We will also seek an enhanced role for Scotland in Europe including through the Scotland Europa Office in Brussels and continue to support the effective network of SDI offices.

Source: Scottish National party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We promise to be tough to those who seek to exploit Britain's soft-touch approach to taxation, and this particularly includes those working within the financial services sector.

We support the idea of a balanced economy with industry as a key part of it an industry where the workers are properly treated and where they are guaranteed a job for life.

From the 2010 party manifesto:

Investment in the infrastructure of rural communities; healthcare, education, leisure facilities and environmental development

Regulation of the large supermarket chains to ensure that food production and food prices are in the interests of all, not the large farmers and businesses

Secure rights of tenure for small farmers and small businesses at affordable rents

Provision of finance at low interest rates for small businesses and small farmers

Grants for small farmers to switch to organic farming.

Incentives for small farmers to form co-operatives to reduce costs.

Re-establish the marketing boards.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We believe the police need to do more to rid itself of the institutional racism that is inherent within the police so that the police and communities can begin working together on issues of collective security.

From the 2010 party manifesto:

The scrapping of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders.

Purge racists from the police and prison services.

Make the police accountable to the community.

Justice for all those who have been killed in custody.

A complete overhaul of the criminal justice system to end discrimination.

An end to police harassment and racist stop and search.

A serious attack on the causes of crime.

Build supportive communities and tackle social exclusion.

More resources for drug treatment and rehabilitation.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Respect stands against the idea that it is acceptable to savagely cut public services whilst simultaneously renewing a gigantic but ultimately useless nuclear weapons project.

In keeping with our foreign policy that seeks to strike a more balanced foreign policy; we should stop seeking to violate the terms of the non-proliferation treaty and encourage other countries to do the same.

In line with our foreign policy, Respect is for the closure of all extra-continental military bases.

Respect believes therefore that a British foreign policy that looked more towards our own place in the world rather than focusing solely on our relationship with the old unipolar power, the USA, would be a much more sensible option.

We support the idea that Britain should leave NATO. Furthermore, NATO should be disbanded and replaced with a European Union defence organisation which does not involve the United States and which reflects the interests of its own member states.

From the 2010 Party Manifesto:

A massive cut in military spending. Disband Britain’s weapons of mass destruction, scrap nuclear weapons, decommission Trident.

Transfer resources from military to useful production, nationalise the arms industry.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We in Respect reject the iron-clad austerity policies of the three main political parties in Britain. We need a new economic system which isn't dependent on financial services and which is constantly in thrall to the banks. But more importantly, we reject the idea that the British people have to pay for the mess that was not caused by them.

We stand against the Tories as they deflect blame away from the people who caused the financial crisis and their attempts to make poor people pay for the crimes of rich people by their savage cuts to the welfare state and their crass and mendacious attempts to turn poor people against each other.

We stand against the role of the Liberal Democrats, who are keeping the Tories in government and who are therefore complicit in their dirty work.

We stand against the Labour Party, who no longer properly stand up for the rights of working people and who are complicit in developing Britain's over-reliance with the financial services sector in the first place.

Respect stands in defence of people who have nothing to sell but their labour; those who certainly shouldn't be paying our way out of the economic crisis.

From the 2010 party manifesto:

Abolish VAT, as an indirect tax, and replace it with increased direct taxation.

Raise the top rate of income tax .

Raise the tax threshold to ensure that no one on the minimum wage pays income tax.

A big increase in corporation tax, with an additional tax on the super-profits profits of the oil companies and the banks.

A turnover tax on multinationals doing businesses in Britain.

Raise the top rate of inheritance tax whilst putting higher duties on other transfers of wealth and financial transaction.

Increased stamp duty on stocks and shares.

A crack down on tax evasion by big companies and action against offshore tax havens.

Abolish the ceiling on National Insurance contributions.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Respect campaigns for an end to tuition fees. We stand up for the rights of students to campaign against cuts to their educational standards and for a free education from the cradle to the grave.

From the 2010 party manifesto:

A fully comprehensive school system providing a common core curriculum for all until 18. End selection. Scrap SATs and other unnecessary tests.

Education free at point of use, from pre-school to FE, to university and adult learning.

A radical reduction in class size.

A qualified teacher for every class.

Better pay for teachers and other education workers.

An end to specialist school status, schools can come together in order to share facilities and expertise where feasible.

Free after-school clubs and play centres for all that need them.

Full and part-time nursery and day-care places as a right, for all who want them.

An end to charitable status and tax breaks for private schools.

Abolish tuition fees and student loans. Free education and a living grant for all further and higher education students.

Free and life-long access for all to high quality vocational education and adult education.

Urgent action to address the underachievement of black children and others in schools.

Full involvement of teachers, parents and pupils in tackling inequality in education.

An end to the privatisation of local authority leisure services.

Stop the sale of playing fields.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Grants and incentives for rural communities to undertake environmental protection.

A review of coastal erosion with the costs for beach and other coastal improvements to be met from direct government funding.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Respect is in favour of a referendum on EU membership.

Respect is a pro-Europe party, but not of the EU in its present form. It is untenable to continue pretending to be a part of a union whilst pretending we would rather go it alone.

Respect will campaign to be a central part of Europe. However, we will campaign, along with our sister left-wing parties around Europe, for the EU to be a more inclusive and democratic union.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

From the 2010 Party Manifesto:

End the discrimination against women at work during pregnancy.

Extend parental leave entitlements to all employees regardless of size of workforce.

Full enforcement of equal pay legislation. Fine employers who flout this legislation.

Universal childcare in publicly-funded nurseries for the full working day, as well as after-school clubs for all children up to 11 years old.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Our parliament, with its 600+ members, is far too large and far too expensive to sustain.

Along with our support for proportional representation, we support a large reduction in the number of members of parliament.

We are calling for a parliament that is half its present size, where MPs are paid a wage in line with careers of equivalent responsibility. Their staff should be employed by the state and not by the MP themselves.

We support the idea that 16 year olds should get the vote.

From the 2010 Party Manifesto:

The repeal of the anti-union laws, as well as the automatic right to union recognition. The right to hold trade union meetings during working hours. Employment tribunals to have the powers to enforce reinstatement and protect trade union representatives.

The minimum wage to be raised to £7.40 per hour, which is the European Union decency threshold.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

From the 2010 Party Manifesto:

A fully-funded, publicly-owned NHS, delivering care free at the point of use.

Opposition to PFI schemes; all privatised services to be brought back into the NHS.

No further closure of local hospitals or specialist units.

Bring all agencies administering care services into publicownership under NHS or local government control.

The abolition of charges for prescriptions, foot care, dentistry, eye and hearing services.

The expansion of psychiatric health services.

An expansion of training opportunities for doctors, nursing andrelated services.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

From the 2010 party manifesto:

No privatisation of council housing.

End the right to buy scheme.

Publicly-owned land should be used to build council housing, not sold off to property speculators to build houses local people can’t afford.

Provide the financial means for local authorities to invest directly in council housing.

Give council tenants, who have been forced to privatise to gain investment in their homes, the right to return to local authority ownership.

Give local authorities powers to enforce repairs and improvements on private sector landlords and ensure they are more effectively regulated.

Legislate to prevent landlords from setting excessive rents.

Abolish the Council Tax and replace it with a progressive local income tax.

Review the business rate system.

Reintroduce council house building to rural communities and stop council house sales.

Abolish council tax relief on second homes, and ensure that people can afford to live in their local area.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

Respect is in favour of a balanced and fair immigration policy.

We are in favour of an EU Referendum, in which we would campaign to remain a part of Europe.

Until then, we wholeheartedly welcome all EU migrants who seek to work hard in Britain, just as many British people work abroad.

Respect is in favour of a colour-blind points-based immigration system which is weighted in favour of those coming from Commonwealth countries to which we owe a historic debt.

From the 2010 Party Manifesto:

Migrant workers and asylum seekers to have the right to work, with the full protection of employment laws and regulations.

Defend the rights of refugees to political asylum; oppose any new legislation designed to further undermine it.

Oppose the EU’s ‘Fortress Europe’ policy.

Reinstate the right of asylum seekers to seek employment; an amnesty for all ‘illegal workers’.

End the policy of dispersal.

End the use of detention centres for asylum seekers.

End the White List of ‘safe’ countries and end deportations.

Give asylum seekers and refugees the right to food and shelter, plus access to education, health and social services.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

From the 2010 party manifesto:

Bring the railways back into public ownership, under democratic control, and integrate the railways, bus services and urban light rail.

Invest in a cheap and integrated transport system to reduce the need to use cars, making the current road-building programme unnecessary.

New road building only with the agreement of the communities affected.

More frequent passenger journeys and better staffing of stations, trains and buses (guards and conductors) to encourage people back onto public transport.

A full programme of cycle routes in our towns and cities.

Hefty taxes on company cars and on company parking spaces.

Bring air traffic control back into public ownership.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We call for ATOS to be scrapped and for a comprehensive welfare system to be provided for those who need it.

From the 2010 Party Manifesto:

An immediate rise in the basic state pension to £110 per week for all pensioners

Restoration of the link between the state pension and average earnings.

Annual increases in the state pension in line with wages or prices, whichever is the greater.

Reduction of the age for receipt of the state pension to sixty for men and women.

Free long term care for all pensioners.

A national free travel scheme for all pensioners.

End attacks on occupational pension scheme; final salary schemes for all employees.

Statutory occupational pension schemes covering all employees in both the public and private sector with compulsory contributions by employers plus full liability by employers in the event of bankruptcy.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

We support a policy of progressive taxation, not least because providing economic relief for those in most need of it will benefit our economy in the long run.

Our workers need the basic dignity of a living wage; not just the minimum but something which assures the basic living requirements of everyone in the country.

Policies from the 2010 Party Manifesto:

End the discrimination against women at work during pregnancy.

Extend parental leave entitlements to all employees regardless of size of workforce.

Full enforcement of equal pay legislation. Fine employers who flout this legislation.

Universal childcare in publicly-funded nurseries for the full working day, as well as after-school clubs for all children up to 11 years old.

From the 2010 Party Manifesto:

End work-place discrimination on the basis of age, ethnicity, gender or life style choices.

Tougher penalties for employers who discriminate.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.

The Respect Party firmly believes that if the U.K is to truly promote peace, democracy and stability throughout the world, then it should do so through diplomatic and peaceful means.

The Respect Party was born out of the anti-war movement, which opposed the invasion and occupation of both Afghanistan and Iraq. It is clear for all to see, that both wars have proven to be a disaster for all parties involved.

The Respect Party has dedicated itself to the struggle of deterring our political elite from, ever again, deciding to invade and occupy other people's land.

We are proud to say that we are still closely associated with the Stop the War Coalition, with whom we continue to oppose foreign invasion and occupation of other people's countries.

We want Britain to move away from the foreign wars of the Coalition of the Killing and strike a policy which acts in our own national interest. We have always argued that if you make war against Muslims abroad, you will inevitably make war with them at home and this is precisely what we have done.

Oppose Islamaphobia and the demonisation of Muslim communities.

Repeal New Labour and Tory restrictions on assembly and association and all the anti-terrorism legislation.

From the 2010 party manifesto:

Cancel the third world debt, with no strings or conditions.

End the ‘structural adjustment’ conditions, which impoverish third world peoples.

For a major increase in aid spending in the impoverished countries on health education and welfare.

Introduce a tax on currency speculation.

Take action to curb the power of the multinationals.

We want a Europe free from the policies of the WTO and the IMF, free from NATO, free from foreign military bases, free from weapons of mass destruction.

Source: Respect party website, existing manifesto or officially-published policies.