This briefing summaries the key policy pledges in the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ manifesto, published on 17 April 2026, relevant to the work of actuaries.
The leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, launched his party’s manifesto, “Change with fairness at its heart” during an event at the Edinburgh Food and Drink Academy. In his speech he pledged to invest £400m in care over the next three years to tackle delayed discharge, use Scottish renewable energy to drive down household bills and change the voting system to Single Transferable Vote.
Economy
- Make it Government policy to support a new bespoke customs union between the UK and EU.
- Lift income tax thresholds in line with inflation and begin closing the tax differential with England, conditional on ensuring public service funding is protected.
- Assess how Land and Buildings Transaction Tax reform could help free up housing stock and encourage use of difficult brownfield sites.
- Launch a Job Transition Loan, worth up to £5,000 for people looking to retrain or change career.
Health and social care
- Invest £400m in care over the next three years to tackle delayed discharge.
- Embed 900 extra NHS staff, such as nurses, physios and mental health professionals, in GP practices to make it easier for patients to see specialist staff.
- Increase support for unpaid carers by £400 a year.
- Treat abortion as a healthcare issue and give MSPs the opportunity to vote on decriminalisation.
Education and skills
- Recruiting 2,000 new pupil support assistants to give more in-class support to children who need it, as part of a new School Workforce Strategy.
- Ask the Curriculum and Assessment board to provide leadership on enhancing all pupils’ digital literacy and AI comprehension, financial skills and teamwork.
- Introduce an entitlement to youth work for 11–25-year-olds.
Transport and infrastructure
- Replace the SNP Government’s national housing strategy with a new holistic data-driven strategy, re-establishing social rent as a long-term option, prioritising the building of communities, and deploying innovative finance models that make it easier for people to buy and rent.
- Build an average of 25,000 homes per year.
- Set in law a requirement for the Scottish Government to produce a rolling 30-year ferry and port infrastructure replacement strategy, renewed every five years and approved by Parliament.
Energy and environment
- A £100m home insulation programme and use Scottish renewable energy to drive down household bills.
- Explore the potential to host Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in Scotland.
- Achieve net zero by 2045 and expand the market for climate-friendly products and services with steadily higher criteria in public procurement policy.
Government
- Introduce a new Accountability Act to clamp down on scandal and incompetence, driving up standards and performance in Government.
- Change the voting system for the Scottish Parliament to Single Transferable Vote.
- Remove the ability for the UK Parliament to unilaterally change the powers of the devolved parliaments or pass laws in their areas of responsibility.
