Scotland's Health

• We will always seek to deliver health services locally and will not put lives at risk by downgrading vital hospital services. We will protect A&E departments across Scotland.
• The SNP believes that health policy should be as much about preventing ill-health as treating it. It makes sense, for the individual as well as the NHS, to focus on preventing serious illnesses such as heart disease rather than having to deal with them years down the line. That is why we will pursue a twin-track approach to healthcare focused on improving public health, as well as ensuring good and timely medical treatment.
• We will expand the capacity of the NHS to treat more patients faster, protect local access to core hospital services and introduce direct elections to health boards to ensure that there is greater accountability.  
• The SNP is committed to the policy of delivering free personal and nursing care for the elderly. In government we will ensure that the policy is implemented properly across the country.
• We will introduce elections to health boards to ensure democratic accountability in health decisions and introduce patient guarantees so that people get procedures done faster.
• We will introduce free school meals for primary pupils in P1-P3. In other countries this has proven to be successful at getting children into the habit of eating a healthy meal each day.
  

Scotland's Environment

• The SNP is committed to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. We will therefore extend the current emissions commitment beyond 2012 to ensure continued cuts in CO2 output equivalent to a minimum of a 2 per cent annual reduction.
• An SNP led government will put the environment first in a way Labour has failed to - we will create a department of Finance and Sustainable Growth. The first climate change minister for Scotland will put these vital issues at the heart of an SNP led government and ensure each department is meeting the challenge of climate change.
• The SNP will introduce an EU wide green energy research centre to be based in Aberdeen, where Scotland can build on decades of offshore energy expertise and the proximity to some of the world's most promising renewable energy locations.
• We will consult on setting new guidelines for energy saving in new buildings with the aim of reducing their energy footprint by between 20 per cent and 33 per cent.

Scotland's Economy

• An SNP led Executive will abolish business rates for 120,000 small firms across Scotland as part of a £150 million small business bonus scheme. Larger businesses will also benefit from a return to business rates parity with England.
• The SNP has set three tangible goals for the economy:
• Make Scotland more competitive
• Grow the economy sustainably to create more headquartered jobs in Scotland
• Stimulate population growth and attract more working age people
• The SNP is committed to replacing Labour's costly PFI/PPP programme with a Scottish Futures Trust to deliver vital infrastructure improvements for Scotland's schools, hospitals and transport network and free up an additional £116 million a year for investment in frontline services
• The SNP will introduce an assistance scheme for first time buyers to help them onto the housing ladder. Scotland's young people deserve help to start out in their own homes.

Scotland's Government

• We are committed to making the devolved administration work and will seek to deliver a transparent and ambitious government for Scotland after May 2007. However, although the Scottish Parliament has brought a new level of democracy to our country, its powers are strictly limited and therefore there is a limit to what it can achieve.
• The SNP supports a sovereign and independent Scottish Parliament with control over all the powers in Scotland which are currently reserved to Westminster - like foreign policy and defence, economic policy, tax and benefits and pensions - and the right to decide when and how to share power with others.
• In Local Government we will scrap the unfair council tax. The easiest way to ensure that a tax takes account of ability to pay is to base it on income, rather than house value or land. The scheme we propose ensures that families and those on fixed and low incomes are not the losers, as they are at the moment.

Scotland's Social Justice

• The SNP opposes the introduction of compulsory Identity Cards in Scotland. Rather than waste taxpayer's money on ID cards, the SNP will invest instead in more effective security and crime prevention measures. ID cards won't catch criminals - more police will.
• To tackle persistent offending we will do more to tackle the scourge of drinks, drugs and deprivation that scar too many Scottish communities and blight a huge part of a generation.
• With independence the SNP will introduce a written constitution which guarantees the fundamental rights and liberties of citizens and limits the power of government. We will ensure that every area of legislation promotes equality of opportunity and respects choice. 

Scotland's Pensioners

• We see pensioners as the people who have built this country into what it is today, who have worked all their days to deliver a better life for themselves and for the younger generation. Yet, Scotland's pensioners are being failed by a complex means-tested state pension system that leaves one in five living in poverty.  The SNP believes that every pensioner is entitled to a decent income in retirement, as of right.
• Since 1997 council tax has increased by 60 per cent. This is a considerable financial burden for many people, and particularly for pensioners. An SNP government in Holyrood will introduce a local income tax, which would end this unfair burden on Scotland's pensioners. 
• Age discrimination has no place in a modern society.  The SNP supports legislation to provide protection against age discrimination in employment and adult education.