Ahead of the General Election on 4 July, The Student has examined the recently published manifestos of the Scottish National Party, Scottish Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish Green Party to uncover pledges that will directly impact the lives of young people.
The SNP claims their manifesto has set out policies that will change the “future” for young people. John Swinney, the party’s leader and First Minister of Scotland, has said that young people “deserve better.”
Their manifesto pledges include: removing the penalty on the Universal Credit received by under-25s, defending free university tuition for Scottish students, and agreeing an “EU- wide youth mobility scheme”.
The party says the mobility scheme would ensure young people can “benefit from the opportunities living, working, and studying in the EU.”
Like the SNP, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have pledged free movement for people under the age of 35 to live, work, and travel within Europe.
Their leader, Alex Cole-Hamilton, has said his party are “passionate Europeans” despite abandoning their pledge to rejoin the European Union.
The Liberal Democrats have pledged to “safeguard the future of our world-leading universities.” This would include a return to the Erasmus Plus programme, joining the European Innovation Council, and continuing participation in Horizon Europe.
It is important to note that education is a devolved matter, meaning it is the jurisdiction of the government in Holyrood, not Westminster.
Their manifesto plans to create the conditions for Scottish universities to “punch above their weight” and compete for UK-wide funding whilst also establishing a plan for moving them away from a dependence on international students.
They would also report the flow of international students “separately” from estimates of “long-term migration.”
The Scottish Green Party’s manifesto claims its free bus travel for under-22s initiative – started under their Holyrood coalition government with the SNP that collapsed this April – has had a “transformative and life-changing impact.”
As part of their programme to assist the “reconstruction” of Gaza’s higher education, the Greens manifesto promises a “bespoke visa” for Palestinian students and academics. They also pledge to increase investment into “skills and innovation” in order to provide support for colleges and universities.
“Houses of Parliament at dusk, London, UK” by Eric Hossinger is licensed under CC BY 2.0.