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First Minister John Swinney at the launch of the SNP Manifesto in the Scottish Elections 2026 | Lisa Ferguson / The Scotsman
In a depressing indictment of the state of Scottish politics, David Phillips, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, noted that, like other parties, the SNP had laid out spending pledges in their manifesto “without credibly saying” how they would pay for them.
Altogether, the nationalists’ plans add up to an estimated £1.4 billion extra a year by 2031, which the IFS said would likely mean “further tax rises or deeper cuts to lower-priority spending”. Or, as with previous SNP manifestos, some promises might not be kept.
The most controversial idea was a plan to introduce “statutory price ceilings on a basket of 20 to 50 essential food items at large supermarkets”, covering basics like bread, milk and eggs. The stated aim is to “provide tangible relief to families struggling with grocery bills, ensuring that necessities for a balanced diet remain affordable”.
Food shortages?
However, Phillips said if the ceiling was set above market prices, it could achieve little. If set below them, the proposal would be “very radical and risky” with the potential “unintended consequence of creating shortages of these items, by causing demand to exceed supply”.
There were scant details but the manifesto promised a “robust support framework” to “shield” Scottish food producers, so it sounds like the supermarkets are meant to foot the bill – and not use their market power to pass it on to hard-pressed farmers.
However there was room for a telling line: “We are calling on the UK Government not to block this action through their flawed Internal Market Act.” A senior UK Government source duly denounced the policy as “incoherent and undeliverable”.
The SNP’s manifesto is being seen as an attempt by John Swinney to put his own stamp on the party and emerge from Nicola Sturgeon’s shadow. However, what appears to be a thinly veiled attempt to pick a fight with Labour over the cost of living is all-too reminiscent of the infamous WhatsApp message sent to Sturgeon by her aide Liz Lloyd about wanting a "good old-fashioned rammy" with Westminster.
And, like those uncosted election pledges, there is a very real price to pay for such nakedly political clashes.