Scottish manifesto commitments 2026
Safeguarding communities through Hate Crime law enforcement
In 2024/25, Police Scotland recorded over 8,538 hate crimes in Scotland, of which approximately 24% had a sexual orientation aggregator, and 2% had a trans identity aggregator.
According to Galop, only 1 in 8 LGBT+ people surveyed had reported the most recent incident that they had experienced to the police. The below details the manifesto commitments of the main parties in Scotland:
- Reform Party Scotland
Committed to repealing the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act
- Scottish Conservatives
Committed to “ending Police Scotland’s use of non-crime hate incidents that threatens the freedom of speech of law-abiding citizens in Scotland.” (Page 86).
- Scottish Greens
Committed to “roll out a national programme to address transphobic, homophobic and biphobic hate crime across society” (Page 79)
- Scottish Labour
There is no reference to hate crime in the Scottish Labour manifesto
- Scottish Liberal Democrats
We await release of the Scottish Liberal Democrats manifesto
- Scottish National Party
There is no specific reference to hate crime in the SNP’s manifesto, but the section on tackling online harm “recognises that there is a spectrum of harm that can be caused from the absorption of hateful and harmful content” (Page 67)
Banning Conversion Practices
LGBTQ+ people have nothing to be ashamed of and there is nothing wrong or broken about who they are. Their sexual orientations and gender identities are diverse and should be celebrated.
Yet conversion practices – that seek to change, ‘cure’ or suppress them - are still legal in the UK today. The below details the manifesto commitments of the main parties in Scotland:
- Reform Party Scotland
There is no reference to Banning Conversion Practices in the Reform Party Scotland Manifesto.
- Scottish Conservatives
There is no reference to Banning Conversion Practices in the Scottish Conservative’s Manifesto.
- Scottish Greens
Committed to “Introduce a comprehensive ban on conversion therapy covering all settings, such as
religious, informal, community, family-based and therapeutic, with clear protections
for affirming healthcare, and inclusive of trans, non-binary, and asexual identities.” (page 78)
- Scottish Labour
Committed to “Work to deliver a conversion practices ban on a four nation basis to prevent the creation of any possible loopholes across the UK and protect LGBT+ people from harmful conversion practices.” (page 51)
- Scottish Liberal Democrats
We await release of the Scottish Liberal Democrats manifesto
- Scottish National Party
Manifesto states “Should the UK government fail to bring forward legislation to ban conversion practices, we are committed to legislating against the harms of conversion practices and will introduce legislation within the first year of the new parliament to permanently end these practices” (Page 33)
Supporting all LGBTQ+ young people to thrive
Every young person, including those who are LGBTQ+, needs to be, and feel, safe and seen at school. We cannot allow another generation to grow up with the invisibility, silence and discrimination that so many in the LGBTQ+ community felt in the past.
That means high quality relationships, sex and health education (RSHE), as well as excellent pastoral help and support whenever they need it, including relating to issues on sexual orientation and gender. The below table details the manifesto commitments of the main parties in Scotland:
- Reform Party Scotland
There is no reference to LGBTQ+ young people in the Reform Party Scotland Manifesto.
- Scottish Conservatives
Committed to “introducing parent panels to oversee the content their children are taught on socially contentious issues such as sex education.” (Page 65-66).
Committed to scrapping the LGBT Inclusive Education Guidance (Page 79-80).
- Scottish Greens
Committed to “ensure and expand inclusive education and anti-bullying programmes in Scotland’s schools and youth programmes; provide targeted support to promote LGBTQ+ young people staying in education” (page 78)
- Scottish Labour
There is no reference to LGBTQ+ young people in the Scottish Labour Manifesto.
- Scottish Liberal Democrats
We await release of the Scottish Liberal Democrats manifesto
- Scottish National Party
The manifesto states “Scotland is the
first country in the world to proudly incorporate
LGBTQI+ education in our schools” (page 33) but does not include any commitments relating to LGBTQ+ young people.
Specific references to LGBTQ+ communities
- Reform Party Scotland do not explicitly reference LGBTQ+ communities
- The Scottish Conservatives have committed to stop the guidance on collecting data on gender identity and trans status (Page 11) and ban Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) roles in the public sector (Page 12)
- The Scottish Green Party have a chapter of their manifesto dedicated to LGBT+ issues - “A Proud and Inclusive Scotland For All” (Pages 76-79)
- The Scottish National Party have a section of the manifesto dedicated to LGBTQI+ Rights (Pages 32-33)
