By Helen Johnson and Georgina Lee

Scotland’s new first minister, John Swinney, launched the Scottish National Party (SNP) general election manifesto today.

The pledges include delivering independence, re-joining the European Union and “protect[ing] our NHS from the twin threats of Westminster privatisation and austerity”.

Let’s take a look at some of the key claims Mr Swinney and his manifesto are making.

Scotland is ‘halfway to net zero’

John Swinney says that Scotland is “already halfway to net zero”.

Net zero is the idea that a country (or planet) only emits a minimal amount of carbon, and any that is emitted is offset by activities that extract the same amount from the atmosphere.

Progress towards net zero is often measured by comparison to the level of carbon emissions in 1990. This seems to be the basis of Mr Swinney’s claim today.

The latest official figures show that “between 1990 and 2022, there was a 50.1 per cent reduction in [Scotland’s] estimated net emissions”.

So it’s fair to say that Scotland is “halfway to net zero” compared to 1990. But what Mr Swinney didn’t mention is that the SNP-led administration was recently forced to abandon its pledge to reach the target in 2030 after the UK’s independent environment watchdog described the goal as “no longer credible”.

The Climate Change Committee said in March that it “no longer believes the Scottish government will meet its statutory 2030 goal”. In April, the minister in charge of net zero had to drop the commitment, saying the government “accept[ed]” the CCC verdict.

As FactCheck has previously reported, this u-turn was a significant reason for the collapse of the SNP’s coalition agreement with the Green party – and triggered a series of events that ultimately led to the resignation of Mr Swinney’s predecessor, Humza Yousaf.

The SNP manifesto promises to reach net zero in 2045 – five years earlier than the UK government’s current timeline.

Scotland has built more affordable homes per person than England or Wales

Mr Swinney claimed today that since his party took office in 2007, it has “delivered many more affordable houses, per head of population, than England or Wales”. The manifesto puts figures on this: 40 per cent more than England and 70 per cent more than Wales.

This is backed up by figures from the Scottish government. But as FactCheck has previously reported, the SNP’s current housing target to build “110,000 energy efficient, affordable homes by 2032” is in jeopardy.

Although we’re still some years off that deadline, a leaked document obtained by Labour – apparently comprising briefing notes meant for the SNP’s housing minister – shows the Scottish government privately describes the target as “at risk” and is considering pushing back the deadline.

And official stats reveal that the number of affordable homes getting planning approval – as well as those where work has recently started – are at their lowest levels since 2014-15.

The SNP-Green coalition government also announced in February that it would cut the budget for delivering the target by 26 per cent, which the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland said could have paid for “around 2,000 social homes”.

Drug deaths

The SNP manifesto promises to “take a public health approach to tackle the drug deaths crisis”. It proposes “decriminalising drugs for personal use” and “allowing Supervised Drug Consumption Facilities”.

For context, Scotland’s rate of drug deaths has rocketed since 2000. National Records of Scotland says that despite a fall in the most recent year’s data, “drug misuse deaths are still much more common than they were in 2000.”

“After adjusting for age, there were 3.7 times as many drug misuse deaths in 2022 as in 2000”, it says.

The same official analysis also notes that “The rate of drug poisoning deaths in Scotland was 2.7 times as high as the UK average in 2021 (the most recent year that data is available for the UK).”

The SNP was contacted for comment.

Picture credit: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock