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Scotland’s first minister promises a council tax freeze, jobs for the young and 100% renewable energy if SNP returns to power Alex Salmond has promised to deliver a five-year council tax freeze, 100,000 new jobs for the young and 100% renewable energy by 2020 if the Scottish National party is returned to power in the Holyrood election. Speaking as he unveiled the SNP’s manifesto for May’s poll, Salmond said only his party had the ambition and vision to make Scotland a fairer and more just country. He told several hundred party activists and candidates: “This manifesto is for the whole of the country, not a part of it, not a social group, not a section. This is a manifesto for the whole of Scotland.” The first minister sought to strike a very different tone to Labour’s often aggressive attacks on the Conservatives by indirectly accusing his opponents – who remain narrowly ahead in the polls – of running a negative campaign. Salmond avoided naming any of his opponents, but said: “Some people say when times are tough, the politics of vision is a luxury you can’t afford. “I take the opposite view. When times are tough and you’re moving through hard times and you’re seeing the country and economy recover, it’s precisely then that vision is at a premium. “It’s precisely then that vision is required in Scotland. And we have a vision for a free, just and independent country.” Even so, the SNP’s manifesto offers far fewer of the ambitious but undelivered pledges it made in 2007, including a £2bn promise to pay off all student debts and introduce a new local income tax. Already attacked by its opponents for making scores of broken promises in 2007, the SNP is anxious to avoid the renewed charge of promising unachievable policies. Instead, Salmond said a second SNP government would build on its record of achievement. That would include: • Raising the Scottish target for renewable power for the third time in less than a year to 100% by 2020 • Freezing the council tax for the five-year lifetime of the next parliament, at a cost of £1bn, with a promise to reform local taxation for the following parliament in 2016 • Increasing NHS funding by £1bn over the next four years • Guaranteeing free universities for Scottish students and repairing half of Scotland’s “crumbling” schools • Attracting £2.5bn of private investment in capital projects, such as the new Forth bridge, in a further move away from the SNP’s 2007 pledge to abandon privately-funded public construction schemes • A £250m Scottish Futures Fund to promote broadband investment, pre-school education, green transport and home energy efficiency. Salmond’s promise to meet all of Scotland’s domestic electricity needs with renewable energy will provoke scepticism from energy companies and financiers. He has already admitted that tens of billions of pounds of private and state investment would be needed within the decade to achieve his last target, unveiled last September, of 80% renewable generation by 2020. How that money will be found remains unclear, but Salmond insisted that 130,000 green jobs would be created in Scotland, making the country a world leader in renewable and marine energy technologies. “We’re going to engineer the 21st century, just as this country once engineered the 19th century,” he said, to loud applause. Unlike the last Holyrood campaign, when the SNP had enjoyed a clear lead in the opinion polls for months, party officials admit Labour are still narrowly ahead with just three weeks to go before polling day. The SNP believes the gap is closing, but Salmond is refusing to make any public predictions about winning. The manifesto is also more muted about the SNP’s goal of achieving full independence within the next parliament. It promises to hold the now delayed referendum on independence but does not set a date. Salmond did promise, however, that a new SNP government would press hard for its more realisable goal of increased fiscal freedom for Holyrood. The first minister played down expectations that the SNP would seek a coalition with a smaller opposition party such as the Liberal Democrats. He said he would prefer to lead another minority government – a model which had proven highly successful in the last four years. “We have the incalculable advantage of being able to point to our record of achievement for the past four years,” he said. Buried in the manifesto were other pledges, including proposals to increase state support for the poorest students to £7,000 a year, allowing local councils to levy special taxes on businesses to fund new building and infrastructure projects, and keeping the £2m a year Expo and Made in Scotland grants schemes for the Edinburgh festivals. Scottish elections 2011 Scottish politics Scottish National Party (SNP) Alex Salmond Elections 2011 Scotland Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk