By Patrick Harvie
The parties bidding for your vote on Thursday have all made their case now, and it's too late for any more relaunches. From my admittedly partisan perspective, the two key dividing-lines are ambition and honesty.
The Tories have set out an unambitious manifesto, a programme for Scotland which would ensure we stick closely to David Cameron's ideological agenda. They would squeeze our public services and expose them even further to market forces, and they're the only party promising new charges for students.
But theirs is at least an honest and intellectually consistent position, despite the grave economic ignorance it displays and the social fallout that would follow. If you're not prepared to raise revenue, then handing on the cuts is the realistic outcome.
The Lib Dems have failed both tests, perhaps unsurprisingly. They've run a campaign on just two policies. First, they claim to be the only party opposing a national police force, despite knowing fine well that it is Scottish Green policy too. It's a real issue, which is why we share their concerns, but a dispute over the way in which police services are administered is hardly the stuff of inspirational campaigns.
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Their second claim is that by selling off Scottish Water's debt we can enjoy a one-off cash bonanza sufficient to fund the rest of their pledges, such as free higher education. To sell off a public asset so we can remortgage its debt is a bizarre line to take just now, just as we're starting to come out of a major economic downturn caused by this kind of debt-fuelled speculation. The logical conclusion of this wheeze is that the more in debt one public body is to another, the better off we'd all be. To top it all, we've seen yet more posturing in front of threatened post offices, while the UK government presses ahead with privatisation plans for Royal Mail. During this campaign, the Lib Dems have been both timid and dishonest with the electorate, although it is possible to find a shred of sympathy for Tavish Scott's situation. It can't be pleasant to have your credibility and an entire election undermined by decisions taken by colleagues elsewhere, decisions he undoubtedly had no say over. Despite their floundering campaign, which appears to centre on the idea that you'll get stabbed if the SNP win, Labour's manifesto can still be seen as ambitious in the context of Scotland's budget pressures. Like the SNP, they're promising a tax cut for the better off in the shape of a council tax freeze. Like the SNP, they're promising free higher education. Like the SNP they're making promises about protecting public services. The trouble is that these are fundamentally dishonest positions for parties who want to lead a Scottish government as their budgets get cut. The SNP's magic money is a supposed underspend on an unnecessary bridge, work on which has not yet begun – and hopefully never will. For their part, Labour are relying on the classic sleight of hand for the modern politician – non-specific efficiency savings. There are certainly inefficiencies in the public sector, but no one has yet found a good way of making savings that don't diminish frontline services or squeeze the terms and conditions of public sector staff. As Glasgow University's Centre for Public Policy for Regions points out, "this apparent refusal to accept the reality that faces the next Scottish government" means "voters are denied a real choice". As you might expect, I believe the Greens are the only party setting out an ambitious programme and being honest about how it would be paid for. Despite the frustratingly limited powers of the Scottish parliament, Holyrood can replace council tax and business rates with something both fairer and capable of plugging substantial gaps in the public finances. Our Land Value Tax plan would cut tax bills for more than 85 per cent of Scots households, with only those currently in the top three council tax bands paying more. The same change would close some serious tax loopholes, bringing in vacant commercial property and derelict land into the tax system for the first time. It's only fair – these are commercial assets, and the current approach is a financial incentive to continue land-banking and leave unproductive gap sites in our towns and cities. That's our honesty. And here's our ambition. Rather than token and short-term efforts on insulation, as proposed by other parties, we'd use the money to fund a comprehensive national insulation scheme to cut bills, boost jobs, and tackle both climate change and fuel poverty. We'd reverse the cuts to local authority services set out in the last SNP budget, a move which would directly benefit not just public sector staff but also everyone who relies on those local services. And unlike Labour, the SNP or the Lib Dems, we know how we'd keep funding free higher education, as well as reversing the revenue cuts to further education too. By turning Scotland's transport policy around, we plan to save billions from motorway schemes that can be better spent on improving public transport and keeping fares down. We'd also start the most substantial house-building programme in decades to help tackle homelessness and help people on lower incomes get their own place too. We'd go beyond the current debate about percentage targets for green energy, and invest in public and community ownership to make sure that a share of the eyewatering profits about to made from renewables are kept for the public good. This is a crucial election. It's about more than who hides from whom in a supermarket, or who's got the most bankers and tax exiles backing them. It will set Scotland's future for far longer than just this five-year term. No one has ever got an overall majority at Holyrood, and I can't see that changing on Thursday. If you want a government to make deeper cuts, then you should hope for the Tories to end up holding the balance of power. If you want a strong parliament, pushing the next Scottish government to be both more ambitious and more honest with the public, a second vote for the Greens is the only alternative. – Patrick Harvie is the co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, and is a regional list candidate in the Glasgow region on 5 May.Want to discuss other issues? Join the debate on our new Scottish Voices forum
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