With only a week to go before the next Scottish Parliament election, what commitments have each party made on environmental rights and access to justice?
We have reviewed the manifestos of the SNP, Scottish Labour, Scottish Greens, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish Conservatives, and Reform UK to see where each party stands on these critical issues.
Please note, ERCS is independent of political parties and is not endorsing any candidates; this blog is for information purposes only.
The right to a healthy environment
Only the Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish Greens explicitly mention the right to a healthy environment in their manifestos.
Scottish Liberal Democrats commit to ‘champion human rights legislation’ and:
‘Ensure Scotland has high environmental standards by recognising everyone’s human right to a healthy environment, work closely with our European neighbours and avoid falling behind best practice.’
Scottish Greens commit to:
‘Ensure the [Human Rights] Bill will recognise the right to a healthy environment, incorporating rights to access clean water, air, greenspace and nature, with these rights enforceable in a new Scottish Environmental court.’
SNP commit to:
‘Introduce the Human Rights Bill in the next parliament and incorporate a range of conventions into Scots Law.’
While they do not explicitly mention the right to a healthy environment in their manifesto, SNP Ministers have previously indicated that they will included this as a standalone right within the Bill.
Scottish Labour does not mention new human rights legislation in its manifesto, but does include a section on ‘standing up for human rights,’ where it commits to:
‘Boosting the work of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, ensuring it is properly resourced and empowered to review and advise on the implementation of human rights in Scotland, and exploring the potential creation of a rapporteur model.’
Neither the Scottish Conservatives nor Reform UK include manifesto commitments on this topic.
Access to justice: legal aid and a Scottish Environment Court
There is cross-party consensus on the need for reform to broaden access to legal aid, but otherwise only the Scottish Greens include specific commitments on environmental justice or establishing an environmental court.
Scottish Greens commit to:
‘Properly-funded legal aid and other mechanisms will ensure that people without access to legal advice can hold public bodies to account where they feel their rights have not been upheld.’
‘Require environmental rights and justice checks on all planning and infrastructure decisions.’
‘Establish a Scottish Environmental Court, accessible to individuals and communities, to hear cases on pollution, biodiversity loss and corporate environmental crime, with strong enforcement powers. This could include challenging projects such as major new road building and public subsidies for polluting companies’
SNP commit to:
‘Introduce further reforms through a Legal Aid Reform Bill in our first year to ensure we have a responsive legal assistance framework that ensures fair access to justice for all those who need it.’
Scottish Labour commit to:
‘Improve access to legal aid solicitors, particularly in underserved areas across the country.‘
Scottish Liberal Democrats commit to:
‘Enabling people to exercise their rights whatever the challenge and wherever they live through consistent and funded provision of advocacy services, securely funded legal aid, mediation and arbitration.’
The Scottish Conservatives commit to:
‘A holistic review into legal aid provision in Scotland, involving all relevant parties, to examine whether the current system is fit for purpose and where it is falling short…Launch a holistic review into legal aid provision in Scotland involving legal experts, criminal justice agencies and victims.’
Reform UK did not include any manifesto commitments on this topic.
Sewage Pollution
SNP, Scottish Labour, Scottish Liberal Democrats, and Scottish Greens all include manifesto commitments to improve the quality of Scotland’s waterways and tackle sewage pollution.
SNP commit to:
‘Learn from the examples of projects like the Copenhagen Harbour Baths and river pools to bring our urban waterways into better use. We will commission feasibility studies on the viability and cost of bringing urban waterways like the Govan Graving Docks in Glasgow, and Wardie Bay and sections of the Water of Leith in Edinburgh into safe usage.’
Scottish Liberal Democrats commit to ‘tackle sewage dumping and introduce a Clean Water Act’ by:
‘Replacing outdated sewage standards, moving towards monitoring 100% of sewage overflows so every dump is monitored and recorded and setting long-term reduction targets.
Supporting means to rainproof communities and slow the flow of water through the landscape to reduce sewage and flooding, including through blue-green infrastructure, the use of permeable materials, pollinator-friendly living roofs and sustainable drainage systems for buildings.
Modernising outdated rules and monitoring for bathing waters so that they cover all users, all year round, and open a route for community groups to request monitoring prior to an event.
Bringing in the ban on the sale and supply of wet wipes containing plastic, and request that the UK Government improves labelling of other sanitary products to stop them entering the sewage system.’
Scottish Greens commit to:
‘Introduce a Clean Water Bill that will ensure all of Scotland’s rivers and lochs are clean and safe for nature, swimming and recreation. We will require 100% monitoring of sewage overflows, accompanied by statutory action requirements, and tighter controls on use of chemicals in and around our waterways.’
Scottish Labour commit to ‘clean up Scotland’s water’ by:
‘Increasing monitoring of sewage overflows as a priority, boosting coverage to match levels elsewhere in the UK and improving transparency by making real-time data available to the public.
Protecting water sports participants, expanding testing at water sports sites, reviewing the pollutants monitored and ensuring regulators hold polluters to account.
Promoting nature-based mitigations which restore freshwater habitats and reduce the impact of flooding.’
Neither the Scottish Conservatives nor Reform UK include manifesto commitments on this topic.
Ecocide
In the previous Scottish Parliament, Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon secured cross-party backing from the SNP, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish and Scottish Greens for her Ecocide (Scotland) Bill. However this legislation was not completed before the end of the parliamentary session.
Scottish Greens are the only party to include a specific manifesto commitment on ecocide, committing to:
‘Bring forward a Scottish Corporate Accountability and Ecocide Bill criminalising severe environmental harm and widening liability for corporate executives.’
Air pollution from engine idling
Scottish Greens commit to:
‘Deliver cleaner air in communities by supporting expanded Low Emission Zones, stronger monitoring, and action on engine idling and harmful emissions.’
No other party made explicit reference to engine idling, however the Scottish Conservatives state that they would ‘oppose the introduction of additional costs for drivers such as boundary charges, tolls or congestion charges,’ and Reform UK pledges to ‘end the SNP war on the motor car and abolish ULEZ.’
Conclusion: what happens now is up to you
As we face the triple planetary crisis of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss and the pollution of our air, land and water, bold action is more important than ever. Scottish voters now have the power to decide who governs Scotland for the next five years. Political parties have set out their positions – what happens next is up to you.
Want to know more about ERCS’s manifesto asks? Read our summary or our full Advocacy Manifesto for more detail.
