• Chamberlain: Peach ballot key to holding SNP to account on secrecy and broken promises
• Vote to cut the cost of living urges Scot Lib Dem leader
• Scottish Lib Dems lay out manifesto plans to tackle violence against women
• Greene: Tory downfall due to Findlay and Badenoch’s leadership

Chamberlain: Peach ballot key to holding SNP to account on secrecy and broken promises

Speaking ahead of the SNP’s manifesto launch, Scottish Liberal Democrat deputy leader and campaign chair Wendy Chamberlain MP has urged Scots to use their peach ballot paper to give their verdict on the SNP’s record of secrecy and broken promises.

The party’s chief whip at Westminster said that the SNP’s behaviour in government had undermined public trust in devolution and that Scots could use their vote to show their dissatisfaction.

The MP for North East Fife also highlighted the SNP’s failure to deliver on key pledges, including recruitment in education, income tax, and developing an app for the Scottish NHS.

At the election, Scots can have their say on the secrecy and decline that Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf, and John Swinney have presided over and back the Scottish Liberal Democrats calls for accountability and transparency in government.

Wendy Chamberlain MP said:

From Salmond to Swinney, the SNP have created a culture of secrecy and broken promises which has had a highly damaging impact on the level of public trust.

From questions of financial mismanagement to the failure to hold people like Jordan Linden to account for unacceptable behaviour, it would seem that there is something fundamentally rotten at the core of the SNP.

Scots are still waiting for promises on recruitment in our schools and income tax to be fulfilled and to be able to access the NHS via an app, like people in England can. Swinney and Sturgeon deleted their Covid WhatsApp messages. The ferry network is a mess and pledges on educational attainment have been dropped.

No one will believe a word that their manifesto says.

At the election, Scots can use their second peach regional ballot paper to repair the damage the SNP has caused by backing the Scottish Liberal Democrats who are committed to transparency, accountability, and to change with fairness at its heart.

Vote to cut the cost of living urges Scot Lib Dem leader

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today visited a hair salon in Edinburgh for a fresh trim as he set out proposals for cutting the cost of living for people and businesses.

Speaking ahead of the launch of the Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto on Friday, Mr Cole-Hamilton outlined his party’s plans for putting more money in people’s pockets, including:

• Insulating cold homes and using Scottish renewable energy to drive down household bills.
• Helping working families with the cost of childcare.
• Increasing support for unpaid carers by £400 a year.
• Helping people with terminal illness with their energy bills.
• Making it easier to do business and stop sudden tax hikes threatening successful employers by reforming business rates.
• Building more homes people can afford.
• Across the UK, cutting fuel duty by 10p, bringing down prices at the pump by 12p per litre, cutting the VAT on public EV charging, and introducing a cap on home heating oil.
• Rebuilding our relationship with Europe.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

I’m confident that I knock on more doors than any of the other Scottish party leaders and everyone is worried about their skyhigh bills, from heating oil to mortgage costs, filling up at the pump to keeping their business open.

We’d kickstart the building of more homes that people can afford, like dedicated keyworker housing, whereas the SNP cut the housing budget by £200m in the middle of a housing crisis

Liberal Democrats are on the side of the people of Scotland. A 10p cut to fuel duty and measures to support EV drivers would help get Scotland moving again.

We would pair that with investment in renewables to make Scotland more resilient in the long term and secure jobs and energy supplies into the future.

Russell Findlay, Nigel Farage and Lord Offord should apologise for cheering on Trump’s illegal war with Iran which is driving up the costs for ordinary, hardworking families. The other parties should not just sit back and let Trump’s illegal action bring Scotland’s economy to a standstill. If you want change with fairness at its heart, you should back Scottish Liberal Democrats on your peach, regional ballot paper.

Scottish Lib Dems lay out manifesto plans to tackle violence against women

Scottish Liberal Democrat deputy leader Wendy Chamberlain MP has today announced her party’s manifesto plans to tackle violence against women and girls, which includes ending long delays to the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Act and creating specific offences around prejudice against women.

Despite the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2021 passing five years ago, the SNP government have still to implement two of its key provisions: domestic abuse protection notices and domestic abuse protection orders.

Notices would allow the police to require a perpetrator to leave a victim’s home immediately after an incident. Orders would give a sheriff the power to impose certain requirements or prohibitions against a perpetrator.

The Scottish Women’s Rights Centre has warned that this delay means victims and their children “remain at serious risk of further abuse and harm”.

In their manifesto, Scottish Liberal Democrats are committing to:

• End delays and bring Part 1 of the Domestic Abuse Act into effect to introduce greater protections for victims.
• Bring in separate offences targeting prejudice against and contempt for women.
• Give victims a single point of contact within a local authority so they only need to tell their story once.
• Introduce a duty on councils to ensure all housing and frontline staff are trained to detect and respond to domestic abuse.
• Protect the ‘fund to leave’, championed by the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
• Make it a legal presumption that a domestic abuse perpetrator will be the one required to leave the shared home.
• Crack down on offenders acting vexatiously in court and exerting control over survivors.
• Implement the Istanbul Convention so that there are protections for all survivors regardless of nationality or immigration status.
• Implement the provisions in the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2020.

Scottish Liberal Democrat research revealed that officers attended 5,945 domestic incidents over the Christmas period between 1st December 2024 and 3rd January 2025.

Wendy Chamberlain MP said:

Violence against women and girls is disturbingly prevalent across Scotland.

Scottish Liberal Democrats believe in fairness for everyone, no matter who you are or where you come from.

It’s why we are committed to long-term, systematic change in our police, in our health service, in our schools and more to deliver for women and girls.

In practical terms, that means ending delays to the introduction of key domestic abuse protections, making it easier for women to come forward and tell their stories, and cracking down on horrific practices like female genital mutilation.

Violence against women and girls is a national emergency- we cannot afford to fall behind in our response.

By backing the Scottish Liberal Democrats on your peach, regional ballot paper in May, you can vote for a party that will strive to end this violence for good.

Greene: Tory downfall due to Findlay and Badenoch’s leadership

The Scottish Conservatives’ downward spiral has accelerated as a result of their lurch to the right under Kemi Badenoch and Russell Findlay, Scottish Liberal Democrat economy spokesperson Jamie Greene has said.

He went on to say that moderate, pro-UK voters who backed Ruth Davidson could find a home in the Scottish Lib Dems as he has.

Mr Greene made his remarks as the two Tory bosses gathered in Edinburgh to address their remaining supporters.

Greene, who is standing in Inverclyde, left the Scottish Tories to join the Liberal Democrats just over a year ago, pointing to the Tories abandonment of the centre ground and their race to compete with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Under Findlay and Badenoch, the Scottish Tories have seen their polling numbers tumble, with some polls showing that they will go from second place to being the smallest party represented at Holyrood, with Russell Findlay at risk of losing his seat.

Jamie Greene said:

Russell Findlay and Kemi Badenoch have dragged the Tory party so far to the right that it’s not surprising that your average Lib Dem canvassing session generates more buzz than their press conference.

When I left, I said it was because of this rightward shift and, if the polls are anything to go by, a whole lot of people who previously backed the Tories thought the same thing and have walked out.

The sensible, compassionate, pro-UK voters who backed Ruth Davidson now have a new home in Scottish politics with the Liberal Democrats, and they can show it by backing us on the peach ballot paper wherever they are.

While the Tories continue to obsess over culture war issues and making life harder for the most vulnerable, the Scottish Liberal Democrats are fighting for change with fairness at its heart, including better GP and NHS dentist access, fixing the crisis in care, and supporting small business.