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Mental health and party manifestos

17th April 2026

On 7 May, Scotland will elect a new Scottish Parliament. With all major political parties* having published their manifestos – setting out what they will do if they become the next Scottish Government – now is the time to see how they intend to address Scotland’s mental health crisis.

After a year of intensive work engaging with all parties, we recently published our own manifesto, Taking Action for Scotland’s Mental Health, which sets out the actions we believe politicians need to prioritise.

We called for more funding for mental health and better community mental health support – including a wider rollout of The Nook, our national network of free, walk-in community mental health hubs - as well as support for young people’s mental health and better resourcing for suicide prevention.

We also called on parties to support our Show Up campaign against stigma and discrimination, and commit to closing the gap in life expectancy between people with mental illness and those without.

So where do Scotland’s political parties stand on our asks?

The good

There is much to welcome, not least that all parties, except Reform UK, have made tangible commitments to improving Scotland’s mental health. Promising commitments and areas of (at least some!) consensus include:

The Nook and community mental health support

The Nook is already changing lives in Glasgow by providing non-clinical support without the need for referrals or a waiting list, in an accessible, stigma free environment.

There is welcome consensus across almost all of Scotland’s parties regarding The Nook and its model for a national network of walk-in mental health support hubs.

The Scottish National Party (SNP), the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Green Party and Scottish Liberal Democrats all pledge to roll out a network of walk-in services based on The Nook, with the SNP promising £10 million funding to roll out five Nooks over three years. Scottish Labour, while not explicitly referencing The Nook, do commit to improving access to self-referral mental health support through scaling up walk-in community services.

Young people's mental health

With a six-fold increase in people aged 16-24 reporting a mental health condition in the last census, and Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) rejecting over a third of referrals, it’s crucial the next Scottish Government makes young people’s mental health a priority.

One thing we believe can make a real difference is embedding link workers within CAMHS teams to support young people to access the most appropriate support, including in the community, while they wait. Both Labour and the Greens have committed to this.

Funding

To improve Scotland’s mental health, we urgently need the next Scottish Government to increase spending on mental health.

Commitments to real-terms increases from the Greens, Labour and Liberal Democrats are very welcome. The Greens have also promised increased funding for Integration Joint Boards to ensure expansion of community mental health provision. Labour have pledged that NHS funding for mental health will at least match spend elsewhere in the UK. We called for all these actions in our manifesto.

Other highlights

Other positives include commitments from both Labour and the Greens to abolish non-residential social care charges, which we know are a barrier to people accessing essential social care support. The Greens have also pledged to introduce ethical commissioning for social care – something we have long argued for – to ensure social care services are based on quality rather than a disproportionate focus on ‘value for money’.

The not so good – or just plain missing

Not everything we called for in our manifesto has been adopted by the parties. This won’t stop us campaigning hard for the next Scottish Government to make progress in these areas.

Suicide prevention

With nearly two people a day in Scotland dying by suicide, it’s disappointing that suicide prevention gets little mention from Scotland’s political parties. We do welcome the Liberal Democrats’ pledge to increase funding and lower rates of suicide though a focus on community suicide prevention.

Social security

Social security is an investment in Scotland’s people. We called for parties to commit to implementing the recommendations from the recent Independent Review of Adult Disability Payment, which supports people with the additional costs of disability. It is disappointing that only the Greens did so.

Indeed, we feel some of the recent rhetoric on social security stigmatises people with mental illness. We're concerned by social security proposals from the Conservatives and Reform which we believe would impact negatively on people with mental health problems.

Stigma and life expectancy

There’s nothing across any of the manifestos on stigma experienced by, or life expectancy of, people with mental illness. This needs to change in the next parliament.

Conclusion

Mental health must be a political priority. We’ll leave it for others to judge whether parties are following through, but we think there are some encouraging signs. Why not read the manifestos and make your choice?