Friday May 1st 2026
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Written by Glasgow View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Scottish Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay has urged John Swinney to match her party’s ambition for childcare.
She has also urged the SNP leader to back Green policies for the biggest expansion of free care for a generation.
This expansion will offer families across Scotland 1140 hours of funded childcare from the week after a child turns two with the Greens aiming to deliver the pledge ‘as soon as possible’.
Urging Swinney to support the plans in a letter, Mackay asked SNP to take the universal approach to ‘ensure no family has to jump through hoops or fall through cracks of a means-tested system’.
In the SNP manifesto, they made a large commitment towards childcare describing it as a ‘massive increase in childcare that leaves no one behind’. Projected to cost £540 million in the 2031/32 budget, under the plans all children from nine months to the end of primary school education will be entitled to childcare help.
Despite childcare taking priority in the SNP manifesto, the Greens explained that SNP have been ‘light on detail’ about the plans and have ‘appeared to back a means-tested model’.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) said, following the SNP’s manifesto announcement, that it is unclear how childcare payments would work in practice.
Also within Mackay’s letter to Swinney, she said:
“We are pleased to see the SNP following the lead of the Scottish Greens and committing to expanding funded childcare at this election. We both know the transformative potential of this policy, allowing more mothers in particular to return to work, and more children to benefit from the strong start in life that high quality childcare can provide.
She added: “We have noted however that the plans announced by the SNP seem to be lacking detail so far, with no confirmation of how many hours will be funded, who will be eligible, or how they will access them.
“I’m sure you’ll agree, going into an election it’s important to be transparent with voters about what parties are offering.”
The Scottish Green’s also announced that they will invest in staffing and nursery facilities, aiming to ensure that by the end of the parliamentary session, all families with children ages six months to two years can also access 570 hours of fully funded childcare.
Following her letter to Swinney, Mackay explained:
“We all agree that Scotland’s childcare system is not good enough. It is expensive, inflexible and forces too many parents to make really difficult choices about when to go back to work.
“This is an area where all parties should be able to work together.
“When we invest in childcare we are investing in parents and children and in building a society where families can flourish.
“Scotland’s parents and their children deserve a better deal. And every vote for the Scottish Greens on May 7th is a vote to deliver it.”
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