SNP policy officials have selected a shortlist of priority resolutions for the first time, aimed at encouraging “genuine debate” at the party’s conference in autumn.
The Policy Development Committee has sent a message to members identifying 12 motions out of a total of 56 on the longlist which it thinks should make the final agenda.
These include a call to enact buffer zone legislation for abortion services and to raise the formal school starting age to six.
The topics on the list also include land reform, revitalising Scotland’s ferry links, tax and the living wage and homelessness.
Other resolutions condemning the UK’s Rwanda plan for asylum seekers and calling for alternatives to immigration detention have also been put forward.
The energy crisis is addressed in motions on pre-payment meters, carbon capture technology and the transition to renewable energy, while a call for a new steering group to look at local government reform is also on the list.
The cost-of-living crisis will be the subject of a new topical resolution which will be submitted closer to the conference date, to reflect the rapidly changing circumstances.
A resolution to lift those earning the Living Wage out of income tax has also been selected as a priority.
However proposals on the adopting of a code of conduct for the wider independence campaign and tackling the threat of disinformation have not been included.
In a message sent to SNP members, policy development convener Toni Giugliano stated: “The Policy Development Committee of the party has discussed the long-list of resolutions for conference and has chosen to provide an opinion on the resolutions that should make the final agenda.
"All resolutions on the long-list are worthy of consideration and it is of course up to delegates to vote for their resolutions of choice when the priority ballot is issued next week.
“However, the directly elected Policy Development Committee encourages delegates to consider this priority list.”
Giugliano told The National: “The Policy Development Committee is directly elected by delegates at conference each year.
"This year’s committee took the view that it should play a role in setting out the issues that it believes are a priority for the final agenda. Over 130 resolutions were originally submitted. Committee members voted on the resolutions to prioritise.
"The criteria that was used to inform this opinion included the following considerations: whether the proposal would significantly improve people’s lives; whether it was in Scotland’s national interest and whether it would generate genuine debate.”
He added: “Members have a central role in building the case for independence.
"The policy passed at conference forms part of the prospectus for a new Scotland.
“That’s why the Policy Committee is asking members to embrace innovation, evidence-based policy and real ambition for Scotland.”
SNP members are now being asked to vote on which resolutions they would like to see debated.
A final agenda for the conference, which takes place in Aberdeen in October, will be published on Friday, September 9.
Giugliano said: “This is one of the last conferences before the referendum or de facto referendum.
“The policies that we pass send a powerful message about the kind of Scotland we want to build with independence. Delegates have a really crucial role here.
“I’m asking them to look beyond the steady as she goes approach and instead embrace innovation, evidence-based policy and true ambition.”
