Atlas / Organisations / Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
SNP · 1934– · Scotland, Britain · Civic Nationalist · Electoral party · coding confidence high
Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →
Core principles
Independence for Scotland pursued entirely by referendum, combined with social democratic policy and an explicitly civic definition of the nation.
Economic model
Free tuition and prescriptions, a Scottish child payment, higher income tax bands, opposition to austerity.
Organisation of powers
Devolved government since 2007; a legally agreed independence referendum in 2014, lost 45–55 and accepted.
Reading note
The clearest civic-nationalist coordinate in the dataset: residence rather than ancestry defined who could vote on the nation's existence.
Check a claim about Scottish National Party. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.
Open in the atlasThe evidence for every score
All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.
EC · Economic organisation · scored −04
Coded −4: free tuition and prescriptions funded by higher income tax bands.
- Documented act or statuteScotland has had distinct income tax bands since 2018, with higher rates above around £43,000.
CU · Social and cultural order · scored −06
Coded −6: liberal social legislation ahead of the rest of the UK.
- Documented act or statuteLegislated same-sex marriage in 2014 and made period products free by law in 2020.
AU · Organisation of power · scored −04
Coded −4: devolved parliament under proportional representation, and a referendum it agreed to lose.
- Documented act or statuteThe Edinburgh Agreement of 2012 committed both governments to respect the result.
SC · Scale of decision · scored −07
Coded −7: independence, and maximum devolution short of it.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2014 referendum was lost 45 to 55 and the result was accepted.
ID · Rule of membership · scored −03
Coded −3: residence, not ancestry, defined the franchise on the nation's existence.
- Documented act or statuteEU and Commonwealth citizens resident in Scotland voted in 2014; Scots living elsewhere in the UK did not.
CH · Method and tempo · scored −05
Coded −5: entirely constitutional throughout.
- Documented act or statuteHas sought a second referendum through legislation and the supreme court, which ruled against it in 2022.
Where it came from, and what came after
- was succeeded byCatalan Independence Movement
The same demand pursued through an agreed legal route and outside one.
Nearest organisations by measured distance
Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.
- Kurdish Democratic Movement5.7
- EH Bildu6.0
- Utopian Socialism6.2
- Guild Socialism6.6
- Dravidian Movement6.8
- CPI(M) and the Kerala Model6.8
Countries
Cite this page
Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.
Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.