The SSP was one of three parties in Yes Scotland,[9] the official cross-party campaign for Scottish independence in the 2014 referendum, with national co-spokesperson Colin Fox sitting on its advisory board.

The period following that election saw sustained growth for the SSP, where it doubled in size in twelve months, and the RMT trade union affiliated to the party.

One of the first bills the SSP put forward in Holyrood was the Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Act 2001, aimed at reforming the debt recovery systems in Scotland.

The party also presented bills to replace the council tax with an income-based alternative,[10] for the abolition of prescription charges,[11] and the introduction of free school meals.

The party ran ten candidates at the 2010 general election, and said the blame for the eventual Conservative victory lay "with New Labour and the failure of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown these last thirteen years, who have, quite frankly, exploited working people, with the poorest and most vulnerable being hit hardest".

The SSP's national co-spokesperson, Colin Fox, was invited to sit on its advisory board at the insistence of Yes Scotland's non-partisan chief executive, Blair Jenkins, in the face of SNP opposition.

[23] After the announcement of the referendum result, in which the pro-union Better Together campaign won; the SSP was amongst the political parties that reported significant increases in their membership levels.

[36][37][38] When the make-up of the Smith Commission was announced, Colin Fox protested the decision to "uniquely exclude" the SSP from proceedings.

He wrote to the Smith Commission: "The argument some use to justify our exclusion on the grounds that we currently have no 'parliamentary representation' fails to appreciate that the referendum was not a parliamentary process, but an unprecedented public debate that resulted in an extraordinary level of engagement from all sections of society.

"[39] The SSP made a written submission which called for wide-ranging fiscal autonomy, with all tax revenues raised in Scotland to be spent by the Scottish Parliament.

[43] Members called for the abolition of the Offensive Behaviour Act, for fracking to be banned, a lowering of the State Pension age to 55, scrapping TTIP,[44] and to support a pro-independence electoral alliance for the 2015 Westminster election in Scotland, which failed to emerge.

[46] The SSP stood four candidates at the election on a manifesto pledging to introduce a £10 minimum wage, ban zero hour contracts, nationalise the energy industry – including oil and gas fields – and end austerity.

[47] Following the party's failure to make a breakthrough at that election, the SSP's annual conference voted "to begin negotiations with other socialists about presenting an electoral alliance for 2016".

The party has argued the case for a Scottish socialist republic without a monarchy or nuclear weapons, with a greatly reduced level of military spending and a relationship with the European Union that safeguards Scotland's independence.

[57] Its support for a democratic republic[58] and an independent currency[59] is at odds with the SNP's opinion that the Union of the Crowns and use of the pound sterling should continue.

SSP member and former Labour MP and MSP John McAllion has said socialists "cannot be fellow travellers on [the SNP's] road to independence".

As such, it supports the rights of asylum seekers to settle there, without fear of detention or deportation; opposes the expansion of the UK state, for example through ID cards; and seeks the abolition of the monarchy.

The Scottish Socialist Party has supported Scotland's continued membership of the European Union, though condemned its structure as a "neoliberal trap" and "an undemocratic, capitalist institution that puts big business interests before workers".

[65] A bill proposing a progressive system of taxation based on a household's income was presented in 2005, but was defeated with 12 MSPs in favour, 94 against, and 6 abstaining.

[69] This claimed to be able to eradicate the stigma associated with the current means-tested system and also ensure that meals provided in school conformed to minimal nutritional standards.

Such a scheme in Hasselt, Belgium, revived by the provision of free public transport, and was a key plank of the Greater London Council's policy platform in the early 1980s.

[77] The SSP also aim to establish a Scottish National Bus Corporation, which would be publicly owned and democratically run by regional boards.

On the expiration of the First ScotRail franchise in November 2014, the SSP called for it to be transferred to a publicly owned and democratically managed Scottish National Rail Corporation.

[81] It has also proposed the provision of synthetic heroin on NHS Scotland under medical supervision in order to undermine the black market for drugs and combat the social and health problems caused by illegal drug use in working-class communities, as well as calling for the expansion of residential rehabilitation and detoxification facilities for addicts seeking treatment.

He also said that "The case for a National Care Service [...] is supported by eminent public health clinicians such as Professor Allyson Pollock of Newcastle University".

The party claims that by having a higher minimum wage, people would feel more secure, and in turn spend more; which would invest in local economies.

[92] In 2009, the grandmother of Dundee soldier Kevin Elliot, who died in Afghanistan, joined the party because of its firm anti-war stance.

[93] The party has also campaigned against rendition flights, including introducing a debate in the Scottish Parliament over the issue,[94] and against the lack of response from the UK government in Israel's war on Lebanon.

[28] The party's published pamphlets since 2013 include the following: In 2015, the party published Break the Chains, a book by SSP workplace organiser Richie Venton in which he argues the case for an immediate £10 an hour minimum wage, without discrimination; a national maximum wage; a shorter working week; and strategies to "unchain the unions".