With one year left until the election, the four opposition parties have now presented their alternatives to the government's and the Sweden Democrats' budget for 2026. A taste of what they want to go to the election with.
All four want – although to varying degrees – to have a different climate policy, invest more in healthcare and schools than the government, put more money into infrastructure and increase aid.
But there are also major differences and it is easy to imagine what they would argue about in potential future budget negotiations.
Take, for example, the view on benefits.
The Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Green Party all want to raise child benefits next year and strengthen unemployment insurance. The Centre Party, on the other hand, wants to save several billion kronor on unemployment insurance and reduce child benefits from the second child, and they also say no to the government's proposal to lower the maximum fee in preschool.
Requirements for Centre Party support
The Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Green Party say a clear no to the government's proposal to temporarily abolish employer contributions for young people. The Centre Party, on the other hand, has as one of its most important measures not only to abolish employer contributions for young people, but also for small businesses and the long-term unemployed.
If you want the Centre Party's support going forward, you need to pursue a very active job policy, you need to reduce the costs for businesses to hire. That is our starting point for the budget process in the autumn, but also for the election campaign and upcoming negotiations after that, says Centre Party leader Anna-Karin Hatt.
Overall, the Centre Party has a liberal view on economic policy. This is also evident when it comes to the government's proposal for a new job tax deduction. The Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Green Party say to some extent yes to the tax cut, but they want a different profile so that low-income earners benefit more. The Centre Party not only says yes to the entire proposal, but also wants to lower taxes even more.
Conflict over taxes
Another point on the list of conflicts is the proposal from the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Green Party for a new bank tax.
We are not a tax-raising party. We are not going to the election on raising any taxes, says Hatt.
But the Social Democrats' economic policy spokesperson Mikael Damberg downplays the differences.
I think there is a fairly large consensus in the entire opposition that what is really serious is that this government has failed with its growth policy, that it does not take welfare commitments seriously and that it has failed groups with weak economies. And that criticism exists, then you choose different ways to handle it.
