A REPORT from Gordon Brown’s think tank argues that Scotland has had “too much politics”.
Our Scottish Future (OSF) – which we previously reported was among the groups “named and shamed for their secrecy” around who funds them – said that since devolution, Scottish politics “has not been short of ambitious pledges”.
The report cited Scottish Government commitments to close the attainment gap in education, achieve net-zero emissions, and deliver a new fleet of ferries for island communities.
But it said the issue “has been in actually making any of these things happen”.
The report argued that with two referendums, three general elections and two Holyrood elections since the start of 2014, decisions and announcements have been viewed “through an electoral and constitutional lens”.
Also noting the issue of Scottish independence and a second referendum on it, the report said it has increased the “proclivity for ‘government by press release’, for short-term thinking, and for avoiding unpopular decisions.”
It went on: “We see this in the ferry fiasco, in the failure to tackle the root causes of health inequalities, and in the gap between rhetoric and action on net-zero.”
Complaining Scotland has “too much government with too many announcements”, the report said the “swollen” number of ministers has resulted in increasing numbers of politicians “demanding to have something new to announce, rather than finishing and delivering what’s already there”.
It continued: “There is a tendency to announce strategies and consultations rather than solid plans for action – on average, there has been more than one strategy and more than one consultation announced every single week for the past decade. This is announcing, not governing.”
The report further highlighted a “failure to collaborate across the UK”, saying this means “things best done in consort end up being done apart, less effectively and less efficiently”.
It criticised the “failure of Scotland’s political establishment to tackle these issues”, saying: “We have, collectively, lacked the focus and the courage to follow through on the policy choices we say we want to make.”
It said the constitutional divide in Scottish politics has “not just distracted us from this task” but has “been a useful tool to put off the hard decisions our politicians must know need to be made”.
The reforms suggested include introducing a cap on the number of Scottish ministers “to ensure that there are enough backbenchers left in Holyrood to scrutinise legislation”.
It called for a shift in civil service recruitment practices “to bring in more external talent”, and for central institutions to be set up, “such as a First Ministerial Delivery Unit to push key priorities” and a “beefed up Scottish Treasury to bring more rigour and transparency to the budgeting and policy process”.
It also suggested the members and conveners of Holyrood committees should be “elected by their peers”, adding the cost of introducing salaries for committee conveners could be “met from the savings from cutting Government ministers”.
The report said: “The measures we suggest would go some way to closing the implementation gap.”
The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.
