Why the SNP should be far too busy to agitate for Scottish independence
Given the state of Scotland and the need to make massive public sector savings, John Swinney and his ministers have more than enough to do
Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra was absolutely right when he told John Swinney that “Scotland risks a decade of distraction” because of planned public sector reform.
Proposals to reduce the number of health boards and introduce a new structure for local government would “upend the whole of our NHS, our social work system, all of our schools and the entirety of local government, all at the same time”, Marra said during First Minister’s Questions.
However, despite this, there is an inescapable need to cut government bureaucracy, both to free up more money for frontline services, chief among them the NHS, and also to fill a looming £5 billion black hole in the Scottish government’s finances.
Heads finally removed from sand
During their last term of office, the SNP did little to make any real efficiency savings and, indeed, recklessly allowed the growth of an already bloated civil service. May’s Holyrood election appears to have marked a turning point, at least in rhetoric, with Swinney and co finally removing their heads from the sand.
Delaying recognition that they had no choice but to face reality and make serious cuts until after the election may have helped them return to power, but it also meant that the problems they now face are larger than they might have been.
Marra pointed to the housing crisis and efforts to reduce child poverty, in particular, as issues that might suffer because of a lack of ministerial attention. However, his list could have been considerably longer. The economy, education, health, police, firefighters... it’s hard to think of any major issue or public service that the SNP can claim is doing as well as it should.
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A difficult job
The simple truth is that the SNP need to deliver massive public sector reforms while also doing their ‘day job’ far more effectively than they have done in the past.
We would suggest that spending less time agitating for independence and blaming Westminster would help. No one says government is easy. It is an extremely difficult job, even during the best of times.
Somehow the SNP needs to discover a talent for good governance that has hitherto escaped them. For all our sakes, we wish them well.
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