Scathing report from Gordon Brown's think tank warns SNP government 'struggles to deliver'
A new report has called for next year’s election to be a chance to reset how Scotland is governed
Scathing research from former prime minister Gordon Brown’s think tank has found Holyrood “struggles to deliver for the people of Scotland” with next year’s election seen as a “real chance to reset how Scotland is governed”.
The new report from the Our Scottish Future think tank, drew on interviews with senior public servants, and has warned that Scotland’s system of government is broken and not delivering for the people of Scotland.
Based on extensive interviews with senior civil servants working across the Scottish Government, local authorities and Scotland’s network of public bodies, the report concludes that the government is failing at both ministerial and official levels, issuing a stark warning that politics and presentation have increasingly eclipsed effective policy-making and delivery.
The study suggests that government in Scotland is characterised by short termism and excessive central control, with damaging consequences for economic and social wellbeing.
While not claiming that Scottish devolution as a concept and principle has failed, the report warns that “some MSPs on the government benches as well as in opposition are very keenly aware of government’s shortcomings but can see no way to influence them”.
The document adds: “It is an irony that devolution to Scotland has reproduced some of the worst failings of the British parliamentary system, only more so.”
The report makes bold recommendations for change for whoever forms the next Scottish Government after May’s election to be more effective.
The report, authored by Our Scottish Future’s chairman, Professor Jim Gallagher, a former senior civil servant in Edinburgh and Whitehall, finds that Scotland is performing worse than the rest of the UK on some of the most important measures of national wellbeing.
Life expectancy has been falling more in Scotland than in England, and is now sitting at a ten-year low while educational attainment has also decreased overall and educational inequality widened, according to the internationally-recognised PISA measures.
One civil servant warned that “the requirement to avoid alienating any public support for the SNP and independence stymied politicians’ willingness to think about any idea that might require substantial short-term unpopularity”.
They added: “That grew and grew from 2010 to 2014 and it’s never diminished since then, it’s become an established way of thinking.”
Prof Gallagher said: “Despite high levels of public spending, Scotland is not much healthier, wealthier or wiser.
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“Public services are struggling, with no plausible strategy to reform or improve them, and some spectacular delivery failures on issues such as the deposit return scheme and the ferries fiasco have cost the public purse - and the Scottish public - dearly. On top of that, a fiscal crisis is looming.
“What is most striking from our conversations with a wide range of senior public servants, all with first-hand experience of working with or in the Scottish Government, is the consistency of their views.
“Everyone we spoke to, indeed just about everyone in Scottish public life, knows we have a big problem. Government struggles to deliver for the people of Scotland. Politics has overwhelmed public policy. Announcing has increasingly replaced governing. Delivery and implementation are faltering, and reform and modernisation of public services has stalled. Politics is at the root of the problem, but the civil service machine itself is also struggling to perform effectively.”
The report calls first for a swift, short-life review ahead of May’s election to prepare clear advice for any incoming administration on how to govern more effectively.
Our Scottish Future has also called for regional government to be rebuilt with a core focus on economic development and has argued for a new approach to public sector reform and the creation of a stronger central financial function, akin to a Scottish Exchequer, to ensure more effective financial accountability of ministers.
Prof Gallagher added: “As we look ahead to the 2026 election, there is a real chance to reset how Scotland is governed.
“Many of the changes needed are obvious: resetting the relationship between ministers and officials, sharpening priorities and focusing less on making multiple announcements, and more on getting fewer things done well.
“Scotland has talent and commitment in its public service. What we need now is the clarity and leadership to make government work effectively for the people it serves.”
Scottish Labour deputy leader, Jackie Baillie, said: “This report makes for grim reading, but unfortunately, it comes as no great surprise after 18 years of dismal SNP government.
“It is telling that senior public servants – who have first-hand experience of this government – are sounding the alarm about the failure to take any accountability, with a greater focus on reputation management than delivery.”
She added: “The Scottish Government has received over £10 billion in additional funding since Labour was elected last year, but SNP ministers instead choose grievance and make excuses for their failings, rather than finding solutions.
“After nearly two decades in power, what do the SNP have to show for it? Public services pushed to breaking point, levels of crime rising while our prisons are overcrowded, and taxpayers’ money wasted by one reckless decision after another.”
Scottish Conservative finance spokesperson Craig Hoy said: “Even those who have been inside the Scottish Government have confirmed that independence will always trump everything else for the SNP.
“Despite the damage that obsession continues to do to Scotland’s economy and public services, it will always be the priority for the nationalists.”
He added: “For nearly two decades, they have presided over economic stagnation, and a dramatic decline in our health and education systems.
“The SNP have repeatedly broken their manifesto promises, raised taxes and failed to tackle wasteful spending. If we are to ever move on from their independence obsession, we must get rid of them at the election next year.”
A spokesperson for cabinet secretary Angus Robertson said: “The First Minister’s top priority is the eradication of child poverty.
“Investing in public services, growing the economy, and tackling the climate emergency are his others.
“We’re the only nation in the UK where child poverty is falling, long waits in the NHS of over 52 weeks are consistently going down, our prudent financial management has been recognised by two global credit agencies and we’re over halfway to achieving net zero.
“Scotland has the opportunity to choose a fresh start with independence and escape the failed UK economic model that’s holding us back.”
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