Take these issues seriously at last

AN effective social security safety net is essential to any humane society.

This newspaper has spent years relentlessly exposing the holes in the current UK system.

We also played a vital role in ensuring Scots would be protected from the worst Tory excesses by transferring responsibilty for vital benefits to the Scottish Parliament.

It was the Daily Record that forced the main UK political parties to sign up to such a deal before the independence referendum and held them to their promises afterwards.

The main beneficiaries of that process have been the SNP, although we don’t expect any public words of thanks any time soon.

Today we reveal that SNP ministers recently asked the Tories to hold on to a raft of these welfare powers for an extra year.

It’s a move that will worry campaigners and has led to condemnation from Labour.

But it’s probably more important to get these powers right than get them quickly.

An Audit Scotland report published earlier in the week sounded worrying alarm bells about how prepared the SNP are for this massive shift in power.

Jeane Freeman is among Nicola Sturgeon’s most talented ministers. We do not doubt she wants to introduce greater fairness and humanity into the welfare system or that she has the ability to do just that.

What we do need from the SNP is more of a grown-up attitude to the whole devolution issue in general.

Government ministers seem to spend their days pretending Scotland didn’t get any new powers while simultaneously panicking over what they’re going to do with them.

The fact is there has been a huge transfer of power from Westminster to Holyrood.

The Vow has been delivered. Now it’s time for the SNP to start delivering.