30 SNP pledges made... so many still unfulfilled
AS she unveiled the Holyrood equivalent of the Queen’s Speech, Nicola Sturgeon said she would ‘get on with the job of building a better country’ over the next year. But precedent shows her programme for government is a bit of a charade.
It is largely a wish list of proposals that the First Minister would like to introduce, along with a series of vague pledges and warm words to create the illusion that this is an administration acting on the key issues of the day.
Yet much of this legislation never sees the light of day, or is changed to such an extent it is virtually unrecognisable.
Indeed, research shows 30 promises made in recent years have never been fully delivered, or have been delayed.
What happened to the flagship announcement three years ago that the Scottish Government would provide a ‘guarantee’ for up to £500million of bank loans to businesses to help them invest and expand?
Yesterday, Miss Sturgeon tried to dismiss claims this has not been delivered, citing figures that £135million has been received by firms. But this is paltry compared with the original announcement. The 2015 programme for government – Miss Sturgeon’s first since succeeding Alex Salmond – contained a commitment to use newly devolved powers to replace Westminster-controlled air passenger duty with a new air departure tax, and cut the tax burden by 50 per cent. Four years later, we are still waiting for the SNP to take control of this tax – and it announced earlier this year that it would no longer deliver on the commitment to reduce the duty.
Also in 2015, Miss Sturgeon pledged her Government would ‘drive up attainment’ in schools and close the attainment gap.
The reality, latest figures show, is there has not been significant progress on closing the gap, while exam performance is on the slide amid concerns about the failing school curriculum introduced by the Nationalists.
Indeed, the SNP has moved slowly on school reforms.
The 2017 programme for government – billed as a radical ‘refresh’ of the Government – featured a commitment to bring in legislation to reform the way schools are run, with more power for headteachers, support for teachers and a strengthening of the role of parents.
Yet what was hailed as the biggest and most radical overhaul
of the way schools are run since devolution was, however, scrapped this year.
There are countless other examples, such as delayed investment in ‘digital skills’ training, fears nurseries will not be ready for an expansion of free childcare, a new social security agency failing to meet recruitment targets, a delay in a funeral expense benefit, and the handing back of control for one of the welfare powers it was handed.
It is, therefore, wise to look with scepticism at yesterday’s vows. There was a vague promise to ‘decarbonise all flights between airports within Scotland’ by 2040 and to expand the electrification of the railways by 2035. How will this be delivered? What money will be available?
Similarly, Miss Sturgeon said she would ‘bring forward a Bill on restricting foods promotion in next year’s programme for government’. This sounds like a delay to her plan to ban promotions of junk food.
A Circular Economy Bill will ‘enable charges to be applied for items such as single-use coffee cups’. This falls short of giving a firm timescale and commitment to a ‘latte levy’.
There was a lack of proposals to boost schools and hospitals, beyond a £1billion school investment scheme which came with no detail or timetable.
Miss Sturgeon promised her actions will ‘make a difference for years to come’. Given historic precedent, don’t bet on it.