Oil downturn pushes Scots down ranks

Country falls to 20th place in international league of wellbeing

The oil downturn, a decline in education standards and stubbornly-short life expectancy has seen Scotland slide down a league table.

The country fell four places to 20th in an international study that measures economic and social wellbeing. England ranked 12th, Northern Ireland 24th and Wales 28th – with the UK as a whole ranked 14th.

Falling incomes from the low oil price and a reduction in economic output per head contributed to Scotland’s worsening performance, the Scottish Trends analysis found.

John McLaren, the Glasgow professor who wrote the report, said: “(Scotland’s) fall was due to a worsening education performance, exacerbated by falling income levels associated with the decline in North Sea-related activity. Furthermore, Scotland’s very poor life expectancy performance failed to improve, in relative terms, over the decade.”

The report was damning in its assessment of the SNP government’s stewardship of education, which earlier this year saw Scotland fall down the flagship Pisa rankings.

It said the Curriculum for Excellence “no longer looks like being the success that was hoped for”.

Highlands and Islands MSP Donald Cameron, Scottish Conservative, said: “This is a damning indictment on policy areas the Nationalists have had complete control over for 10 years.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “Devolution has been overwhelmingly positive for Scotland.”

“Very poor life expectancy failed to improve”