Children pay price of Sturgeon’s failure

With Nicola Sturgeon’s empire in ruins, recriminations have begun in earnest. Bruce Adamson, the outgoing children’s commissioner, says she ‘absolutely’ failed Scotland’s young people.

he cites poor support for mental ill-health and a lack of progress on child poverty, as well as the disproportionate damage done to children’s rights during the pandemic.

this scathing appraisal stands in sharp contrast to the former First Minister’s view of her legacy. During her final First Minister’s Questions, Sturgeon said ‘helping to lift children out of poverty’ was ‘the thing of which i am most proud’.

it is a familiar story of the Sturgeon era: the rhetoric sounded good but it seldom matched up to the reality.

What happened on Sturgeon’s watch was this: speeches were given, promises were made, headlines were generated, input was trumpeted and outcomes were ignored.

this was the case with closing the poverty-related attainment gap, addressing unconscionable waits for child and adolescent mental health treatment, and the botched attempt to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots Law.

Of course, Sturgeon meant well. But good intentions do not improve material circumstances. that requires investment, effort, focus and determination.

her time in office will forever be blotted by her neglect of the most precious segment of our society: young people.

While Adamson’s judgment may seem stark, we should prepare ourselves for further such interventions.

As the Scottish establishment emerges from the Sturgeon years, the scales having suddenly fallen from their eyes, we will hear more about her legacy of failure.

Across eight years, there was plenty of faith, enthusiasm and even self-delusion about Sturgeon’s potential to be a transformational leader. it seems it was all for naught.