My advice to Humza Yousaf: just try not to serve up another fine mess

Looking back without nostalgia to the Sturgeon era, it is difficult to recall any landmark piece of legislation that made Scotland a better place, more prosperous or at peace with itself. Instead, her legacy is pock-marked with Fine Messes which Mr Yousaf, the appointed heir, was obliged to inherit.

The gender reform debacle, alcohol advertising, Highly Protected Marine Areas, the Deposit Return Scheme, the National Care Service … the list goes on. All of them have been kicked into touch (or, with gender self-identification, the courts). They were products of legislation trumpeted in Sturgeon set-pieces, only to fall apart when exposed to a modicum of common sense.

How many millions were wasted on carrying these to the point of abandonment? None of them, it is worth noting, has gone away entirely unless Mr Yousaf tells us so today. On top of anything else he announces, vast amounts of money and time will be devoted to resuscitating them. If, on the other hand, he was looking for a sensible indicator of change, dropping the doomed court action on the Gender Recognition Bill would help, which probably guarantees it won’t happen.

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It is usual for the more attractive aspects of such speeches to be trailed in the media. So far, the only specific we have heard is that Mr Yousaf intends to put Scottish Government civil servants on a four-day week which scarcely sounds like a transformative innovation. If that is indeed the highlight, even the low bar test might be failed.

A Scottish Government press release yesterday assured us that “investment in the years ahead will be prioritised on measures that help grow Scotland’s economy, tackle poverty and deliver high-quality public services”. And who could disagree with any of that?”

The problem is they have been saying the same thing for 16 years during which time the Scottish economy has remained largely stagnant, poverty gaps have widened while even the most starry-eyed would find it difficult to deny that public services have been enfeebled. So what’s going to change?

In his weekend address to a rally of the faithful, Mr Yousaf pinned his hopes on “rejoining the EU” as an independent country. This is, to put it kindly, a long-term project built on wishful thinking rather than objective reality. The fact Lorna Slater from the Greens was by his side as co-banner-holder would have alarmed most SNP members, never mind the rest of us.

These were not messages which encouraged hope that Mr Yousaf has devoted much intellectual rigour to more pressing needs. Harping on about Brexit, fantasising about EU membership and waving flags are increasingly seen through as escapist politics rather than elixirs in waiting. Without much public or party sympathy to draw on, Mr Yousaf must get used to being judged by his government’s record rather than the rhetoric of an undeliverable promised land.

It has taken a while but far more Scots are now asking the right questions about competence and priorities. Whatever their views on the constitution, it does not wash any longer to shift blame to forces outside the Scottish Government’s control, while accepting no responsibility for their own decision-making and failures of delivery.

I hope, for example, Mr Yousaf read the story on the front of yesterday’s Herald about the cuts to care for the disabled in Glasgow. One of the hard facts which jumped out was that “in March, Glasgow took the decision to cut £21.5 million from the social care budget and increase the cost of social care charges”. That alone is a statement which should shock.

It has nothing to do with the EU or Brexit but is a direct result of sustained cuts over the past decade, in both relative and absolute terms, to local authority budgets out of all proportion to any financial inconvenience the Scottish Government itself has suffered. That has been a political choice, never properly held to account. It has produced the diametric opposite of “tackling poverty and delivering high-quality public services”.

If Mr Yousaf wants a different stamp on his administration, he could start by restoring funding and freedoms to local government which would allow them to provide services and facilities that the least well-off depend on disproportionately. To be fair, there is some indication of awareness that the debilitation of Scottish local government has gone too far.

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They like giving these things grand names and this one, signed in June, was the Verity House Agreement between the Scottish Government and Cosla about “respect for each other’s democratic mandate” which would be a start. For the moment, it amounts to little more than an implicit confession of how badly local government was treated under Ms Sturgeon but her successor has the opportunity today to give it substance.

That would not need legislation – just a prioritisation of resources. Indeed, it could be argued that the last thing Scotland needs is more legislation, particularly if the Greens are in the driving seat. And certainly no more Fine Messes.

Like it or not, this term of the Scottish Parliament has three more years to run. That is far too long to wait for change and progress on the key social and economic indicators. The politics of the past 16 years are already past their sell-by debate and Mr Yousaf, if he is to survive, would do well to recognise that. Whether he is capable of putting anything more substantial in its place is highly questionable. 

Brian Wilson is a former Labour Party politician. He was MP for Cunninghame North from 1987 until 2005 and served as a Minister of State from 1997 to 2003.