Less rhetoric and more reality would serve the SNP better

he heady, intoxicating feeling which followed their stunning victory in May is fast becoming a fading memory for the Scottish National Party as it settles back into the harsh reality of governing, the difficult process which involves converting promises made to the electorate into workable policies which stand the test of detailed scrutiny.

Yesterday, we reported a number of independent experts had questioned the SNP’s claims that the renewables revolution would create some 130,000 jobs in Scotland, today we report that in three crucial policy areas the Nationalists are coming hard up against the awkward practicalities of implementation.

First, their commitment to reduce class sizes across Scotland was challenged yesterday in the report on teachers’ conditions under Professor Gerry McCormac, which said evidence shows low pupil-to-teacher ratios do not necessarily improve educational attainment. The McCormac verdict echoes other studies and exposes the idea as simply a populist headline-catching pledge.

The second policy questioned yesterday was legislation to counter sectarianism by means of tough new laws against bigotry. Professor Tom Devine told MSPs that existing laws were “perfectly adequate” to crack down on the conduct targeted by the proposed new offences.

When such a distinguished academic joins others in casting doubt on the policy, the SNP’s actions begin to look more like “something must be done” government than a rational attempt to tackle a problem.

Finally, in economic policy, Mr Salmond’s key policy of cutting corporation tax is today criticised by the respected left-of-centre think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which claims it will not be enough to deliver the greater economic growth the SNP says can be achieved under independence or even greater fiscal autonomy. Of the three policies this is the one over which there is perhaps most uncertainty. The idea of cutting business taxes is a sound one in theory, but Mr Salmond cannot be sure it would result in more tax coming eventually to Scotland, nor can he guarantee the Westminster government would not seek in some way to counter such a move.

What is significant in all three examples, and in the case of the scepticism over the renewables policy, is that it is not the SNP’s opponents questioning the new administration’s efficacy but academics, economists, and think-tanks, people who have knowledge, expertise and generally no political axe to grind.

There are lessons for the SNP which, still early into a five-year term, should learn. It is easy to make promises in haste but, as other parties have found, you often end up repenting at leisure. It is not in Mr Salmond’s nature to back down but a less government by rhetoric and more evidence-based policy-making would serve his party better in the long term.