The rhetoric has certainly changed. I expect it will sway a few voters in the GE, who might otherwise have switched or stay home. Whether it’s enough to prevent the predicted losses, well it might not be quite as bad. But he’ll have to follow up on these words before 2026 to convince folk there’s been a change.
>First Minister John Swinney says the Scottish government is producing too many strategy documents and “concrete actions” are needed instead.
I very much agree. I’m tired of all the words and consultations, we need action.
Too many shite strategy papers, devoid of substance and written in crayon.
I’d genuinely like to see some meaningful papers with ideas backed by legitimate data.
If all else fails declare a housing emergency, blame uk govt, do a consultation, release a policy paper.
It is true.
The White papers, far from providing the faithful with an authoritive source they can point to when Unionists question iscotland, instead just showed how few answers the SG has about independence.
They might have appeased nutters like the Good Professor, but those people will always vote snp.
Biggest issue for Swinney is there is no concrete action he can take- Sturgeon already rowed the movement into a dead end on that one.
Surprised in a good way to see Swinney put actions ahead of words.
Earlier today Jeremy Hunt held a presser and published an analysis, performed by civil servants, of Labour’s spending plans. It’s a disgraceful use of what should be politically neutral public resources.
And yet Hunt is merely following the SNP/ScotGov’s lead in this regard. The SNP have long used government personnel to create and pump out anti-Westminster propaganda masquerading as analysis that is devoid of substance and intellectual rigor. Swinney would be doing right by ending this practice.
If ruling parties wish to peddle propaganda and puff pieces then they should be able to do so. But they should not be using government, taxpayer funded resources. That’s what party campaign funds are for.
Yet to see a plan. Still.
Yeah about independence
Agreed 100%.
How much time/money do we waste writing these papers?
“So we say that we need to say less stuff about things”
Okay, now let’s see the do.
its more that they are almost entirely just meaningless waffle.
>I queried the Scottish Government as to how many strategy documents had been produced, and found that 160 strategies, 202 plans, 55 frameworks, 6 route maps, 11 visions, and 21 programmes had been produced in the last ten years.
>Commenting on this information, I wanted to draw attention to evidence given to a committee session of the Scottish Parliament from Professor Mairi Spowage, Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute who said:
>“On the question whether there are too many strategies, the Fraser of Allander Institute is on record as saying that there are. Quite often they can be fairly high level and less practical on the policy actions that should be put in place to achieve the grand, broad and difficult-to-disagree with outcomes that we are trying to achieve. It is notable that the national performance framework is supposed to drive Government activity, but often it is not referenced in strategy documents or, if it is, it is in a perfunctory way.”
14 comments
The rhetoric has certainly changed. I expect it will sway a few voters in the GE, who might otherwise have switched or stay home. Whether it’s enough to prevent the predicted losses, well it might not be quite as bad. But he’ll have to follow up on these words before 2026 to convince folk there’s been a change.
>First Minister John Swinney says the Scottish government is producing too many strategy documents and “concrete actions” are needed instead.
I very much agree. I’m tired of all the words and consultations, we need action.
Too many shite strategy papers, devoid of substance and written in crayon.
I’d genuinely like to see some meaningful papers with ideas backed by legitimate data.
If all else fails declare a housing emergency, blame uk govt, do a consultation, release a policy paper.
It is true.
The White papers, far from providing the faithful with an authoritive source they can point to when Unionists question iscotland, instead just showed how few answers the SG has about independence.
They might have appeased nutters like the Good Professor, but those people will always vote snp.
Biggest issue for Swinney is there is no concrete action he can take- Sturgeon already rowed the movement into a dead end on that one.
Surprised in a good way to see Swinney put actions ahead of words.
Earlier today Jeremy Hunt held a presser and published an analysis, performed by civil servants, of Labour’s spending plans. It’s a disgraceful use of what should be politically neutral public resources.
And yet Hunt is merely following the SNP/ScotGov’s lead in this regard. The SNP have long used government personnel to create and pump out anti-Westminster propaganda masquerading as analysis that is devoid of substance and intellectual rigor. Swinney would be doing right by ending this practice.
If ruling parties wish to peddle propaganda and puff pieces then they should be able to do so. But they should not be using government, taxpayer funded resources. That’s what party campaign funds are for.
Yet to see a plan. Still.
Yeah about independence
Agreed 100%.
How much time/money do we waste writing these papers?
“So we say that we need to say less stuff about things”
Okay, now let’s see the do.
its more that they are almost entirely just meaningless waffle.
🌭🤷♂️
This is correct and not just in the narrow context of the indy white papers: https://www.alexrowley.org/scottish-government-all-plans-no-action-as-foi-shows-over-450-strategies-in-last-ten-years/
>I queried the Scottish Government as to how many strategy documents had been produced, and found that 160 strategies, 202 plans, 55 frameworks, 6 route maps, 11 visions, and 21 programmes had been produced in the last ten years.
>Commenting on this information, I wanted to draw attention to evidence given to a committee session of the Scottish Parliament from Professor Mairi Spowage, Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute who said:
>“On the question whether there are too many strategies, the Fraser of Allander Institute is on record as saying that there are. Quite often they can be fairly high level and less practical on the policy actions that should be put in place to achieve the grand, broad and difficult-to-disagree with outcomes that we are trying to achieve. It is notable that the national performance framework is supposed to drive Government activity, but often it is not referenced in strategy documents or, if it is, it is in a perfunctory way.”