A party riven with internal strife, an administration showing all the classic signs of governance fatigue having been in power for as long as there’s been iPhones, ferries made of bubbly concrete (that one might need some research), seeing policies picked off by a predictably intransigent UK government with no plan for what to do when that happens.
Should Scotland’s voluntary sector, then, be dumping a whole load more problems on his doorstep? After all, this is an administration which many in the sector thought, probably still thinks, is ‘moving in the correct direction’, chiming with our values in its social liberalism.
Too right we should. Boo-hoo Humza. It’s not supposed to be easy to run a country.
This is an administration which can (as stated) attempt to take on Westminster (as it should) with no plan for what to do when the door is slammed, humiliatingly, in its face.
A bit surprising, this lack of a plan. Because his government is full of plans in other areas. Well, as the voluntary sector has just found out, plans for plans.
We have been asking – politely – for movement on fair funding for years. We’ve bitten it, gotten on with it, during Covid and the cost of living crisis, we’ve seen the toll taken on staff, volunteers, services and service users as budgets shrink and disappear, we’ve signed the farewell cards for colleagues with years of invaluable expertise, we’ve shared the petitions demanding this or that service is given what are normally relatively pitiful amounts just to stay on their feet. We have had to watch many close.
As a sector we’ve been lobbying, developing policy ‘asks’ – trying to push things in the right direction.
And we get plans. Every year, it seems, the commitment to a plan. But the plans, the blueprints, for fairer funding are in place, they have been for years. We might get something by 2026. What’s the betting that it’s another plan?
As Johnny Rotten spat at the end of the Pistols’ final concert, ever get the feeling that you’ve been cheated?
We don’t need plans, we need action, just as we should now be transforming our asks into demands.
This where I need to add a caveat – this editorial does not necessarily reflect SCVO’s policy stance.
It’s meant to be provocative, to be the pivot for debate.
That being said, when Scotland’s charities speak about the Scottish Government publicly, they are often careful, statements approach Kremlinology in their opaqueness. It’s a real bugbear for us as journalists at TFN.
But there is a now real sense of anger bubbling under the surface – you can see it in the responses given by diverse TSIs in this month’s TFN, in response to the latest Programme for Government (pages 6-9).
What is to be done? Other sectors would not put up with this. The private sector uses its useful assets in government and its massive lobbying muscle and threatens capital strikes and movement when it is threatened. Public sector workers threaten and actually go on strike.
What can the voluntary sector do? We can’t withdraw our services – society would literally unstitch.
It’s something to think about – but maybe it’s time to make our case forcefully, not to the government, but to the public.
A cross-party, multi-charity campaign, with demos outside Holyrood on fair funding?
If Humza Yousaf’s government won’t listen, if it thinks we can be fobbed off with plans while we stagger on, then it must be made to listen, not asked to listen.
We should be proud and confident about what we do, we should stand tall and look government in the eye as equals. And we should get the gloves off. This is a weak administration. There are opportunities there for us.
The Scottish Government knows this – and we must know this too.
Graham Martin is editor of TFN.
