The SNP has, in recent years, given us a fairly stark example of government not working. It would take too long to list each and every instance here, but they are all well enough known – from the attempted gender law reforms to the failed restrictions on coastal fishing rights to the half-baked approach to creating a national care service, this has been an administration that has given the big state a bad name.
John Swinney and Kate Forbes are trying to move the SNP away from this self-defeating adventurism, and have addressed some egregious cases of overreach. But too much damage has been done – mainstream Scotland is not the trusting soul it once was.
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