Scotland’s post-reality politics

When the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) uses the word ‘disappointing’ in its press release, you know things are getting serious.

This week, the IFS said a ‘lack of credibility’ unites the policy manifestos of the three biggest Scottish political parties (the SNP, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives) competing for votes in the Holyrood election next week. The IFS’s David Phillips also said that, with the exception of the Scottish Conservatives, it was ‘disappointing’ to see ‘no serious attempt by the parties to provide transparent and comprehensive costings for their plans’.

The Tories still got a telling off though, as did the SNP again, for underestimating the true cost of their NHS spending promises. ‘It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the SNP and Scottish Conservatives have downplayed likely increases in how much they would need to allocate to the NHS in order to flatter the amount available for their other myriad pledges,’ said the IFS.