Twenty years ago, the Scottish parliament was reconvened after a lapse of almost three centuries. The logic for devolution was clear enough: that Scotland has discrete issues, and ones that were not always solved by London government. Devolution would allow ‘Scottish solutions for Scottish problems’. There was, in Westminster, a feeling that MPs could worry less about these problems. Public health in Glasgow, previously one of the biggest problems in the UK, would be someone else’s problem. Let the MSPs see if they could do any better.
The news this week should shock people on both sides of the border. Scotland has the worst rate of deaths from drugs in Europe, with numbers up by a shocking 27 per cent since 2017. The deaths are concentrated in Glasgow, which has long had some of the deeply ingrained poverty in the developed world. Life expectancy in the city is worse than in Iran and Algeria. This was true ten years ago, and since then Glasgow has fallen further behind. This is a combination of both the UK welfare state and devolved health policies failing, badly.
Since 2010, welfare reform has been at the top of the government agenda. In many regards, the tough love has worked: levels of employment have risen quickly and unemployment is now at a 45-year low. Moving people from welfare to work has been an effective remedy for poverty. Material deprivation has fallen significantly since 2010, in spite of the constraints on government spending. Inequality is around a 30-year low. Wages are rising at the fastest rate for 11 years.
A rising tide lifts many boats — but not all. The problem in Britain continues to be communities that do not respond to an improving economy: among people who are not looking for work, in places that have been ground down by drug addiction, family breakdown and personal debt.
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