10 years after Indy Ref: Reflecting on Scotland's anti poverty politics

10 years ago, people in Scotland faced a profound choice. While the ballot paper on the 18th of September 2014 asked voters ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’, and the question was answered the following day, the months of debate which preceded that decision would have lasting repercussions for Scottish politics in the 10 years that followed.

Scotland was engaged in passionate conversation. While at times debate was heated, and passions boiled over into rancour, the extent of political engagement by the populace has been unmatched since. In pubs and parks, schools and high streets, citizens debated the kind of Scotland they wanted to live in; the kind of country they wanted to be. Others were repelled by the hostile nature of some debates and the failure of protagonists to set out credible answers to critical questions, especially on the economy.

Both sides of the independence debate attacked the scourge of poverty in modern Scotland and articulated an argument that their side was the flagbearer of the anti-poverty cause. Former first minister Alex Salmond, argued independence would help Scotland escape the “poverty-creating policies” of Westminster, while former prime minister Gordon Brown maintained that “the real separation” Scotland wants “is not from England, but from poverty”.

The fact that both sides felt the need to link the cause of Scotland’s future with the cause of eradicating poverty is telling. A certain idea of Scotland was being affirmed throughout that months-long campaign: that regardless of Scotland’s constitutional status, poverty and social injustice was antithetical to the values of the people who call Scotland home.

Following the referendum, the Smith Commission was launched to outline recommendations for the further devolution of powers to Holyrood. At its conclusion one of the three pillars of the commission was the need to deliver social justice. Some of the powers devolved under the Scotland Act 2016 include several welfare benefits, the ability to ‘top-up’ benefits that remain reserved to Westminster, and to fund these new devolved welfare powers, the ability to vary income tax bands above the UK-wide Personal Allowance.

Since the devolution of these powers, we have seen examples of how the Scottish Parliament has legislated in a way which is consistent with the notion of social justice, and a more progressive Scottish nation. A plainly redistributive approach to tax and spend has been embedded since 2016, with increased social security spending on low-income families – epitomised by the £26.70 per week Scottish Child Payment - paid for through increases in the rates of income tax in Scotland.

A 2023 report by the IFS found that the poorest 10% of households in Scotland are £580 per year better off than they would be under the policies of the UK Government. Meanwhile as of 2024 those earning more than £26,562 a year are taxed more than their counterparts in the rest of the UK.

The 2018 establishment of Social Security Scotland too - the agency responsible for the provision of devolved benefits in Scotland – explicitly seeks to adopt a “fundamentally different” approach to the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) promising a system “with dignity, fairness and respect at its heart”. According to client surveys of the service, users have rated interactions positively, contrasted directly with their experience of the DWP.

Clearly, devolution since the independence referendum has allowed the Scottish Parliament to live up to a certain idea of Scotland. But just as there have been successful anti-poverty interventions, there have also been notable failures, a fair few contradictions, and some missed opportunities.

The poverty-related attainment gap, the measure of educational outcomes between students from deprived and non-deprived areas, has widened in recent years despite high profile commitments by the former first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s 2016 pledge to close the gap. Meanwhile the number of people assessed as homeless have increased just as the Scottish Government plan to cut almost £200 million from the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, crucial to help tackle homelessness in Scotland.

Just as unfortunate spending decisions are being made across our public services, regressive taxes like council tax remain unreformed more than 30 years after the last valuation, and 25 years of devolution. What’s worse re-heated policies like the council tax freeze has hamstrung cash strapped local authorities, and rather than help families in poverty, the freeze disproportionately benefits higher earners and those not in poverty.

Over the last 10 years a lot has changed, and yet so much feels the same. Despite valiant efforts to reduce the child poverty rate in Scotland within the devolved competence of the Scottish Parliament, the proportion of children living in relative poverty remains stubbornly high at 24%. The national target to reduce child poverty to less than 10% of children living in poverty by 2030 is unlikely to be met as the Scottish Government has announced at least £250 million in cuts to public spending.

It feels as though the progressive Scotland, that promises to bear down on poverty and elevate the fortunes of the underserved, advocated for by both sides of the constitutional divide in 2014, is stuck in a rut. That once again the nation is at a crossroads.

We must decide whether we are truly serious about making combatting poverty our national mission, and, if so, refresh our national conversation away from superficial politics of the national credit card and gimmicks like council tax freezes, and undertake an earnest appraisal of the success and failures of anti-poverty interventions in the last 10 years.

To build on what has worked, to junk what has not, and build a future which all sides of the constitutional debate aspire to. A nation where nobody is forced to endure the indignity of destitution.