The devolution settlement has an inherent flaw which the recent budget events in the UK have now demonstrated.

The SNP Scottish Government is facing significant challenges this year to balance the budget, as they are required to do every year. The estimated £800 million budget shortfall is an extreme event with significant in year budget pressures caused by inflation, understandable public sector pay demands and removal of funding for universal winter fuel payments for pensioners by the UK Government.

It is ‘stress tests’ of systems, such as these budget pressures, that show whether they are fit for purpose; I would suggest that the current devolution system has been weighed, measured, and found wanting.

The opposition unionist parties cry that this budget pressure is because of choices by the Scottish Government. But is the point of devolution not to make choices that are different from the rest of the UK?

Looking at some of these choices – Scottish Child Payment, payment of tuition fees, expanding concessionary travel –are these the wrong choices? If the system of government in the UK cannot accommodate such differences, it needs to change. Indeed, if the current devolution settlement can only work when your policies are the same as the rest of the UK, it makes devolution merely an illusion of power.

The SNP Scottish Government has also mitigated welfare cuts imposed by the UK government, such as the bedroom tax. Under the current settlement this requires resources from devolved areas to plug the gap left by the UK government, in effect ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’. And as the recent winter fuel payment decision by the UK Labour government has demonstrated, there is a limit to how much the Scottish Government can mitigate decisions taken elsewhere.

Recognising these challenges, the SNP have increased income tax rates for the higher earners, resulting in £1.5bn more being raised per year than if tax policy was the same as the UK government. Despite this progressive tax measure, I would suggest we are now at or near the limit of the current tax powers available to the Scottish Government on a national level. Reform is needed.

Going by the reports in Scotland, one would think that this is purely a Scottish problem or an SNP grievance. But the same issues are being felt in Wales by the Welsh Labour Government, who have stated: “We have, for some time, been pressing for additional budget flexibility alongside making the case for a review of the process for devolving new tax powers."

As an SNP member, I believe that independence is essential to enable Scotland to continue its journey as a progressive, European nation. Scotland is a rich and prosperous country with the resources to provide greater benefit to our communities. In the current constitutional settlement, we do not have direct access to these resources but get allocated a ‘block grant’ based on spending decisions in England.

Unionists must acknowledge the limits in the devolution settlement and propose substantive improvements, rather than tinkering at the edges. I will not hold my breath, but maybe it is time, given the substantial majority in the UK parliament, for the Labour Party in Scotland to finally propose, and deliver, Home Rule for Scotland. After all, it was Keir Hardie who originally proposed it in 1888.

Councillor Chris Curley (SNP, Inverclyde East)