IT is an important rule that you should judge those in power not by what they say, but by what they do. It is through their decisions and choices, not just their words, that their priorities become clear.

For human rights campaigners across Scotland, that has never been more apparent than last week, after the Scottish Government broke its long-held promise to bring forward a human rights bill this year.

An SNP manifesto commitment at the 2021 election that was initially expected to be brought to the Scottish Parliament in the first half of 2024, the bill was intended to place four international human rights treaties – including ones covering everyday rights such as the right to housing, an adequate standard of living, and social security – into Scots law.

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This would mean that people in Scotland were better able to seek remedy when their rights are violated and that their rights – which can so often feel remote – were made more real and realisable.

It would mean public bodies putting human rights at the heart of their decision-making, offering the possibility of fundamentally transforming the balance of power between those currently with it and those currently without it. It would mean strengthening the human rights protections of disabled people, women and girls, and people of colour. It would, very simply, help to create the more just Scotland that we all want to see.

Yet last Wednesday’s Programme for Government failed to deliver the Human Rights Bill as promised and Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville (below) later that day confirmed the Scottish Government will not bring it forward before the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections.

(Image: PA)

The news was devastating for everyone who had campaigned for the bill. But it was especially so for those who had, in helping to shape the development of the bill over many years, shared often traumatic experiences of their human rights being breached, in the hope that they would be heard and acted on.

The news was also devastating for the fundamental reason that the bill has never been more needed or more necessary.

Because right now people living across the cities, towns and villages of Scotland are living without access to their basic everyday rights. They are locked into poverty, living in unacceptable and poor-quality housing and unable to get the healthcare they need.

Rights are being breached on a daily and systemic basis, with people left almost entirely without the means or ability to hold public bodies to account for failing to protect or uphold their rights.

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So the decision to kick the bill into the longest of grass is not just an abstract one. Nor is it just a matter of political optics or communications.

It is government ministers deciding that the need to better protect and strengthen the human rights of everyone in Scotland – but particularly the most marginalised and those experiencing the greatest inequalities – is not a priority. It is those with power hearing the voices of those saying loudly and clearly that Scotland needs this bill, but choosing to ignore those voices.

In confirming last week that the bill will not be taken forward as planned, the Cabinet Secretary cited the need to engage with UK ministers on its scope and legalities. And she was right to say that there are some limitations on the Scottish Government.

For the bill to go as far as possible within the devolution settlement, the UK and Scottish governments need to work together. That is why Amnesty International wrote immediately to the new Secretary of State for Scotland following the General Election urging him to ensure co-operation with Scottish ministers.

But the need to build co-operation is no justification For this delay. With a new UK Government has come a resetting of relationships, and relations between the UK and Scottish governments have clearly improved significantly since July. Provided there is political will, there is no reason why discussions on the bill have to be so prolonged or arduous as to merit the unacceptable decision to drop the bill this parliamentary session.

And it is political will, and action, that is needed. It is not too late for the Scottish Government to listen, to think again and to do the right thing by delivering the bill with the urgency that people across Scotland need.

If it really is committed to strengthening the human rights of people in Scotland, then it must show us that commitment is not based on rhetoric alone.

If it does not, the Scottish Government will not only have done serious damage to its reputation on human rights but, more importantly, will have let down the people in Scotland that need it most.