Debate over Scottish Budget is prime example of half-baked drama

When the set pieces and the scripts being followed by politicians, journalists and commentators become too conspicuous to ignore, too farcical to suspend our disbelief any longer.

It seems to me that Scottish politics and news is rife with these kinds of half-baked dramas, as if they can’t quite think of anything real to argue about it – and the debate over the independence spending in the Scottish Budget is a prime example.

From the LibDems to the Greens, to the SNP themselves and the media reporting on it, all the playactors are dutifully performing their roles, but surely – like so many of these puerile political squabbles – none of them are taking this particularly seriously. Yet, somehow, we – the obliging audience – are supposed to?

In case you missed it: the LibDems will vote against the budget if it includes any spending on independence, the Greens won’t vote for the budget if it doesn’t include spending on independence, and the SNP have condemned LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton’s position as “anti-democratic”.

I suppose we might react to each clause of that sentence with an increasingly louder gasp, a small shriek, or by flinging ourselves directly onto the fainting couch to recover from the shock.

Personally, I just find it all incredibly tiresome, and I’d appreciate it if at least some of our politicians would have the nerve to treat voters like adults instead of fools. Nobody can now believe that a referendum or any other route to independence is imminent. The General Election results and Scottish Parliament polling only confirm that achieving independence is, for now, the long game.

Nor can anyone truly imagine that the small amount of funds the Scottish Government spends explicitly on independence preparations is going to shift the dial either way.

Last December, Scotland in Union – whose purpose is to emphasise just how much the Government is “wasting” on the constitutional debate – reported that £3.5 million had been spent on independence since May 2021. Considering the Scottish Budget for this year is £59.7 billion, this is a drop in the ocean.

Cole-Hamilton knows this, the Greens know this, but if nobody stepped up to grandstand over the constitution in the latest episode of the Real Housewives Of The Scottish Parliament, who would tune in to watch?

If being serious about any of this was the aim, pro-independence politicians might be honest with voters and say that there will be more strategic moments at which to spend money directly on independence. For example, at a moment when achieving independence within the next couple of years is remotely, conceivably possible.

They could also note that the Scottish Government is a separate legal entity to any political party, and that formal campaigning for independence might be best supported by investing time and money in a suitable party or campaign group.

They might also point to the fact that developments in key areas of infrastructure like Social Security Scotland are, by definition, “independence preparations”, and the more money the government can spend in these areas, the smoother the transition to independence will be.

Not to mention the immediate, positive impacts which such investments can have on voters’ lives, thereby boosting trust and support in the very politicians who are advocating for independence – all of which surely strengthens the case for splitting from the UK when the time comes.

All of this is fairly obvious and has, I think, been the core of the SNP’s true strategy for independence since gaining power at Holyrood. Concurrently, though, the party leadership has spent an awful lot of time saying and doing things around independence that seemed designed solely to ensure that the most impatient of Yes voters would stick with them.

The result of that, for me at least, is the sensation that politicians talking about independence is a lot like parents asking the kids what they want from Santa.

After at least eight years now of listening to stories and scratching my head over how the promised outcome could be achieved in such a short timeframe, I think we’re all getting a bit too old for this. I’m certainly too old and too tired for the Greens to start trying to outflank the SNP on independence, as if that’s what anyone who wants to vote Green is asking for.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think it would go amiss for political leaders to be open with supporters about their strategy and their expectations for the path to independence, as if this were a goal we were working towards together, as opposed to merely a carrot to string people along with.

Of course, if Unionist politicians were being serious about their commitment to the “real issues”, they would be talking about them and using the Budget negotiations to challenge the Government to do more and better for people.

Instead, at a time when many are struggling to live from month to month, and when public services are under huge strain, voters are reduced to listening to political parties bicker over something that will have no material impact on their lives.

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Meanwhile, the media gladly provides the platform for these little stage-fights, instead of asking what difference any of this actually makes. (A question that might come in handy in response to many of the soundbites and press releases politicians and their PR teams are churning out.)

The purpose of all of this, I suppose, is to annoy the right people on both sides, shoring up a very specific support base and boosting “engagement”.

However, I’m not at all convinced that most people are buying this stuff anymore.

At a time when people are increasingly disengaged from politics, it seems to me that matters will only be made worse by continuing to treat policymaking like a game in which undermining the opponent is the only goal.

And at a time when the road to independence looks rockier than it has since before the last referendum, rethinking the way we do politics seems more vital than ever.