Where is Scotland Heading this Week? CT

“When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3 NIV). 

When the editor asked me to write about the Scottish election I thought, ‘no bother, that will be easy’. After all it’s a subject I am deeply immersed in and have been for several decades. Yet I confess I have found this really hard. It is almost as hard to be dispassionate about your country that you love, as it is to be dispassionate about your family. This ‘report’ is therefore a deeply personal one and does not claim to be a clinical objective analysis – although I hope it is fair.

There are many good things about Scotland – not least the quality of some of its journalists. For those who want brilliant writing and objective analysis then read Alex Massie’s latest article in The Sunday Times on why the SNP deserves to lose the election. Others like Kevin McKenna of The Herald, Jim Spence of The Courier, or Iain Macwhirter, are equally worth reading and following on social media.

They, like many journalists and commentators, recognise that there is a deep malaise within Scottish society. Perhaps this is best summed up in an article in UnHerd by Felix Pope, “On Patrol with Glasgow’s vigilantes – Election can’t salvage Scotland’s shipwreck”.   

So, what is the evidence for this shipwreck? What issues are important?

1. Immigration 

There is a reason that Reform are projected to do well in Scotland – possibly even ending up as the official opposition – from a starting point of zero. How has a party which is cast as a ‘far right’ English nationalist party got to the situation where it is expected that 1 in 5 Scots will vote for them?

There are two main answers. Firstly, many ordinary Scots are fed up with the establishment parties and the society of failures they have produced. Secondly is the question of immigration. The Scottish government argues that we need a lot more immigrants because of population decline. But in so doing they are ignoring deeper issues like the falling birthrate, the exodus of talented young (and older) Scots to other countries and the issue of abortion. Scotland’s population is about 600,000 short of where it should be – ironically, the number of babies killed in Scotland by abortion since the 1967 Abortion Act is around 650,000.

They are also ignoring the many issues that come with using a simplistic ‘immigration is the solution’ policy. As the rest of the UK and Europe are finding out, there are many hidden, and not so hidden costs that come with immigration. For example, in terms of housing between April and September 2025, 43% of applicants for homelessness support in Glasgow were from people with refugee status or leave to remain (excluding Ukrainian nationals). The overall figure for Scotland is 15%.

2. The economy

When Kate Forbes was finance minister, there was a slim hope that the SNP might come to terms with the economic crisis their policies are driving us into. But now she is gone, there is little chance of that happening. Among Scotland’s political class it is the accepted doctrine that they want taxes to be fair, they want to raise more money, and they want everyone to pay less. It is economic illiteracy of the highest order, the kind that comes from school kids who have survived in university on subsidy, have never had a proper job and think that there is a magic money tree which will make everyone rich – if only they were in power.    

This was seen in the clash between Malcolm Offord and Ross Greer in the STV leaders debate on 28 April. Offord stated that he owned six houses, five cars and six boats and Greer immediately said that Scotland needed fewer people like him. But Offord also pointed out that he started from a debt background in Glasgow and has worked his way up to the extent that he paid £45m in taxes, employed hundreds of people, and made a net contribution to the society. In contrast Greer has never worked outside politics and has lived off State income for all of his life – he currently has a government salary of over £77k and a large expenses account. He even claimed his TV licence fee from the taxpayer!

The scary thing is that if the SNP have to go into an alliance with the Greens, Greer is being touted as finance minister!

What is happening in Scotland is classic ‘country in decline’ syndrome. In their election campaign they are offering lots of bribes to people – £200 to young people to spend on ‘cultural’ events; free bus rides; a cap on food prices and £10k for first time homebuyers.

This latter bribe is not quite what it seems. Despite the SNP claiming it is giving ‘up to’ £10k it is actually loaning people the money which they will have to pay back later on when they sell the house. This reflects their economic policy – buy/bribe now with taxpayer/borrowed money to win their votes. Meanwhile wealth creation is non-existent and public services decline. And the SNP then always play their get out card – it’s all the fault of the English and Westminster.

3. Climate change denialism

By this I do not mean that the SNP deny the existence of man-made climate change.  No – that is one of their cardinal doctrines which to question is considered blasphemy. I mean the idea they have that Scotland is a ‘world leader’ in climate change and that by decimating the beautiful Scottish countryside through wind turbines while buying our oil from a Norway that continues to ‘drill, baby, drill’ in the North Sea, we are somehow saving the planet. Meanwhile thousands of jobs have been lost in the once oil rich city of Aberdeen. Over 50,000 direct oil and gas jobs have been lost, while only 8,000 have been created in renewables.   

4. Soft creep State authoritarianism

The Scottish State and the civic elites have their tentacles everywhere. The SNP government works on the policy of he who pays the piper calls the tune. The Times gave a detailed report of one woman, Sarah Pedersen, who had to step down as the head of a women’s charity in Aberdeen, because the board feared that her ‘gender critical’ views (i.e. that men can’t become women) would jeopardise Scottish government funding.

The article is worth quoting: “In Scotland, there are claims that the SNP has in effect shut down criticism from the charity and voluntary sectors because of a system that leaves them umbilically tied to its political objectives and fearing grave consequences if they step out of line. There are never explicit threats — and never anything put in writing. But according to numerous sources, a dependence on public funds has meant scores of charities in Scotland have been co-opted into becoming proxies for the SNP. Those with the same objectives as the SNP have been given millions of pounds in funding, allowing it to use them as advocates for its policies.”

Again, this is something I have directly experienced. I remember when, after doing an interview in one paper, they then carried a hit piece against me. When I asked why, they said that they were dependent on government adverts for jobs etc and they had to do it. Nothing of course in writing. Always a wink and a nod. But in a small country, with a large bureaucracy, always effective.

Another example of this controlling cronyism is seen in the government bankrolling the recent film ‘Glenrothan’ starring SNP supporters Brian Cox and Alan Cumming. The film, which was panned on its release, was given £500k from Screen Scotland, a government quango that is funded by Creative Scotland, a government-appointed agency, which is in turn overseen by SNP culture secretary, Angus Robertson.

If you are a charity, or cultural organisation then the unwritten rule is clear. If you are critical of the government or any of its policies, then don’t expect funding.

5. Socially regressive policies

The SNP has largely been taken over by the progressive ideology and its doctrines.   It’s why the government are still insisting on putting men in women’s prisons. And why a majority of SNP candidates have vowed to fight for the “bodily autonomy” of trans people and to ban “conversion practices” if they are elected to Holyrood. The conversion practices they are referring to don’t really exist in Scotland, while the ones they are not referring to – the physical and chemical manipulation of young people as they seek to convert from one sex to another – will be encouraged.

The power of the progressive ideology combined with political power is felt in all areas of Scottish life. For example, both the National and Herald newspapers refused to carry an advert from the Independence for Scotland Party because that party is gender critical (i.e. pro-women). They were told that they could only advertise if they removed the word ‘women’. Imagine that! A political party was told it could not advertise in a national newspaper unless it stayed silent about women’s rights, safeguarding, and indeed silent about reality.   

6. The dumbing down of education

The SNP promised to deliver a laptop or tablet for “every school pupil in Scotland”.  They haven’t done so (about 17% have received one). They promised that they would close the attainment gap in education (between rich and poor) – they haven’t done so. The SNP’s idea of ‘education’ is a shift from the traditional Scottish view that pupils should be taught how to think, not what to think. The SNP have moved towards a form of teaching pupils what to think – a form of social and political indoctrination – which is why 16 year olds are now able to vote.

Speaking of voting – unlike 17,000 Chinese students on temporary visas, I as a Scot, with family in Scotland, will not be allowed to vote in the Scottish Parliament elections (although I can vote in the UK General Election). One of these students, Tianrui Liang, was arrested at JFK airport, while flying back to Scotland. He’s accused of illegally photographing sensitive US military aircraft, including “doomsday planes,” at strategic air bases. The fact that someone like Liang has the right to vote, but a native Scot, who paid taxes in Scotland for 40 years, is not, is yet another illustration of the collective political suicide that seems to be happening in Scotland

In one sense I am glad, because like many Christians (one survey suggested that a third had not made up their minds), I would struggle to know who to vote for. As a former SNP voter, I could not vote for them. The Greens are like a pseudo-religious Green/Islamic cult. The Lib Dems have become profoundly illiberal. The Tories have been a largely ineffective opposition. Labour have also wandered down the Progressive/Green Road.

Like many Scots I would be tempted to vote for Reform even as a protest vote. Or for one of the smaller parties like Sovereignty or the Scottish Family Party. There are some good independent candidates as well – Ash Regan and Jermey Balfour (a fine Christian and politician) in Edinburgh, and Fergus Ewing in the Highlands would have my vote – if I had it!

However, I don’t need permission to pray, and that I certainly will do. I pray for the Church in Scotland, which has largely become apostate and ineffective – although there are still the ‘7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal’ – and many faithful biblical churches. I pray for the future parliament and that somehow from the current morass there will arise true and principled leaders. And I pray for the people of Scotland, especially the poor, the sick and the disadvantaged who have had to face, more than anyone else, the consequences of those who do not know how to govern themselves, far less the nation. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

David Robertson is the former minister of St Peters Free Church in Dundee and a former Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland. He is currently the minister of Scots Kirk Presbyterian Church in Newcastle, New South Wales, and blogs at The Wee Flea.

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