This first report lays the groundwork for understanding Scottish society as we emerge from the pandemic, and addresses the following fundamental questions: Is Scotland on the right track? Where do we want to go as a country? And who do we trust to help us get there?
No delays
Devolved matters only
What has worked and what hasn’t
Public respons
There is no question that an independent Scotland could run a sustainable budget. But like the UK, an independent Scotland would face major fiscal challenges both in the short and long run. Based upon the latest data, an independent Scotland is likely to face greater challenges than the UK as a whole (at least in the short-term).
This paper models the cost of a comprehensive testing-based strategy to limit the spread of Covid-19 in Scotland and to allow the country to emerge safely from its blanket lockdown.
Common Weal investigates the impact of Covid-19 in Scottish Care homes and finds that the warnings about the weaknesses in pandemic preparation were repeatedly ignored with the result of causing “The single greatest failure in devolved government since the creation of the Scottish Parliament”
Several of Common Weal’s Local Groups respond to the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 Framework for Decision Making by calling for an increase in the ambition of its proposed Test, Trace, Isolate and Support plans.