The Decline of the SNP's Managerial Competence and Liberal Welfarism
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Safer and Stronger? The Decline of the SNP’s Managerial Competence and Liberal Welfarism over Justice Policy in Government, 2007-2016 MacLennan, S Author post-print (accepted) deposited by Coventry University’s Repository Original citation & hyperlink: MacLennan, S 2016, 'Safer and Stronger? The Decline of the SNP’s Managerial Competence and Liberal Welfarism over Justice Policy in Government, 2007- 2016' Scottish Affairs, vol 25, no. 1, pp. 62-82 https://dx.doi.org/10.3366/scot.2016.0111 DOI 10.3366/scot.2016.0111 ISSN 0966-0356 ESSN 2053-888X Publisher: Edinburgh University Press This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Edinburgh University Press in Scottish Affairs. The Version of Record is available online at: http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/scot.2016.0111 Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. This document is the author’s post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it. Safer and stronger? The decline of the SNP’s managerial competence and liberal welfarism over justice policy in government, 2007-2016. Stuart MacLennan1 Since the SNP came to power in 2007, they have sought to pursue two objectives with respect to matters of justice: to demonstrate managerial competence; and to ‘re-tartanise’ Scottish justice policy. While the headline figures present a generally positive figure of the SNP’s nine years in government, belying these figures is an increasing tendency towards illiberal and authoritarian justice policies, as well as mismanagement on the part of ministers. This article therefore considers the SNP’s approach to and management of justice policy, and whether or not they have been successful in the pursuit of their twin objectives. This paper considers the degradation of ministers’ once-strong relationship with the legal professions, the management of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the establishment of Police Scotland, and the Scottish Ministers’ increasing deference to the police on ‘operational matters’. It further considers the continuation of the ‘ned- bashing’ agenda of the Scottish Government, and concludes that, while ministers might rhetorically seek to appear liberal and welfarist, in contrast to England and Wales, the reality has been the pursuit of punitive policies that are arguably even less liberal, and less welfarist, than that of their predecessors, or their counterparts in England and Wales. Keywords: Justice, police, SNP, nationalism, Scotland. 1 Stuart MacLennan is Assistant Professor at the China-EU School of Law and Arthur Cox Research Scholar in the School of Law at Trinity College Dublin. 1. Introduction As a nationalist party, whose primary object is a constitutional one, it is difficult to divine a particularly distinctive SNP approach to justice policy. In general, there is little in the way of ideological underpinning to SNP policy – with social-welfarism being combined with neo-liberal economic policy. The policies that we have therefore seen pursued by the SNP in government have been something of a mixed bag, driven primarily by two discernable motives: a desire to portray themselves as competent managers; and a desire to highlight Scotland’s distinctiveness, in particular from the rest of the UK. This purpose of this article is not to critique the individual acts or policies pursued by the SNP government in the field of justice. Such critiques have already been offered (see, e.g., Croall, et al., 2012; Croall, et al., 2015; McAra and McVie, 2010). Instead, the focus will be the Scottish Government’s approach to justice policy under the SNP, though such a discussion inevitably involves some consideration of individual decisions. It should not be assumed, therefore, that the acts and policies discussed in this paper have been selected because of their relative importance or because they were particularly controversial. Those acts and policies that are considered in this paper have been selected because they are illustrative of the Scottish Government’s overall approach to justice policy under the SNP. This paper is structured in three sections. The first section provides an outline, explanation, and assessment of the key headline numbers in the field of justice policy. These numbers present a mixed, but mainly positive picture of the SNP’s period in office. Section two considers the first prevailing objective of the SNP’s approach to justice policy in government: the desire to present themselves as managerially competent. This section analyses, in particular, the ministers’ relationships with stakeholders in the legal professions, as well as management of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), which might otherwise escape public comment. It further considers some of the more damning criticisms of SNP ministers. It criticises the SNP’s deference to the police on ‘operational matters’, and attempts to shut-down debate over policing policy. It also considers the the outcry over cuts 1 to legal aid, as well as the Scottish Government’s U-turn over the abolition of corroboration in certain trials. Section three considers the second key objective of the SNP in office: re-casting justice policy in Scotland as unique, and in particular, distinct from that of England and Wales. It concludes that, while the release of the Lockerbie bomber allowed ministers to paint a picture of a more liberal, welfarist approach to justice policy than their Labour predecessors, or England and Wales; their approach to offending amongst young people in areas of deprivation, in particular, appears to be every bit as punitive, if not more so, than in England and Wales. 2. Justice in Numbers In general, the evidence suggests that the SNP has presided over a period of increasing police strength and falling crime statistics, however there remain some concerning trends within the overall picture. A key manifesto commitment of the SNP in the 2007 election was the provision of 1,000 additional police officers. From the beginning of Q1 2006 to the end of Q2 2007, the average police strength in Scotland was 16,206 officers. From the period beginning Q1 2009 and ending Q2 2015 the average police strength has been 17,315 officers. This manifesto commitment has therefore been met and maintained (Scottish Government, 2014). [FIGURE 1 HERE] The data show a discernible drop in crime – both recorded and surveyed – in Scotland during the SNP’s period in government (Scottish Government, 2015a). Overall reported crime fell from 419,257 incidents in 2006-07, to 256,350 in 2014-15 – a significant decline (it is worth noting that overall reported crime fell year-on-year throughout the SNP’s time in government – see figure 1). This is borne-out by a slightly less significant drop in victimisation in the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (Scottish Government, 2015a). There were also significant drops in recorded 2 instances of attempted murder and serious assault, robbery, drugs offences, weapons offences, most crimes of dishonesty2, and fire-raising and vandalism. However, marked increases in rape and other sexual offences can be observed (see figure 2), which might be explained, at least in part, by the broadening of the definition of rape by the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009. [FIGURE 2 HERE] With respect to civil justice, the period 2008-2014 shows encouraging trends (see figure 3), though the extent to which responsibility for this is attributable to government, and not broader economic conditions, is questionable. Most notable during this period is a sharp decline in the number of debt actions initiated and disposed of in the Scottish Courts. The Scottish Government’s primary intervention in this respect is the Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2011, which widened significantly the availability of debt arrangement schemes to debtors. However, since the economic downturn there is a wealth of evidence to suggest that both borrowers and lenders have been increasingly cautious (Bunn, 2014). Consumer credit is far less readily available, while consumers appear to be more willing to save, rather than borrow, in order to finance purchases. [FIGURE 3 HERE] During the same period, the Bank of England observed a significant decline in household debt-to-income ratios (Bunn, 2014). Between 1999 and 2008, the household debt-to-income ratio increased from 90 per cent to a peak of 160 per cent. Thereafter, while the stock of household debt stabilised, the ratio began to decline, reflecting modest increases in household income. This suggests a decline in consumers taking on new debts, and an increased emphasis upon servicing existing 2 With the exception of shoplifting, which has remained largely static. 3 debts. It follows, therefore, that this will lead to a decline in defaults and non- payment of debts, with a corresponding drop in the number of debt actions in the courts. A sharp decline can also be observed in the number of eviction and repossession actions, which, again, can partly be explained by a more risk-averse financial climate. There has been a modest increase in the number of personal injury claims, while the number of family cases remains fairly static. While these numbers generally paint a picture of modest success, this has not prevented the SNP’s management of justice policy from becoming a target of criticism from opposition, academics, and press alike.