The SNP Scottish government has rolled out its latest paper on independence, this time focused on citizenship. Like others in the series (this is the fifth paper on secession in twelve months) it offers nothing new, goes big on fantasising about a future that won’t happen, and is completely removed from the day-to-day needs of Scots.

There was a time when the SNP was the group that put its time and resources into producing papers aimed at imagining the possibilities for an independent Scotland. In 2018, the party brought out a lengthy paper making the case for secession and speculating on what an independent Scotland might look like. It was entirely proper for the SNP to do this.

Today, Scottish civil servants have found themselves in the position of producing updated versions of this material. With no prospect of another independence referendum happening anytime soon, the appropriateness of civil service resources being used in this way is questionable at best.

A look at the Scottish government’s official Twitter feed also shows how Scottish civil servants now appear to be producing blatantly party-political content. One recent promotional video asks viewers to imagine building a ‘different future’ that is ‘wealthier, fairer, happier’, before going on to suggest that the mere act of Scotland becoming a small independent country will make this happen. In reality, any evidence-based approach to assessing the economic outcome of secession tells us the Scottish economy and Scottish government budgets would be smaller after separation from the UK.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters