Why Not Scotland The sourced case for Scottish independence

Education, culture and justice

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The case for independence

  • The Scottish Government proposes making free university tuition part of a permanent constitution.3
  • It proposes a new Scottish public service broadcaster.2
  • It says re-joining the EU would restore access to tools such as the European Arrest Warrant.4

How it works now

School and university education, policing, courts and most criminal and civil law are devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

Some related matters still stay reserved to Westminster under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998: immigration and nationality, the misuse of drugs, data protection, extradition and broadcasting are all reserved, as is the constitutional status of the High Court of Justiciary and the Court of Session as Scotland's courts of first and last resort.5

The challenges

  • The IFS says the commitment to free university tuition “comes with trade-offs”: the Scottish Government spends about £28,700 more per student than it would under English funding arrangements, and cut per-student teaching funding further in the 2024-25 Budget, continuing a 19% real-terms fall over the previous decade.6
  • Responding to the culture paper's proposal for a new public service broadcaster, Kevin Hague of the think tank These Islands questioned the government's own description of the plan, asking “Am I alone in finding those words rather chilling?”, and the author Ewen Morrison called the idea “a terrible idea”.7
  • Responding to the justice paper, Pamela Nash of Scotland in Union called the “Building a New Scotland” series “an astronomical waste of taxpayers' money”, and said government priorities should focus on issues such as NHS waiting lists and child poverty rather than “constitutional obsession”.8

How Scotland would meet them

  • Culture: a new Scottish public service broadcaster. Alongside the paper, the First Minister committed to at least £100 million more a year for culture and the arts by 2028/29.2
  • Education: make free university tuition part of a permanent constitution, and re-join EU exchange programmes such as Erasmus+.3
  • Justice: restore access to tools such as the European Arrest Warrant after re-joining the EU, and take a public health approach to drug policy reform.4

Source: Scottish Government releases on Papers 10, 12 and 13

Still to be settled

What would change in practice for schools, universities and courts?

This has not been settled, and we have not yet found reliable published analysis. We will add sourced material when it becomes available.

Sources

  1. Scottish Government, Building a New Scotland papers: downloadable versions.
  2. Scottish Government, Culture in an independent Scotland (news release on Paper 10), 2 February 2024.
  3. Scottish Government, Enhanced opportunities for people of all ages (news release on Paper 12), 25 March 2024.
  4. Scottish Government, Justice in an independent Scotland (news release on Paper 13), 25 April 2024.
  5. Scotland Act 1998, Schedule 5 (Reserved matters).
  6. Kate Ogden, Institute for Fiscal Studies, Scottish Government boosts support for students' living costs but further cuts funding for universities, 20 February 2024.
  7. Douglas Dickie, Scottish Daily Express, “Chilling” SNP government claims on state broadcaster branded “something from 1984”, 7 February 2024.
  8. Scottish Daily Mail, via PressReader, 26 April 2024.