AS THE political parties put the finishing touches to their manifestos there has never been a time when Scotland’s communities have been so desperate for radical change.

In every area of public policy we see crisis upon crisis and it is working-class communities who are suffering most.

A decade-and-a-half of disproportionately high cuts imposed on local authorities by the Scottish government combined with the madness of a decade-long council tax freeze has decimated services. Local government, once the front line in the fight against poverty and inequality, providing a broad range of services to support children, families, the elderly, disabled and disadvantaged will soon be reduced to providing statutory services only.

Many of the anti-poverty initiatives have already gone as social workers drown in case work, youth clubs close, care services cut, after-school clubs ended, pensioner groups underfunded, day centres shut, and family support rationed. Over a quarter of a million people are on council and social housing waiting lists Scotland’s roads are in an appalling condition and our towns and cities are filthy.

One in nine Scots languish on an NHS waiting list, delayed discharge sees hundreds of thousands of bed days lost as patients are stuck in hospital beds when they should be home. Accident and emergency departments are in a permanent state of crisis.

Scotland has one of the worst rates of drug deaths in the world with no sign of improvement, despite “a national mission” having been declared several years ago. Alcohol-related deaths are increasing and there is a mental health crisis. Families with a child seeking a CAMHS diagnosis find themselves on five-year-long waiting lists.

Crime rates rise and as police officer numbers fall, the backlog of court cases grow and Scotland’s prisons are bursting at the seams with hundreds of prisoners released early in a vain attempt to free up cell space.

The education attainment gap widens at the same time as newly qualified teachers cannot get a job. Colleges are on the brink of bankruptcy and universities are shedding hundreds of jobs.

These crises have consequences — people are dying far too young. Scotland’s healthy life expectancy is falling. The latest figures for the 2022 to 2024 period shows it is now 59.1 years for men and 59.4 years for women with poverty, inequality and class are at the root of this decline.

Those who live in more affluent areas such as East Renfrewshire, Perth and Kinross and East Dunbartonshire and Edinburgh have a higher than average healthy life expectancy whereas those in poorer working-class communities of North Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire and North Ayrshire had lowest healthy life expectancy.

Women in the most deprived areas spent around 60 per cent of life in good health, while men spent around two-thirds in good health while men and women in the least deprived areas spend over 80 per cent of their lives in good health.

This is an abject failure of public policy. It is what happens when you underfund the basic services we all need for life. It is what happens when you are content to administer an economic system which is supposed to create and maintain inequality. It is what happens when you refuse to take responsibility for your own failure. It is what happens when the biggest challenges stare you in the face but you look away.

This is Scotland’s shame.