BRITAIN is looking down the barrel of historic economic decline and Scotland is no exception to that.

Despite their claims to be “standing up for Scotland,” the recklessness of the Tories at Westminster has been met with a period of relative inactivity from the SNP at Holyrood. Yes, the First Minister and her government clearly did not agree with slashing the top rate of tax, but we heard little to nothing about anything they would do to mitigate its effects.

This has come as no shock to many of us however: inactivity and laying low have been the calling cards of the SNP for years. Nowhere is that more acutely obvious than the state of our NHS.

As a member of the Scottish Parliament’s health, social care, and sport committee I have been active in publishing a report into historic health inequalities and the poverty that lies at the root of them. “Tackling Health Inequalities in Scotland” may not get a great deal of attention from the media, but it is a necessary step on the road to acceptance of the fact it is our economic system that creates and reinforces health inequalities, not the actions of individuals.

The committee report highlights the essential connection between access to safe, secure, affordable housing and positive health and wellbeing.

The most important aspect of our recommendations is the fact that there is now a move to ensure that all public services take into account, at the point of design, the needs of people suffering at the sharp end of the economic spectrum.

That may be a throwaway bit of lip service to some, but I see it as my duty to ensure that is carried out in full, especially in the midst of a climate where we see people suffering the double fear of surging energy costs and a serious increase in their likely mortgage repayments.

I recently visited a lunch club in my local area of East Ayrshire to speak to pensioners ahead of the International Day for Older Persons. It is here that you see the obvious effect of cuts and central government disinterest, but also the best of people and what can be done through direct community engagement to alleviate their woes.

Many of those in attendance were not only there for a good meal and a chat, but also due to worries about the cost of heating their homes as the colder months approach.

Most, if not all, had recent and powerful stories to tell about their difficulties getting a GP to see them or even getting along to vital hospital appointments due to increasingly limited transport options.

The cumulative stress this puts on mental and physical health is difficult to quantify, but it certainly speaks to a system that simply is not working for ordinary people. I very much doubt I would be hearing about such a multitude of health problems in much wealthier areas where worries about underfunded services and a looming recession are much more abstract.

This is a small example but a potent one which highlights a complete lack of joined up thinking from above regarding health outcomes. Despite the brilliant work of staff and volunteers at lunch clubs, community centres, care homes etc – there is only so much you can do with so little. The crisis will eventually catch up with all of us.

Just recently the new head of the BMA in Scotland has said the NHS “is crumbling and patients are being failed.” Union members are expected to go on strike in November after another derisory pay offer from the government and accident and emergency waiting times are now the worst on record in Scotland.

Among all of this the government has barely made time to address Parliament or review their already outdated NHS recovery plan. To me it just feels like business as usual. It’s simply not good enough.

Poor health comes from an unfair and greed-driven economy and the incompetence of leaders who after the Covid outbreak can still not see the consequences of underfunding. And poorly preparing the NHS is only making that worse. This is how generational inequality takes hold and maintains, surely we can do more?

In a fortnight where the Chancellor has decided to give a massive tax cut to the richest in society while the worst off get almost nothing, it is clear we are rapidly seeing the country transformed into an extremist free-market economy at the expense of everyone who cannot afford to exploit others.

This has been the dream of the neo-Thatcherites for years and I must admit even I was somewhat surprised at how quickly it all went wrong — although it was always going to eventually.

But that does not have to spur a race to the bottom in Scotland. We do have devolved powers over tax, health, and housing among many other things. Use this as an opportunity to show the ambition of devolution, not its limitations.

If the SNP cannot do that then there really is only one alternative to the managed decline and indecision – a socialist Labour government.

I ask everyone in Scotland to give it a chance — there has to be a better way than this.

Carol Mochan is MSP for South Scotland.