EUAN McCOLM: A free bag for every child? Maybe they can use them to carry the free laptops they were promised in 2021...

By EUAN MCCOLM FOR SCOTTISH MAIL ON SUNDAY Published: 21:04, 14 April 2026 | Updated: 21:09, 14 April 2026 Appearing on ITV’s Loose Women chat show shortly after stepping down as First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon was asked to name the achievement in Government of which she was proudest. Without hesitation, Ms Sturgeon replied that the introduction of the baby box had been one of the most satisfying moments during her time in power. The former SNP leader soaked up the applause of a studio audience which, no harm to them, fell for the idea that the Nationalists’ decision to spend more than £10million a year giving the parents of every newborn a box full of useful bits and bobs – bodysuit, a thermometer, a teething ring and so on – represented policy-making at its most progressive. Launching the boxes, inside which babies can sleep, in 2017, Ms Sturgeon said they would help to reduce infant mortality and improve child health. Of course, they have done no such thing. The baby box is a costly gimmick, a headline-grabbing giveaway which, while perfectly nice to receive, has done precisely nothing to better the quality of life of young Scots. This is a truth confirmed by the Scottish Government’s own review of the policy. But that’s neither here nor there to a Nationalist administration that judges policy not on whether it is good but whether it sounds good. In 2021, the SNP signed a new £56million contract for provision of the boxes for a further five years. Having committed to the waste of tens of millions of pounds on a policy that does nothing to help babies, the Nationalists now propose to do the same for children joining primary school. First Minister John Swinney has announced his party’s plans for a ‘Welcome to School Bag’, filled with ‘essential items’ such as stationery, books and a water bottle. Mr Swinney’s policy launch was emotional stuff, indeed. ‘Starting school,’ he said, ‘is an exciting moment for every child and their family and I am determined that we do everything we can to support them at such a big transition point in their life.’ John Swinney has promised to hand out free school bags to children if the SNP win the election Parents with the insider knowledge gained through already having children in the school system know that the best way to support them would be to ensure classrooms were fully resourced and staffing levels raised. But don’t worry about the deeply ingrained institutional problems – the funding shortfalls, the plummeting staff morale, the ongoing crises in childhood literacy and numeracy – here’s a bag! Announcing the plan for this life-changing satchel, Mr Swinney said it would build on the ‘fantastic success of the baby box’ which had been ‘transformational for so many families across the country’. The First Minister knows, because his own officials have told him so, that the baby box policy has made no appreciable difference to the life of any family that has received one. The SNP purloined the baby box scheme from Finland, where the government has provided them for almost 90 years. However, what the Nationalists didn’t bother pinching was the part of the policy that means, in order to receive a box, an expectant mother must form a relationship with a health care professional early in her pregnancy. The Finnish baby box is a freebie designed to bring medics and incipient mothers together. The Scottish baby box is just a freebie. If the policy has been transformational, it has been in giving SNP ministers something to say when asked about their achievements. But, look, we’re not daft. We know why the Nationalists went with the policy despite it having no benefits. Ms Sturgeon introduced the baby box policy because it plays into the SNP’s exhausting story of Scottish exceptionalism: we care so much about our babies that we’re doing this (entirely symbolic) thing. The unspoken implication is, of course, that the English don’t love their babies enough to put them in cardboard boxes. After the SNP came to power under the late Alex Salmond in 2007, the party was quick to display its fondness for bread and circuses politics. That first flagship policy of ‘free’ prescriptions was a classic of the form. Before the SNP legislated on the matter, half of all Scots – the young, the elderly, those unemployed or on low incomes – received free prescriptions. What’s more, 80 per cent of all prescriptions were dispensed with no charge. All the Nationalists’ policy did was expand the provision of free prescriptions to the wealthiest in society. And, yes, there is an argument to be made for universalism but if you’re going to make it, you should be prepared to explain why you think, in this instance, a nation’s health is improved by the removal of hundreds of millions of pounds from the NHS drugs budget to give free haemorrhoid cream to people on an MSP’s salary. As with the baby box, the prescriptions policy allowed SNP ministers to present a story of Scotland as uniquely compassionate while, in reality, doing nothing to improve the lots of those most desperately in need. The new ‘Welcome to School Bag’ is the latest in a succession of shiny things held up by the SNP as proof of its progressive, compassionate politics. Like prescriptions and baby boxes, it’s a symbol, something that confirms the sneaking suspicion which lies in the depths of every Scots’ mind that we are just better than other people. But, like those other policies, the free bag won’t begin to tackle the problems to which it is declared a solution. It won’t make any difference to schools facing funding shortages or children struggling through poverty. Still, it’ll be somewhere for kids to put the laptops they were promised in 2021 but haven’t received, I suppose. Appearing on BBC Scotland’s Debate Night on Sunday evening, Mr Swinney looked tired and often sounded unfocused. After 19 years of SNP government, this is hardly surprising. The Nationalists’ laughable school bag policy is, surely, proof if proof were needed that Mr Swinney’s is a government out of ideas. Since the SNP is on course to win next month’s Holyrood election, the ‘Welcome to School Bag will soon become a reality. Like the baby box, it will exist not to actually improve lives but to give SNP ministers something to talk about. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. 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