Out of all the commitments, the only one we can categorically state was met was the investment in retraining former oil workers into new greener industries. This was completed and enacted in the Scottish budget, with a £5 million being invested into climate change retraining.





However, this falls short of Labour's commitment of £20 million being invested, a bizarre state of affairs if you are to consider that there is currently a large surplus in the Scottish budget and the fact the Scottish government has a Green first minister.





Whilst Skills and Training investment has increased across the board, how many apprenticeships have been created, and how high quality these are, cannot be known. Furthermore, with the late implementation of the Scottish budget, we are unlikely to know how successful the Scottish government will be in providing an alternative path into high-skilled employment.





The Scottish government's petition for regional economic control of basic income has been firmly rejected by not only the British government, but with significant backing within the Traffic-Light opposition.





Rather than stop at a petition, however, the first minister has seen an opportunity to push further, which has recently culminated in a welfare devolution referendum, in a bid to force DrCaeserMD's hand and those within the Traffic-Light opposition who oppose further devolution.





Whilst mg9500 is focused on welfare devolution many other commitments have not been completed.







There has been no creation of any production strategy, a Liberal Democrat pledge, and nor has any strategy been published to the public. In addition, there has been no establishment of any employment commission to maintain workers rights, a pledge made by the Labour Party.





Naomi Eisenstadt’s ‘Fifteen Recommendations’ have also not been met, a blow to all government parties.





The creation of a tourism forum, and the reduction of VAT, has also not been met, due to it being against European Union regulations. Unsurprising perhaps, considering the lack of clarity in the initial pledge, with the government itself querying whether they should pursue a VAT reclaim promotion, not knowing that it wasn't in the power of Holyrood or Westminster.





Within the budget there are tax increases and the creation of new tax bands. The pledge, to commit to minimum rises in tax overall, has failed to been met. With a huge surplus of £220 million, and a 'rainy day fund' of over £14 billion, it cannot be said that taxes were raised to the minimum. Rather, taxes were raised beyond what was required to meet the pledge for a National Wealth Fun and what was required for a surplus.





Overall, the Scottish government set out ambitious goals, but have failed to deliver on the vast majority of them as a result of inactivity and there simply being too many.







Of particular concern and neglect have been the plan to increase productivity and implement Naomi Eisenstadt’s ‘Fifteen Recommendations’. Both these require a lot of thought, detail and most importantly work. Government ministers simply did not put in the effort towards these areas and pledges.





Instead, focus has been on pushing forward with the Green pledge to devolve welfare. This could have been a short pledge, in which it was met with a no from Westminster and mg9500 could have claimed to have met his pledge and then turned to focus on other matters.





Whether this would have been the right thing to do is debatable. There are also questions surrounding if the first minister could have truthfully claimed to have met the pledge if he did not put in all of his effort to secure further devolution.





What is less debatable is the fact this has taken a large portion of the government's time, and that as a result, less attention has been paid to other economic pledges made by the Scottish government.