MANY members of the Scottish Parliament, alongside liberal-minded commentators in Scotland’s press, like to congratulate themselves with the idea that the Scottish Parliament is more co-operative and respectful than Westminster — and also more socially progressive.

But in recent weeks we have seen that Holyrood has a real capacity for bad behaviour and “small-c” conservatism.

When Scottish Labour laid amendments to the government’s emergency Covid-19 legislation last week, it could have been a prime opportunity for the SNP government to put its rhetoric about co-operation and national consensus into reality. 

Instead, we saw SNP and Tory MSPs join forces to vote down these amendments one by one. 

It’s one kind of co-operation, I concede — but not the kind most Scottish voters would have in mind.

This regressive alliance of the SNP and the Tories defeated Labour amendments calling for collective-bargaining rights for care workers, the establishment of a tenant hardship fund and free bus travel for NHS and care workers. 

The SNP only voted in favour of a Scottish Labour amendment to establish a care workers’ fund to stop vital key workers being plunged into poverty by the pandemic after a huge public backlash against the party’s initial opposition.

The fact is that care workers and our older people in residential care have been badly let down during this pandemic. 

For week after week the Scottish government tried to absolve itself of its basic responsibility for these most vulnerable of our citizens and their carers. It privatised its duty, saying it was up to the private providers. 

Yet the failure to supply PPE, the failure to test, the decision to issue guidance which meant that care-home residents were not transferred to hospital when they were ill — these are all the decisions of government.  

At First Minister’s Questions this week, I highlighted the fateful impact of the government’s rush to discharge nearly 1,000 hospital patients to care homes in March without testing them for the virus. This was a decision of government too.

I was accused of relying on hindsight. But I raised these questions at the beginning of March, and time after time since then I have called for comprehensive testing, drawing on the advice of the World Health Organisation’s call to “test, test, test.” 

I have also highlighted the Scottish government’s own pandemic planning exercise “Silver Swan,” which back in 2016 warned of PPE shortages and gaps in social care.   

So this is not about opposition hindsight. It’s about a government ignoring clear foresight, including the knowledge that care homes for the elderly, because of the age, general health and communal living arrangements of the residents, were always going to be the most susceptible and consequently vulnerable group to this kind of virus. 

And so it has tragically proved to be, with around a half of all Covid-19-related deaths occurring in Scotland’s care homes. 

Throughout this crisis, the SNP has sought to distance its rhetoric from the Tories in Westminster while all too often making exactly the same mistakes. 

We have welcomed the extra time the Scottish government has taken before easing the lockdown, and I am glad that ministers have recognised the value of working with trade unions.

But the First Minister’s statement to Parliament last week that Scottish government policy on ending the lockdown was to “focus first on industries where people simply can’t work from home” sounds an awful lot like Boris Johnson’s mantra: if you can’t work from home, go out to work.

Let me be clear. Covid-19 poses the single biggest threat to public health and our economy that we have faced for decades. 

In this sense, the timidity of the SNP and Tories at Holyrood does not just represent a lack of ambition, it is profoundly dangerous. 

If we are to rebuild and reform our society after this pandemic we must take bold and radical action now. 

The people of Scotland rely on their Parliament to make the right choices in this time of national crisis. And once the immediate threat has passed, that means we cannot return to business or politics as usual.

And if this SNP-Tory alliance continues to obstruct the vital reforms needed, it will be the most vulnerable in our society who will suffer the most. 

That’s why Scottish Labour will continue to press for a radical alternative.

Richard Leonard is Scottish Labour leader.