As the Scottish Government drops legislation for greener heating for the second time in a year, Herald columnist Rosemary Goring asks what policy U-turns tell us about how the country is run.

Who, apart from taxi-drivers, makes more U-turns than the government? Whether at Westminster or Holyrood, going back on a previously hyped decision has turned into a competitive sport. Remember the fanfare over HS2, which would transform connectivity in the north of England? The Tories’ decision, under Rishi Sunak, to cancel the second phase of this flagship venture felt symbolic of the chaos that reigned in Downing Street at the time. Under the Conservatives, policies were floated as if they were the answer to everyone’s prayers, only for us to discover they were based on ideas as solid as blancmange. ‘Now you see it, now you don’t’ summed up the numberless broken promises that paved the way to the Tories’ defeat.

Rachel Reeves’s recent hand-brake turn over raising income tax has been widely mocked. It is, however, only the latest dramatic reversal by Labour, whose sudden retreats include revoking the cancellation of all winter fuel allowances and a humiliating climbdown on welfare cuts. Comments by Reeves also suggest the child benefit cap might soon be abolished. All this is unsettling and destabilising because governments that do not stick to their guns, that change their mind depending on the last advisor they spoke to or poll they read, cannot be trusted.

It doesn’t take a Machiavelli to........

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