The 5 policies abandoned or delayed by John Swinney and the SNP Government

The Scottish Government has unveiled its Programme for Government, and with it a series of U-turns or watering down of previous pledges.

Coming a day after Finance Secretary Shona Robison announced £500 million of cuts, First Minister John Swinney claimed his administration was facing "incredibly challenging" financial conditions.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes had echoed this point, saying they were being "open with the public about the enormous constraints on our public finances”.

John Swinney unveils his inaugural Programme for Government at Scottish Parliament (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell)

Here are five areas the Scottish Government has failed to deliver on, or delayed both in the Programme for Government and in spending cuts.

Free school meals

Mr Swinney has shelved a Scottish Government commitment to roll out free school meals to all primary school pupils, despite pledging that tackling child poverty was “first and foremost” in his priorities.

Ms Forbes has instead insisted free meals would be rolled out to all youngsters in P6 and P7 “when additional funding becomes available”.

Conversion therapy ban

The First Minister said he did not include a Bill to ban conversion therapy, instead taking a “four nations” approach to have UK government legislation applying in Scotland.

A public consultation on banning conversion practices in Scotland closed in April. The proposed law sought to criminalise practices which are "undertaken with the intention to change or suppress the sexual orientation or gender identity of another person".

The Scottish Government said: "We will prepare legislation for introduction to the Scottish Parliament should a UK-wide approach not be achievable.”

Human Rights Bill

Ministers had promised a Human Rights Bill, but will no longer be introducing the legislation this year. This means it is unlikely to pass as a Bill before the 2026 Holyrood election.

Criticising the decision, Professor Angela O’Hagan, chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, said: “The proposed Human Rights Bill would have provided a framework for a fairer Scotland, strengthening a human rights-based approach to local and national policy making in law.

“Abandoning this Bill denies people access to justice to ensure their human rights are fully realised, from a safe home to decent food and good health and social care.

“In a week where the Cabinet secretary for finance has already announced deep cuts across public spending, these decisions weaken the commitment to fight poverty and directly impact the most marginalised in Scotland.”

General cuts

Away from the Programme for Government, there were also extensive cuts in the emergency spending review, with £115 million taken out of the health department, including around £18m on mental health and £13m on adult social care services. The Government insists this won't affect frontline services.

There is also around £23m being cut from the net zero and energy department, and the remaining £460m from ScotWind revenue is being spent on plugging the black hole rather than being invested in green energy like it was meant to.

Active travel and peak rail fares

A further £23.7m of savings have been achieved from the Government’s active and sustainable travel budget, “in part to fund the extension to the peak fares removal pilot to the end of September 2024”.

The halting of Government funding to Sustrans Scotland has meant the charity has paused a number of projects in its Places for Everyone programme. The Places for Everyone programme aims to get more Scots walking, wheeling and cycling across the country, and has more than 200 projects in various stages of development.

It had been previously revealed the suspension of peak rail fares was being ended following a £40m trial, meaning ticket prices for ScotRail services will rise from September 27.