Scottish Social Attitudes survey 2021/22: attitudes data

Chapter 2: Attitudes to government

This chapter is concerned with attitudes towards government in Scotland and addresses the following key questions:

• What level of trust do people have in the UK Government, Scottish Government and their local council, on matters such as acting in their best interests and making fair decisions?
• Do people in Scotland feel that the UK and Scottish governments, as well as their local council, listen to people before taking decisions?
• Is the Scottish Parliament thought to be giving ordinary people more or less say in how Scotland is governed, and is it considered to be giving Scotland a stronger or weaker voice in the UK?
• Do people in Scotland feel that the government in Westminster or at Holyrood has the most influence over how Scotland is run, and which do they think ought to have the most influence?

These attitudes are presented and then examined by sub-groups. Full subgroup breakdowns for 2021/22 data are available in the 'Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2021/22: Chapter 2 subgroup variation tables' Excel file published as a 'supporting file' alongside this report. Equivalent tables are also available for Chapters 3 and 4 in this report.

Trust in UK/Scottish Government to act in Scotland's best interests

All respondents who took part in SSA were asked whether they trusted the UK and Scottish Governments to work in Scotland's best interests. Table 2.1 shows responses to this question in 2021/22. As can be seen, people in Scotland generally had more trust in the Scottish Government to work in Scotland's best interests than they had in the government at Westminster.

Table 2.1: Level of trust in UK and Scottish Governments to work in Scotland's best interests (2021/22)

	UK Government (%)	Scottish Government (%)
Just about always	5	30
Most of the time	17	36
Only some of the time	32	23
Almost never	46	11
Don't know/Refusal	1	*
Unweighted base	1130	1130

Base: all respondents

Two in three people (66%) said they trusted the Scottish Government to work in Scotland's best interests 'just about always' or 'most of the time', compared with 22% who said they trusted the UK Government to do so. Just over three in ten people (32%) said they trusted the UK Government to work in Scotland's best interests 'only some of the time', compared with 23% who said this of the Scottish Government. Over four times as many said they 'almost never' trusted the UK government to work in Scotland's best interests (46%) than said this of the Scottish Government (11%).

Trust in UK/Scottish Government/local council to make fair decisions

Respondents were also asked whether they trusted the UK and Scottish Governments to make fair decisions. As can be seen in Table 2.2, the Scottish Government were the most trusted to make fair decisions, with just under half (48%) of people trusting them 'a great deal' or 'quite a lot', compared with an equivalent figure of 15% for the UK Government and 31% for their local council.

Table 2.2: Level of trust in UK Government, Scottish Government and local council to make fair decisions (2021/22)

	UK Government (%)	Scottish Government (%)	Local Council (%)
A great deal	3	13	4
Quite a lot	12	35	27
Some	28	32	39
Not very much	27	13	18
Not at all	30	6	7
Don't know/Refusal	*	1	4
Unweighted base	1130	1130	1130

Base: all respondents

Just under a fifth of people in Scotland (19%) said they trusted the Scottish Government to make fair decisions either 'not very much' or 'not at all', compared with around three-fifths (56%) of people who said this of the UK Government and 26% who said it of their local council.

How do these attitudes vary by sub-group?

Certain groups of people were more likely than others to expect the UK or Scottish Governments to work in Scotland's best interests. Perhaps unsurprisingly, levels of trust in the UK and Scottish Governments to work in Scotland's best interests were significantly related to someone's party political identification, constitutional preference and attitudes towards the EU. SNP (88%) and Scottish Green Party (85%) supporters were significantly more likely than others, such as Conservative (28%) and Labour supporters (49%), to trust the Scottish Government to work in Scotland's best interests 'just about always/most of the time'. They were also significantly less likely (8% SNP, 9% Green) to trust the UK Government to do so, compared with Conservative (71%), Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters (18 and 19% respectively). Similarly, 87% of independence supporters trusted the Scottish Government 'just about always/most of the time' compared with 38% of those who think Scotland should remain part of the UK, with the equivalent figures for the UK Government 8% and 40% respectively.

As part of the survey, all respondents were asked whether they would vote to Remain or Leave the European Union, if they were given the chance to do so again in a hypothetical future referendum.^[25] Those who reported that they would vote to leave in a future EU referendum were less likely (34%) than those who would vote to remain (74%) to say they trusted the Scottish Government to act in Scotland's best interests 'just about always/most of the time', while half of Leavers (50%) trusted the UK Government this much compared with just 15% of Remainers.

Base: all respondents

Attitudes also varied according to position on the left-right and liberal-authoritarian scales^[26]. Attitudes towards five individual statements in the case of the former, and six statements in the case of the latter, are combined to form these scales. The left-right scale is constructed from statements concerning the distribution of wealth in society and the relationship between 'workers' or 'ordinary people' and 'big business' or 'management'. In general terms, those on the left are more supportive of government having a role in redistributing income from the better off to those who are less well-off, and see a greater level of conflict between 'working people' and 'management' or 'big business' than those on the right.

The liberal-authoritarian scale is constructed from statements on the acceptability or otherwise of censorship, attitudes towards sentencing and the law, as well as respect for British values and authority. In general, 'liberals' value the freedom to choose a moral code and lifestyle and value social diversity, whereas 'authoritarians' put a greater value on social cohesion and hold more conservative views on matters of law and order.

Those on the left were more likely (80%) than those on the right (49%) to trust the Scottish Government to work in Scotland's best interests 'just about always' or 'most of the time.' The opposite was the case for the UK Government, with 43% of those on the right trusting them to work in Scotland's best interests 'just about always/most of the time' compared with just 9% of those on the left. Half of those on the authoritarian end of the authoritarian-liberal scale (50%) trusted the Scottish Government to act in Scotland's best interests 'just about always/most of the time' compared with 79% of liberals who did so, while the equivalent figures for the UK Government were 33% and 9% respectively.

Trust in the Scottish and UK Governments to work in Scotland's best interests was also related to assessments of how well the COVID-19 pandemic was handled in Scotland.^[27] Nine in ten (90%) of those who held a positive view of how Scotland handled the pandemic trusted the Scottish Government to work in Scotland's best interests 'just about always/most of the time', compared with 35% of those who viewed Scotland's pandemic performance negatively. In comparison, 11% of those who held a positive view of how Scotland had handled the pandemic trusted the UK Government this much, while 37% of those who held a negative view of Scotland's pandemic performance did so.

If we examine the other measure of trust in government, namely whether people trusted the UK and Scottish governments to make fair decisions, the same relationships with these subgroups were evident. Significant relationships were found between trust in government on this measure by position on the left-right and liberal-authoritarian scales, political party identification, constitutional preference, attitude towards the EU and pandemic handling. All of these relationships were in the same direction as those identified for trust in governments to work in Scotland's best interests. Those on the left, liberals, SNP and Scottish Green voters, independence supporters, Remainers and those with a positive view of Scotland's handling of the pandemic were all more likely to trust the Scottish Government and less likely to trust the UK Government to make fair decisions than their counterparts.

Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the main drivers of opinion on whether the UK and Scottish Governments are working in Scotland's best interests. For the UK Government, the key drivers were party political affiliation and attitudes towards Scottish independence.^[28] Controlling for all other variables, the odds of a Conservative Party supporter stating that the UK Government works in the best interests of Scotland 'just about always' or 'most of the time' was around ten times that of a Labour, Liberal Democrat, or SNP supporter. In addition, the odds of someone opposed to independence stating this was the case was around four times that of a supporter of independence doing so.

For trust in the Scottish Government to work in the best interests of Scotland, controlling for all other variables the key factors were attitudes to how the pandemic had been handled and views on Scottish independence.^[29] The odds of someone with a positive view of how Scotland handled the pandemic saying that the Scottish Government acts in Scotland's best interests 'just about always/most of the time' was ten times greater than the odds of someone with a negative view of pandemic handling doing so. Also, the odds of a supporter of independence saying the Scottish Government acts in Scotland's best interests 'just about always/most of the time' was 4.5 times greater than someone who thinks Scotland should remain part of the UK. It appears, therefore, that the level of trust in the Scottish Government is rather less influenced by someone's political opinions (e.g political party supported) than it is for a person's level of trust in the UK Government.

While trust in local councils to make fair decisions varied less across different groups of people, some notable differences were observed. Opponents of independence (26%) were less likely than Scottish independence supporters (35%) to say they trusted their local council to make fair decisions either 'a great deal' or 'quite a lot', and Leavers (23%) were less likely than Remainers (33%) to do so. Around four in ten of those who could be described as positive (37%) towards Scotland's handling of the pandemic or neutral (38%) trusted their local council 'a great deal/quite a lot', compared with just 18% of those who held a negative view.

How good the Scottish Government/UK Government/local council is at listening before taking decisions

To determine how connected to the public people in Scotland feel their elected governments are, all respondents were asked whether they thought the UK and Scottish Governments, as well as their local council, were good at listening to people's views before taking decisions. Table 2.3 presents results from these questions.

Table 2.3: How good would you say the UK Government/Scottish Government/Local council is at listening to people's views before taking decisions (2021/22)

	UK Government (%)	Scottish Government (%)	Local Council (%)
Very good	3	10	6
Quite good	15	48	35
Not very good	41	22	36
Not at all good	40	17	17
Don't know/Refusal	1	3	7
Unweighted base	1130	1130	1130

Base: all respondents

People in Scotland were more likely to think that the Scottish Government were either 'very' or 'quite good' (58%) at listening to people's views before taking decisions than they were to think this of the UK Government (18%) or their local council (41%). Four in five people (80%) thought the UK Government was either 'not very' or 'not at all' good at listening to people's views before taking decisions, double the proportion (39%) who believed this of the Scottish Government. The equivalent figure for a person's local council was just over half – 52%.

How do these attitudes vary by sub-group?

Attitudes in this area were strongly related to people's party political affiliation. Around 4 in 10 Conservative supporters (39%) believed the UK Government was either 'very' or 'quite' good at listening to people's views before it takes decisions, compared with 10% of Labour, 14% of SNP and 14% of Scottish Green Party supporters. For the Scottish Government, SNP (84%) supporters and Greens (79%) were the most likely to think they are 'good' or 'very good' at listening to people's views, compared with 39% of Labour supporters and 18% of Conservatives. Liberal Democrat supporters (51%) were the most likely to say their local council is very good/quite good at listening to people's views before taking decisions, compared with just 29% of Conservative Party supporters.

There was an association between level of education and how good people felt the UK Government was at listening to people's views, but there was no such association for the equivalent assessments of the Scottish Government and local council. Those with no qualifications were almost twice as likely (31%) as those educated to the equivalent of degree level or above (16%) to think that the UK Government is 'very' or 'quite' good at listening to people's views before taking decisions.

The proportion of Leavers (31%) who thought the UK Government is 'very good/quite good' at listening to people's views before taking decisions was around double that of Remainers (15%), and opponents of independence (24%) were more likely than independence supporters (14%) to think this is the case. For the Scottish Government this relationship is reversed: eight in ten (80%) independence supporters thought the Scottish Government is 'very/quite good' in this regard, compared with just under three in ten (29%) of those opposed to independence, and 68% of Remainers had this impression of the Scottish Government compared with just 21% of Leavers.

Position on the left-right and liberal-authoritarian scales were related to perceptions of the UK and Scottish Government on this issue, but this was not the case for local councils. While around 3 in 10 (29%) of those on the right thought the UK Government was either 'very' or 'quite' good at listening to people's views before taking decisions, around 1 in 10 (11%) of those on the left thought so. The equivalent figures for liberals and authoritarians were 10% and 26% respectively. Around 7 in 10 (71%) left-wingers and liberals (73%) held this perception of the Scottish Government, compared with 38% of those on the right and 45% of authoritarians.

Attitudes were also related to people's general perceptions of Scotland's handling of the pandemic. Around 9 in 10 (89%) of those who had a positive perception thought the Scottish Government was 'very' or 'quite' good at listening to people's views before taking decisions, compared with around a quarter (24%) of those who had a negative perception. Similarly, 46% of those who had a positive perception of Scotland's handling of the pandemic thought their local council was 'very' or 'quite' good at listening to people's views before taking decisions, compared with 29% of those who had a negative view.

Logistic regression analysis on the main drivers of attitudes in this area returned similar results to those found earlier on whether the UK or Scottish Governments can be trusted to work in Scotland's national interests. For perceptions of the UK Government – party political affiliation and interest in politics were two of the key drivers.^[30] The odds of a Conservative Party supporter saying that the UK Government is 'very/quite good' at listening to people's views before taking decision was ten times greater than a Liberal Democrat supporter, and around four times greater than an SNP supporter. Meanwhile, the odds of someone with an interest in politics that is either 'not very much' or 'none at all' saying that the UK Government is 'very/quite good' at listening to people's views was around 2.5 times greater than someone who said they had 'a great deal' or 'quite a lot' of interest in politics.

For perceptions of the Scottish Government - attitudes towards Scotland's handling of the pandemic was a key driver.^[31] Controlling for all other variables, the odds of those with a positive view of how the pandemic was handled stating that the Scottish Government is 'very good/quite good' at listening to people's views before taking decisions was 22 times greater than those with a negative view.

Whether the Scottish Parliament is giving ordinary people more or less of a say in how Scotland is governed and a stronger or weaker voice in the UK

To gauge what impact people in Scotland think the current devolution settlement is having, all respondents were asked whether having a Scottish Parliament is giving ordinary people more or less of a say in how Scotland is governed, and whether it is giving Scotland a stronger or weaker voice in the UK. As shown in Table 2.4, the majority of people in Scotland (63%) thought the Scottish Parliament is giving ordinary people more say in how they are governed. Only one in twenty (5%) people thought it is giving them less say, while 31% thought that it is making no difference.

Table 2.4: Do you think that having a Scottish Parliament is giving ordinary people more or less say in how Scotland is governed? (2021/22)

	(%)
More say in how Scotland is governed	63
No difference	31
Less say in how Scotland is governed	5
Don't know/Refusal	1
Unweighted base	1130

Base: all respondents

A similar proportion (64%) thought that the Scottish Parliament is giving Scotland a stronger voice in the UK. Around 3 in 10 (28%) people thought it is not making a difference, while 7% thought it is giving Scotland a weaker voice, as shown in Table 2.5.

Table 2.5: Do you think that having a Scottish Parliament is giving Scotland a stronger or weaker voice in the UK? (2021/22)

	(%)
A stronger voice in the UK	64
No difference	28
A weaker voice in the UK	7
Don't know/Refusal	1
Unweighted base	1130

Base: all respondents

How do these attitudes vary by sub-group?

Those with a higher level of education were both more likely than those with fewer educational qualifications to say that having a Scottish Parliament was giving Scotland a stronger voice in the UK and that it was giving ordinary people more of a say. Around 7 in 10 of those with degrees thought that having a Scottish Parliament was giving Scotland a stronger voice (67%) and ordinary more people more of a say in how they are governed (67%), whereas the equivalent figures for those with no qualifications were 53% and 47% respectively.

Around three quarters of left-wingers thought the Scottish Parliament is giving ordinary people more of a say (74%) and a stronger voice (72%), compared with equivalent figures of 47% and 54% for those on the right. The split was similar across the liberal-authoritarian scale. Around three-quarters (77%) of liberals thought that the Scottish Parliament is giving Scotland a stronger voice in the UK, compared with 49% of authoritarians, and four-fifths (80%) of liberals thought it is giving ordinary people more of a say, compared with 47% of authoritarians.

SNP (83%) and Scottish Green Party (89%) supporters were more likely than their counterparts to think that having a Scottish Parliament is giving ordinary people more of a say in how they are governed. Only around three in ten Conservative Party (28%) and around half of Labour Party supporters (48%) supporters thought this was the case. The figures were similar for whether the Scottish Parliament is giving Scotland a stronger voice in the UK. Just 35% of Conservative Party supporters thought it is doing so, compared with 63% of Labour, 77% of SNP and 82% of Scottish Green Party supporters, as shown in Figure 2.2.

Base: all respondents

Attitudes on these questions were also strongly correlated with attitudes towards Scottish independence and how people would vote if they were given the chance to vote in another EU Referendum. Supporters of independence (80%) were more likely than opponents (40%) to say the Scottish Parliament is giving ordinary people 'more say' in how they are governed; they were also more likely (75%) than opponents of independence (51%) to say it is giving Scotland a stronger voice in the UK. Around seven in ten (71%) Remainers believed that the Scottish Parliament is giving ordinary people 'more say', compared with 33% of Leavers. Remainers were also significantly more likely (70%) than Leavers (45%) to think the Scottish Parliament is giving Scotland 'a stronger voice' in the UK.

Whether people thought the Scottish Parliament is giving ordinary people 'more' or 'less say' and whether it is giving Scotland a 'stronger' or 'weaker' voice was also related to perceptions of Scotland's handling of the pandemic. Around 9 in 10 (88%) of those who held a positive view of how Scotland handled the pandemic thought the Scottish Parliament is giving ordinary people 'more say', and around 8 in 10 (78%) thought it is giving Scotland a 'stronger voice' in the UK. In comparison, the equivalent figures for those who hold a negative view of Scotland's handling of the pandemic were 31% and 43% respectively.

Further regression analysis showed that attitudes towards the pandemic was a key driver of differences in attitudes towards whether the Scottish Government is giving ordinary people more say in how Scotland is run.^[32] The odds of someone with a positive view of how Scotland handled the pandemic saying that the Scottish Parliament was giving ordinary people more say was eleven times greater than someone with a negative view of Scotland's handling of the pandemic.

Who has/ought to have most influence over how Scotland is run?

To gauge perceptions of government influence, all respondents were asked who they thought has and who they thought ought to have the most influence over the way Scotland is run: the Scottish Government, UK Government, local councils or the European Union.^[33] Table 2.6 presents results from these questions:

Table 2.6: Which of the following do you think has/ought to have the most influence over the way Scotland is run? (2021/22)

	Has most influence (%)	Ought to have most influence (%)
Scottish Government	58	75
UK Government at Westminster	32	14
Local Councils	4	7
European Union	3	1
Don't know/Refusal	2	3
Unweighted base	1130	1130

Base: all respondents

The majority of people in Scotland thought the Scottish Government has the most influence over the way Scotland is run (58%), while around 3 in 10 (32%) people thought the UK Government has the most influence. Fewer than 1 in 10 thought that either local councils (4%) or the European Union (3%) have the most influence.

Three-quarters of people in Scotland think that the Scottish Government ought to have the most influence over the way Scotland is run, while 14% thought the UK Government ought to do so. Just 7% of people think local councils ought to have the most influence, and 1% think the European Union ought to do so.

How do these attitudes vary by sub-group?

In general, younger people in Scotland were less likely than others to think the Scottish Government has the most influence. Half of those (50%) aged 16-34 thought the Scottish Government has the most influence over the way Scotland is run, compared with 64% of those aged 65 and over.

Base: all respondents

There was also a relationship between attitudes towards who has the most influence over the way Scotland is run and level of household income, area deprivation^[34] and how people felt about their current income. Those in the highest household income quartile (71%) were more likely than those in the lowest income quartile (52%) to say the Scottish Government has the most influence over the way Scotland is run. Similarly, those living in the least deprived areas of Scotland (72%) were more likely than those living the most deprived areas (42%) to say the Scottish Government has the most influence. Also, those who stated they were living really comfortably (69%) on their current income were more likely than those who said they were struggling or really struggling (41%) to say the Scottish Government has the most influence.

Those less likely to be in favour of the Scottish Government having the most inlfuence over the way Scotland is run were the most likely to think they have the most influence. Conservative (73%) and Liberal Democrat (73%) supporters were the most likely to think the Scottish Government has the most influence over the way Scotland is run, compared with half of SNP (50%) supporters who thought this. Similarly, opponents of independence (71%) were more likely than independence supporters (50%), and Leave supporters (69%) more likely than Remainers (56%), to say that the Scottish Government has the most influence.

Logistic regression analysis showed that, controlling for all variables, views on independence were a key driver of attitudes in this area.^[35] The odds of someone who is opposed to independence thinking that the Scottish Government has the most influence on the way Scotland is run was around 2.5 times greater than a supporter of Scottish independence.

As with the question on who has the most influence, attitudes on who ought to have most influence varied according to people's political views. Around 9 in 10 SNP (92%) and Scottish Green Party (89%) supporters thought the Scottish Government ought to have the most influence over the way Scotland is run, compared with 67% of Labour supporters and 42% of Conservatives. Similarly, supporters of independence (91%) and Remainers (80%) were more likely than opponents of independence (53%) and Leavers (55%) to state the Scottish Government ought to have the most influence. Women (79%) were more likely than men (71%) to say the Scottish Government ought to have most influence over the way Scotland is run. Those on the left (84%) and social liberals (85%) were significantly more likely than those on the right (63%) and authoritarians (63%) to think the Scottish Government ought to have the most influence.

Further regression analysis showed that attitudes towards independence was also a key driver of attitudes towards who ought to have the most influence over how Scotland is run.^[36] Controlling for all other variables, the odds of a supporter of independence stating that the Scottish Government ought to have the most influence was five times greater than an opponent of independence.

While attitudes to who has the most influence were unrelated to attitudes towards the pandemic, attitudes to who ought to have the most influence were. Nine in ten (90%) of those who held a positive view of Scotland's handling of the pandemic felt it ought to have the most influence over how Scotland is run, compared with 53% of those who held a negative view.