Scottish Political Parties and Leisure Policy

Abstract

This article extends literature analysing post devolution Scottish leisure policy (Jarvie and Thomson 1999; Morrow and Wheatley 2003; Jarvie 2003; Reid 2004) by identifying and comparing the leisure policies of the main Scottish political parties. The social democratic consensus between them led this article to examine if leisure policy exhibited such ideological sameness' (Kerevan 2003a, b). While a social democratic emphasis on an active role for government in delivering an equitable leisure culture (Veal 1998) is apparent, with rhetoric of 'Sport for All ' and 'Arts for All ' , Scottish Labour's top-down approach combines with a lack of strategic leadership and sustainable funding to hinder this. Unlike New Labour's search for 'the clever state' (Wright 1996) which emphasises, in England, policy implementation and evidencebased policy (Henry 2001; Houlihan and White 2002), Scottish Labour has preferred reviews and initiatives based on limited research and evaluation. The parties' perception of sport as 'a good thing' sees policy differences revolve around resourcing and speed of implementation, rather than fundamental disagreements over sport's social and economic role. The more politicised arts sector sees more party divisions over Labour's management of culture, although their media-friendly nature means they are often exaggerated. The Scottish Conservatives break the consensus by arguing that Labour's topdown arts policy stifles creativity, while art and social inclusion initiatives mirror political priorities to undermine leisure's autonomy. Despite promising a bonfire of the quangos, Scottish Labour has preferred to relocate