The National:

NEWS that the UK operates a punitive benefits system in which you're 23 times more likely to be prosecuted for benefit fraud than tax fraud will surprise nobody at all.

The UK - before and after its austerity era - was well known as a country that operated a massive double standard between the rich and poor. Under Conservative rule the benefits system has been made a "hostile environment".

We know for example that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) employs three and a half times more staff in compliance than HMRC does, and eight and a half times more prison sentences were imposed for benefits crime than tax crime over the past 11 years.

We know too that last year the DWP referred more than twice the number of cases to prosecutors (2000) as the total number of criminal investigations undertaken by HMRC (800).

But if this is inherently unfair, it also doesn't make any sense. Tax crimes cost the UK economy nine times more than benefit fraud (tax fraud costing the Treasury an estimated £20 billion in 2018/19, compared to benefit fraud costing £2.2bn).

READ MORE: Huge difference between tax and benefit fraud prosecution in the UK revealed

This can only really make sense in a country were poverty porn is rife, where benefits street was commissioned and where, as was released this week, Ann Robinson can mock a woman on television asking "full time single mum to three boys, how may Asbos? How many of your boys have tags on their ankles?" followed by "You're doing benefits are you? Are you on benefits?"

The humiliation on national television was complete.

The descent from a common treasury for all in time of need to something to be made to feel ashamed of is a process that has taken years under consecutive governments, whilst the regulation of banking and tax evasion is famously lax. It couldn't have been managed without the billionaire-owned tabloid press cultivating a culture of contempt against the poorest and most vulnerable in society.

In 2017 and again in 2019 historic legislation to establish Scotland’s first social security system was introduced to the Scottish Parliament to try and change some of this.

The Social Security (Scotland) Bill gave the Scottish Government the powers to deliver eleven benefits devolved as part of the Scotland Act 2016. It also provided powers to top up reserved benefits and provides a mechanism to pay a Carer’s Allowance supplement at the earliest opportunity.

Publishing the bill, Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman said it represented a significant milestone in the process of transferring these social security powers safely and securely.

Freeman said: “This is a significant moment for Scotland and for the history of devolution. It gives this Government and this Parliament the opportunity to make different choices – and shows that we can create a fairer and more just society when we take matters into our own hands.

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“I believe strongly that everyone has a right to social security - so much so that I have put these principles on the very first page of this bill.

“And these principles are embedded in our approach throughout – whether it is how entitlement to benefits is determined, a more just review and appeals system, or our decision to remove the private sector from disability benefit assessments.

“Dignity and respect is at the heart of our social security policy - a marked contrast to the approach that the current UK Government is taking, as their unjust welfare cuts continue to cause misery, push more people into poverty and attract international criticism."

But changing that culture - and winning the powers to operate a system marked with decency is a hard task.

The two issues - tax evasion and creating a benefits system that treats people with dignity go hand in hand. Without the power to collect tax and punish evasion, you don't have the necessary resources to create the sort of social support you'd aspire to. This is a key reason why we need to have the full powers of an independent nation, and avoid the wild injustices of the current UK system.