That learning cannot come quickly enough. Boyle points to the Medium-Term Financial Strategy published by finance secretary Shona Robison in May, which forecast a £2bn shortfall in Scottish public finances by 2027-28, and says the government is now in a very difficult financial situation. “Fiscal sustainability is really challenging,” he says.

The government has suggested the deficit could be made up by tinkering around the edges of tax, with much talk of making those with the broadest shoulders bear an ever-greater burden than they do already. It has already raised the rate of the two highest income tax bands and First Minister Humza Yousaf has indicated he would raise taxes even further to enable the Scottish Government to lift the two-child benefit cap imposed by Westminster.

However, while Boyle says that such moves “might” raise the tax receipts required to close the government’s funding gap, “it’s a lot to place all your eggs in”. For him, the public sector reform Audit Scotland has been calling on for years is a far more viable alternative. But, while he acknowledges that the government has made a commitment to doing that, he says that “getting there is the hard part”.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Environment Matters