The opposition parties do their best to hold the SNP-led Scottish Government to account.

They point, for example, to NHS waiting times, the continuing attainment gap in education as well as the apparent mismanagement of the procurement of ferries for the isles.

Yet the SNP have now been in office at Holyrood for 14 years, and there is still little sign in the polls that the party’s grip on the fabric of Scottish politics is likely to be weakened soon.

But perhaps we should not be surprised. Who should take the blame when things go wrong can always potentially be disputed in a country like Scotland that has more than one tier of government?

For example, is the fact that Scotland has a patchy record of economic growth the fault of the Scottish Government for failing to make Scotland an attractive place to invest or that of the UK Government for its mismanagement of the UK-wide economy?

The latest Scottish Social Attitudes survey, undertaken last autumn and winter by ScotCen Social Research, shows that one of the central problems that faces those who wish to blame the Scottish Government for shortcomings is that voters in Scotland are more inclined to feel that the responsibility lies with a UK Government that they are disinclined to trust.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given that it was a period dominated by the pandemic, two-thirds (66%) of those who participated in the latest social attitudes survey thought that the economy had weakened over the last 12 months, while the same proportion felt that the standard of the health service had fallen.

Unsurprisingly too given the circumstances, many respondents were of the view that neither government was to blame – 33% in the case of the economy and 40% the health service.

Yet in both instances, if voters did blame someone, they were rather more inclined to blame the UK Government’s policies than those of the Scottish Government.

READ MORE: Two thirds of Scots think SNP work in Scotland's best interests

In the case of the economy, 31% of those who felt the economy had weakened blamed the policies of the UK Government, while only 25% reckoned the Scottish Government was at fault.

At 28% and 24% respectively, the equivalent figures for the health service are similar.

Underlying this pattern is a tendency among voters that has been in evidence ever since the early days of devolution – they are more inclined to trust the devolved institutions whose focus is exclusively on Scotland than they are a UK Government that has to take into account the needs of the UK as a whole.

Just 22% say that they trust the UK Government to work in Scotland’s interests ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’, whereas as many as 66% say the same of the Scottish Government.

There are similar gaps in perceptions of the willingness of the two governments to listen to people’s views and to make decisions that are fair.

READ MORE: How have Scottish social attitudes changed since the last independence referendum?

This helps give the Scottish Government has a head start in any dispute with the UK Government about culpability.

Of course, partisanship plays a role in all of this. Conservative supporters are inclined to trust the UK Government and to pin the blame for failings on the government in Holyrood, while SNP supporters take the opposite view.

Even then, Conservative supporters are less likely to trust the UK Government to act in Scotland’s interest (71% do so), than SNP supporters are to trust the Scottish Government (88%). Meanwhile, Labour supporters (whose party is not in power at either level) are also more inclined to trust Holyrood than Westminster.

Being an effective opposition is never easy at the best of times. But at Holyrood it is a particularly tough job and could well remain so.

Sir John Curtice is senior research fellow at ScotCen Social Research