The SNP's ever-growing list of failures in government, and its all-consuming obsession with separation and the destruction of the Union, need to be exposed for what they are: the on-going betrayal of the people of Scotland by an incompetent SNP incapable of making good decisions or exercising good governance.
The COVID-19 pandemic has, sadly, highlighted just how incompetent key SNP ministers have been in both preparing for and then coping with such an emergency. The cover-up and blame-avoidance mentality has come to the fore, and - as ever - it is the most vulnerable in Scotland that are paying the price of SNP failure.
On this page you will find a selection of the great swathe of SNP failures, reminders of how the tired and increasingly incoherent SNP government continues to pile catastrophe on chaos. The SNP continues to pursue its destructive obsession with separation - despite the clear and once in a generation democratic decision of you, the Scottish People, to back the Union and reject the core Nationalist policy of separation and division.
Occasionally we will also include examples of why Labour - a party rejected across the UK in 2019 and which still has to properly expunge the foul stain of anti-semitism - is not to be trusted with anything, certainly not anything as important as Scotland.
29 May 2020
The SNP is still failing Scotland’s businesses.
Across Scotland, 16,000 businesses are still waiting for their support grants from the Scottish Govt - all because incompetent SNP ministers cannot cope.
And even when businesses do get their money - if they do, as many businesses are being unfairly denied support - it is likely to be much less than they would have already been given had they been in England.
Small businesses were vital to the Scottish economy before COVID-19 and they will be vital to our economic revival, so it is equally vital they get the support they need.
Why is the SNP hoarding much of the cash instead of giving it out?
What do SNP ministers plan to do with the money they are holding back?
Why are they refusing to discuss this?
What are they trying to hide?
28 May 2020
Families deserve answers on the SNP’s care home scandal.
Yesterday at FMQs, Jackson Carlaw raised the concerns of a woman whose mother passed away at a care home in Drumchapel in April. She said that a month before her mother's death, there was evidence of elderly patients coming back into the facility despite displaying symptoms of coronavirus.
There must be an immediate, full and rapid public inquiry into why the SNP allowed elderly patients to return to care homes from hospital without a coronavirus test.
Sturgeon has failed to protect the most vulnerable people in society. Their families deserve answers, and we all need to know how to prevent this kind of failing occurring in future, should CVOID-19 present a second wave, or in case similar threats emerge in future from China or anywhere else.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18479449.calls-inquiry-national-scandal-deaths-skye-care-home/
Sturgeon must explain her government’s contact-tracing failures
Yet more failings have emerged - and with no sign that the revelations have ceased.
A kilt-maker, hired to fit delegates at a Nike conference which saw an outbreak of coronavirus, has revealed that the SNP government failed to contact-trace her. Gillian Russell had to take time off with flu-like symptoms, and even travelled to Portugal after the event unaware of her possible exposure to COVID-19.
Sturgeon should admit that the SNP got this badly wrong, and that poor decisions by her and other SNP ministers could have allowed the virus to spread further.
Sturgeon has been quick to judge others, but that cuts both ways: she must now apologise for failing to be honest with the Scottish public.
The SNP is - yet again - letting down vulnerable children.
Education Secretary John Swinney admitted that the number of vulnerable children accessing learning hubs is still extremely low, despite Scotland being several months into the current crisis.
The SNP has failed miserably over several years to close the attainment gaps, and it must not now be allowed to widen simply because Swinney cannot make good decisions.
The excess capacity from the hubs should be extended to the children of non-key-workers in most need of educational support. Actions must be taken so that no child is left behind.
27 May 2020
COVID-19 testing capacity in Scotland is being wasted by SNP incompetence
The SNP must rapidly improve on its shambolic approach to COVID-19 testing, with 70,000 tests – half the available capacity – not being used over two weeks.
Sturgeon can build and then boast about whatever testing capacity she likes - but this is meaningless if the full capacity is not being used and people who need testing aren't actually being tested.
The Royal College of Nursing has warned that Scotland needs to match the extent of testing in the rest of the UK, which is outstripping Scotland despite SNP promises to stay in step.
Thousands of care home residents, workers and their families are going untested, which is why we're seeing such a crisis in these facilities.
Testing is key to controlling this virus: the SNP needs to sort it out, now. People are going to keep dying unnecessarily until the SNP does get a grip - and it has no excuses left for this failure.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18477043.fears-test-trace-70-000-missing-tests-two-weeks/
It is clear that care homes are not the SNP's priority - and have been an afterthought throughout the pandemic.
23 deaths have been recorded at a single care home in East Kilbride, and relatives of residents at Skye's Home Farm care home were left to discover news of an outbreak there through Facebook.
Care homes continue to be the epicentre of this virus, and as the SNP's gross mismanagement of this situation is further exposed every day, disgust at the incompetence displayed is growing.
Scotland's most vulnerable are being let down - and the SNP needs to do more to protect them.
23 May 2020
Struggling Finance Secretary fails to support small businesses despite the huge injection of UK Government funds
In a growing scandal that threatens to shut down vast swathes of small businesses across the Highlands and Scotland, the SNP "government" has reject huge numbers of applications for support made by businesses like B&Bs. Despite personal assurances issued by ministers, rejections continue, many also taking weeks to be processed before being rejected, leaving businesses facing shutdown and owners staring at bankruptcy. Businesses that have provided all the requested information are having to wait weeks for the response, which for many hundreds, if not thousands, has then been of no help at all:
"Many thanks for your application for the The Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund. As you will understand, demand for this fund is extremely high and unfortunately it is not possible to support every application. We regret to inform you that your application has been unsuccessful. Given the large volume of applications, we are unable to provide detailed feedback on each application but can confirm that every application received was assessed across a consistent set of criteria by trained assessors. Unfortunately, your application has either failed to sufficiently meet one or more of the criteria or had insufficient information to allow full appraisal. We know this outcome will be disappointing at a time of real pressure for businesses. Please visit findbusinesssupport.gov.
scot for information on other potential sources of support or to contact at https:// findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/ contact-us if you have any further questions or need further support." Why are SNP ministers sitting on £millions - perhaps hundreds of £millions - of money provided by the UK Government rather than passing it on to the businesses it was intended to support?
How do Sturgeon, Forbes and the rest of the shambolic cabal that try - and fail - to run Scotland think that small businesses like B&Bs are going to survive if they are starved of the support funds available but not being used? COVID-19 is not the fault of the SNP, but the failure to support small businesses like B&Bs is very much an SNP failure - one it will be held to account for in May 2021.
SNP Dishonesty about EU Membership Exposed
For over a decade the SNP has made a variety of dodgy claims about how an independent Scotland could either join, rejoin or remain within the EU. Despite never having had any clear factual basis for these assertions, and repeated EU Commission warnings about the requirements of the Article 49 process, Sturgeon and her party continued to suggest that Scotland would somehow be a special case, even with its huge fiscal deficit (in 2019/20, over 7% of GDP, before the COVID-19 impact).
The Express article at the link below has totally nailed the lie. If the SNP leadership did not understand the position then it has demonstrated a huge failure of competence. If it did, then it concealed the truth and pushed out propaganda it knew to be incorrect.
The Scottish Parliament should now examine every utterance of the First Minister since she became an MSP to determine if her statements in Holyrood about EU membership were misleading and thus a breach of the ministerial code of conduct.
21 May 2020
Yesterday at FMQs, Nicola Sturgeon once again ducked responsibility on the Nike conference scandal, failing to answer key points about the alleged cover-up.
The first (known) cases of COVID-19 developed in Scotland following a Nike conference held in Edinburgh in February, but the SNP Government kept the outbreak secret and failed to trace all the actual and potential contacts – people exposed to the virus. Since this failure was first exposed, a varying stream of excuses and misdirection has been poured out by SNP ministers, none of it the least bit convincing.
Sturgeon should admit she got this wrong, and that her decision could have allowed the virus to spread further and faster. Instead it now seems she is desperate to hide behind public health officials, whilst trying equally desperately not to have sack yet another failing Health Secretary.
What is even worse is that Sturgeon will not give any guarantee that such a failure hasn't happened since, or won't happen again.
Sturgeon should apologise for failing to be honest with the Scottish public, but don’t hold your breath: when was the last time she admitted to - never mind apologised for - any of her failures?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52741163
The SNP Government discharged almost 1,000 hospital patients to care homes in March – before mandatory testing.
The figures were revealed late last night after suggestions - maintained for weeks - from both Sturgeon and her calamitous Health Secretary that the number was much, much lower. It is bad enough that vulnerable people were moved into care homes without knowing whether they were carrying the virus; for SNP ministers to be obscuring the true scale of this practice is simply unacceptable and requires those responsible to resign.
There are now a number of very serious questions about honesty and transparency that the SNP needs to answer, and not just about the Edinburgh conference cover-up and the care home numbers.
Scottish care homes have been in crisis for weeks, and what we need is 100%, regular testing of all residents and staff, not more SNP failure.
Sturgeon needs to make sure that disadvantaged children are not left behind yet again by SNP failure to act.
Many children do not have access to a computer or functioning internet for remote schooling – but months into the crisis the SNP Government simply does not know who those children are and where they are. Many of these children are likely to be amongst the most disadvantaged and were therefore likely to already be being let down by the SNP’s decade-long failure to close the attainment gap.
These pupils need help urgently – they can’t just have months and months of being ignored by the education system.
Swinney has now had over two months to get to grip with this problem, but he has yet to do so. We need to get this right for the sake of our children’s future.
17 May 2020
Sturgeon fails to answer the questions - again
On 11 May Jackson Carlaw MSP wrote to Nicola Sturgeon with a series of questions about the SNP handling of the COVID-19 crisis in Scotland, and why Sturgeon was insisting that Scotland could not follow the UK Government lead on easing restrictions.
The FM's response, as has been the case all too often of late, was inadequate, incomplete and evasive. Sturgeon claims that she wants to be transparent with the people of Scotland, but the reality is she is doing all she can to avoid answering any question that does not fit her version of the narrative: everything positive about the COVID-19 response in Scotland is her triumph, and all the failures (which are legion) are to be pinned on someone else, preferably the UK Government. Rarely does she even come close to any admission that without UK Government funding, the product of the very Union that she so vehemently despises, Scotland would now be in a dire situation.
Imagine the situation we would be facing today in Scotland if the ludicrous, fantasy-based plans set out in the SNP's White Paper "Scotland's Future" had been enacted after 2014.
Perhaps one day the SNP will have the honesty to thank the UK Government for harnessing the full power of the Union to support the Scottish People.............but don't bet on it.
6 February 2020
The SNP Finance Minister has resigned.
Derek Mackay has resigned after allegations of inappropriate online conversations with a 16-year-old boy - and more allegations are emerging.
Mr Mackay allegedly told a schoolboy he was ‘cute’ and invited him to dinner while bombarding him with 270 online messages through Instagram and Facebook over six months - after contacting him out of the blue.
Such predatory behaviour falls well short of the conduct expected of government ministers - or any responsible adult.
There are serious questions that need to be answered. Nicola Sturgeon can’t expect this ministerial resignation to be the end of the matter. What did she know, and when?
The SNP: Sleazy, Nasty, Predatory
The SNP are failing Scotland’s Island Communities.
The CalMac ferries inquiry heard damning evidence yesterday from Jim McColl, the businessman behind the Ferguson Marine shipyard where the project is taking place.
He said the Scottish Government had withheld some ‘key documents’ from publication, and that Nicola Sturgeon had announced the deal for the two vessels before anything had even been agreed.
The ferry scandal, which has delivered no vessels and cost the taxpayer £230 million, goes right to the top of the SNP government.
This gross ministerial incompetence and negligence is unacceptable to the Scottish tax payer.
The SNP cannot be trusted to run our public investments properly.
The SNP have dropped the ball when it comes to planning for Scotland’s future.
The SNP’s new transport strategy for the next 20 years was launched by Michael Matheson yesterday.
The strategy claims to outline the role of transport in reducing inequalities, tackling the climate emergency and helping to deliver economic growth while improving health and wellbeing.
The document has been slammed as ‘meaningless drivel’ as it is alarmingly short on detail and holds nothing of substance to help reduce emissions.
According to the SNP, we are in a Climate Emergency yet ministers have failed to plan for a sector which is responsible for 37 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions.
The SNP needs to end its Indyref2 obsession
Under the SNP, homelessness in Scotland is double that in England.
In a devastating exposure of an SNP failure that goes beyond belief, almost 200 Scots died experiencing homelessness in 2018, according to figures produced by National Records of Scotland.
Scotland has the highest rate of homeless deaths in Britain in 2018, with a rate of 35.9 per million population compared to 16.8 in England and 14.5 in Wales.
Crisis Scotland has said: ‘for the first time we can see the true, devastating scale of the number of people who have died without a … home because of failing within the very system which should have prevented them from falling into poverty and homelessness in the first place.’
This is a tragic state of affairs and shows how little the SNP cares about looking after Scotland’s vulnerable people.
Only the Scottish Conservatives are strong enough to stand up to Sturgeon and protect Scotland’s interests.
22 January 2020
Under the SNP, Scotland is slipping down international wellbeing rankings.
The failing SNP is presiding over one of the biggest drops among developed countries in the latest index of social and economic wellbeing.
Scotland has fallen five places across measures including income, education, longevity and inclusion.
Scotland has dropped to 21st place, behind Estonia and the Czech Republic.
Yet again Scotland is plummeting down an international league table thanks to disastrous SNP policies.
The failing SNP is damaging Scotland and the lives of the Scottish People.
It is time for change. It is time to reject SNP incompetence and SNP failure.
21 January 2020
SNP policies are causing attainment in Scottish schools to decline.
Research this week confirmed that, since 2016, there has been a ‘trend of reducing attainment’ in Scottish schools, with more pupils failing exams.
Despite the SNP’s inability to acknowledge its continuing failures across education, Nicola Sturgeon’s international council of education advisers highlighted the need for a more coherent response to under-performing schools and persistent inequality in the education system.
The SNP has been mismanaging Scottish government for over a decade and it is wholly responsible for the declining standards in Scottish schools.
Nicola Sturgeon said education would be her priority but we can all see that she has totally failed on delivering improvement and is overseeing a disaster in our once world-beating education system
Pupils, teachers, and parents deserve better than what the incompetent SNP is doing.
Sturgeon has comprehensively failed on education - and her obsessions with separatism and increasingly extremist nationalism are damaging the life-chances of Scottish pupils.
20 January 2020
SNP supporters need to wake up to reality - their party is heading into dangerous extremism.
An SNP MSP has claimed that a so-called ‘wildcat referendum’ would be valid, even if it were boycotted by those who wanted nothing to do with the separatists’ agenda.
Alex Neil, a former SNP minister, also believes that a campaign of civil disobedience will lead to indyref2.
The Prime Minister has been clear, now is not the time for a second referendum so soon after the once in a generation choice we made in 2014.
The reality is that the majority of Scots want to move on from the bitterness and division of the past, but some in the SNP want to stoke the politics of hate and division for their own ends.
That kind of extremism has no place in Scottish politics and the SNP should disown such moves.
Scotland said No in 2014. We meant it. The SNP must either respect that result in full - or stop pretending to support democracy.
12 Jan 2020
Pupils "crammed in like sardines"
How often have we heard SNP MSPs waffle on about education being their number one priority and how we should judge them on how education in Scotland is doing?
As ever, the SNP promise big and deliver small - if at all. Once again we can see the evidence of SNP failure, and how it hurts our children.
9 Jan 2020
The SNP is responsible for the deepening crisis in Scotland’s NHS.
Two thirds of Scots are treated by NHS health boards that are in special measures.
That is a truly staggering figure and testament to the huge damage caused by over a decade of SNP mismanagement.
Growing financial pressure and an increased demand on the health service have seen health boards placed in special measures due to failing performances.
The SNP has been in charge of Scotland’s NHS for 12 years, and the blame for this huge scandal lies solely at the feet of Sturgeon and her failed party.
The SNP needs to get a grip on Scotland’s health service; patients and staff deserve better.
18 December 2019
Ferries Contract spirals out of control under SNP mismanagement fiasco
Just when you might have thought that the situation of the two new CalMac ferries could not get any worse, the SNP was forced today to reveal that the vessels will now be three years late and at almost £200 million now cost double the original £97 million budget.
The SNP has tried to blame the shipyard, but the real cause is the failure of SNP ministers to pay proper attention to the contract: they were asleep at the wheel and now we all have to pay the price - another £100 million - for yet more SNP incompetence.
How much more of this failing SNP "government" can Scotland survive? While the rest of the UK is powering forward under a dynamic Conservative government, Scotland is being strangled by the SNP and the most incompetent leadership Scotland has ever had.
SNP funding cuts have left Councils relying on emergency funds.
An Audit Scotland report revealed that local authorities are increasingly eating into their reserves to keep services going.
The real-terms drop in funding of 7.6% since 2013/14 has necessitated deep cuts in financial reserves, and more borrowing by Councils.
This is what happens when you have an SNP government which has cut local authority funding to the bone despite increases in the block grant from the UK. SNP claims that UK funding has been cut are simply untrue – it is amazing how quickly the incompetent SNP forgot the extra money provided by Westminster to plug the £1 billion black hole that SNP taxation policies have created in our budget https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/msps-demand-review-over-1bn-scottish-budget-black-hole-1-5043941
The SNP has been in charge of local government for more than 12 years – Salmond, Sturgeon and the rest of the incompetent SNP are entirely responsible for this mess.
If the chaos in local government funding were not enough, we now know also that under the failing SNP a workforce crisis has developed in our NHS.
The SNP has finally released its long-delayed workforce plan for health and social care.
The plan requires the hiring of 20,000 more staff and comes almost two and a half years after warnings from Audit Scotland about the lack of long-term planning.
It has been well-established for some time that, with an ageing and increasing population, our social care services are under immense pressure.
If the SNP had acted sooner, we wouldn’t be facing a workforce crisis within our NHS. Once again, the utter failure of the SNP to think ahead is hurting the people of Scotland.
9 December 2019
A leading think tank has slammed Nicola Sturgeon's government for withdrawing from multiple international education surveys.
Reform Scotland said knowledge of educational standards in Scotland was at a 70-year low, thanks to SNP Ministers, and demanded more openness from the SNP Government on education - criticising the 'lack of reliable data' produced.
With education standards plummeting, no wonder the SNP is yet again trying to cover up the facts.
Sturgeon must drop her demand for a second referendum and focus on driving improvement in our schools.
7 December 2019
New research has revealed the poor levels of broadband connectivity in large parts of Scotland.
This research shows that many parts of Scotland are being left behind with poor digital connectivity.
The SNP has administered the rollout of broadband in Scotland - or to be more precise, the SNP has totally mismanaged and failed to administer the rollout of broadband in Scotland.
The SNP made a clear promise to have completed the rollout of superfast broadband in Scotland by 2021 - but just this week it was revealed that this be delayed to 2024.
Or make that until at least 2024 because you have to hunt very hard to find a single promise on dates that the SNP has ever kept.
As a UK Conservative Government, we will invest £5 billion to ensure everyone in the country has access to superfast broadband.
If SNP ministers continue to delay the rollout because they are incompetent and distracted by their obsession with holding a second independence referendum, then we will act to ensure that Scotland is not left behind.
6 December 2019
At First Minister’s Questions, Jackson Carlaw confronted Nicola Sturgeon with the full extent of the decline in Scotland’s education standards.
In science, our performance dipped by 25 points, the second highest drop recorded for any country, with only Finland performing worse.
In maths, the collapse in results since 2006 has only been worse in four other countries.
However, instead of taking responsibility for the declining performance in these critical areas, Nicola Sturgeon denied there were problems in Scotland’s schools system.
That's right: despite the fall in National results and now the PISA scores, not to mention the admission that the Curriculum for Excellence is failing, apparently everything in Scottish Education is just rosy.
SNP delusional behaviour is now reaching crisis levels. We must not let the SNP get away with destroying the life chances of another generation of our children.
Our young people are being deprived of the education that Scotland was once renowned for.
Nicola Sturgeon’s obsession with securing indyref2 is restricting opportunity for our children.
The Chair of the Scottish Police Authority resigned yesterday, plunging Police Scotland into crisis once again.
In her resignation letter, Susan Deacon slammed the organisation of policing as ‘fundamentally flawed in structure, culture and practice’.
This is a scathing attack on Nicola Sturgeon’s utterly shambolic "Government": it designed the centralised police force and the police authority that supposedly scrutinises it.
Police Scotland is on its third Chief Constable and fourth police authority Chair since it was created only 6 years ago. A spate of resignations took place two years ago when the SNP Justice Secretary interfered, possibly illegally, in the work of the police authority.
This is just one more damning example of the total mess our public services are in under this incompetent SNP Government. Health, Policing, Justice, Education, the Economy, Farming - all being totally mismanaged by the failing SNP government, one that would rather indulge in cover-ups and conspiracy theories than actually take responsibility for its own mistakes.
Nicola Sturgeon should drop her plans for a second independence referendum and focus on the things that matter – like giving the public confidence in policing again.
3 December 2019
Nicola Sturgeon has been caught lying about crime figures.
The SNP leader claimed in a radio interview that violent crime and crime generally are at record lows in Scotland.
In fact, violent crime has been rising for the last four years and crime overall has risen for the last two.
Violent crime in Scotland is higher than at any point in the last seven years – and Nicola Sturgeon is doing nothing about it.
Perhaps if Nicola Sturgeon spent a little more time on the day job rather than demanding a second independence referendum, she would notice the rising violence on our streets.
If the SNP mendacity about crime figures was not bad enough, an international study published this morning shows that Scotland’s school performance has plummeted to record lows in maths and science.
Scotland’s schools have continuously fallen down international rankings for maths and science since the SNP came to power in 2007. We now perform worse than Latvia and Slovenia in maths.
While there has been slight improvement in reading, our schools are still down on 2012 levels and well below where we were 20 years ago.
And the same report shows that half of the Head Teachers in Scotland who were surveyed by the PISA research said that teacher shortages were hindering education.
Nicola Sturgeon’s obsession with a second independence referendum is failing our children.
The SNP is failing us all time and time and time again.
Enough is enough: we have to make Sturgeon and her incompetent SNP "government" listen.
Only by voting Scottish Conservative can we stop indyref2 and get back to the things that really matter - like the education of our children.
25 November 2019
Sturgeon’s Scottish NHS Scandal: Freeman must go
Scottish NHS bosses were told of major infection risks in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital weeks before patients died.
The 2018 Health and Safety Executive papers said that there was poor staff training at the hospital and that urgent action was required to protect patients and professionals.
And now more evidence has emerged that key warnings were ignored at Glasgow's super-hospital.
The whistle-blower who exposed the infected water scandal linked to a 10-year-old girl’s death on a cancer ward has claimed to have identified 10 new cases. The revelations suggest seriously ill youngsters at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital – which only opened in April 2015 – have been falling victim to bugs since 2016.
It has also come to light that concerns about the site's proximity to a sewage works were raised as far back as 2002. This all raises further questions about why action wasn't taken sooner to prevent the spread of infections.
Sturgeon’s Health Secretary Jeane Freeman is paid to make sure this kind of scandal is prevented – but she has run out of excuses, lost the confidence of patients, and has to take responsibility for this appalling SNP failure.
Nicola Sturgeon must sack her health secretary, and admit that after 12 years of SNP control her failing party is wholly responsible for this mess.
Sturgeon’s claim that the Scottish NHS is safe in SNP hands is now a very sick joke.
21 November 2019
Nicola Sturgeon has failed hundreds of thousands of our children.
And if we do not do something about it she will fail hundreds of thousands more.
Sturgeon has spent five years as First Minister – and has wasted five years obsessing over a second independence referendum.
Since she came to power, the Higher pass rate has dropped four years in a row – and violent crime has increased four years in a row.
Sturgeon has spent five years doing whatever it takes to justify indyref2 - instead of sorting out our schools and cutting crime.
The SNP has failed on everything that matters to ordinary people: on Health, on Education, on Policing, on the Economy, on Jobs, on Farming, on good governance.
Vote for the Scottish Conservatives on December 12 and let’s get back to the things that really matter to you.
19 November 2019 - Just 23 days to stop Nicola Sturgeon taking Scotland back to another divisive independence referendum
Health minister "Calamity Jeanne" Freeman is due to be questioned by the Holyrood Health and Sport Committee.
The scandal of hospitals that have cost hundreds of millions of pounds but are unsafe for patients is inexcusable.
The SNP has totally failed our NHS - but once again has tried to cover up an incident that may have led to the death of a patient.
Patients need to have confidence in the government and our NHS needs fresh leadership.
It is time for "Calamity Jeanne" to do the right thing and resign.
15 November 2019
Nicola Sturgeon’s health secretary did not tell the public about an infection-linked death at Glasgow’s new super-hospital.
Embattled Jeane Freeman admitted yesterday that she learned about the death of a child at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in September, but kept it secret.
The information only came to light thanks to a whistleblower, who revealed that there were 26 cases of water supply infections in the cancer wards in 2017.
The most shocking thing about this latest SNP cover-up is that allegedly even the parents of the child who died were not told about the link to contaminated water.
It’s the latest development in a string of infections at the hospital since it opened, possibly liked to a contaminated water supply.
Patients and the public deserve answers. Nicola Sturgeon should drop her constitutional obsession and sort out our hospitals.
13 November 2019
On the same day that it was revealed that unemployment has increased in Scotland, the UK Statistics Authority announced it will investigate Sturgeon’s government over misleading jobs stats.
Yesterday, not only was it revealed that employment had fallen by 43,000 and unemployment had increased by 8,000 in Scotland, it was also announced that the UK Statistics Authority is investigating social media claims from the Scottish Government that youth unemployment was falling when it was actually rising. The respected Fraser of Allander Institute described the use of the stats as “truly shocking”.
Coming just days after it was revealed that Sturgeon has been destroying her instructions to the civil service, this is just another example of the SNP’s misinformation campaign to create a secret Scotland.
It is bad enough that the SNP is failing Scotland at every turn. To try to cover up the failures is unacceptable.
7 November 2019
Scottish Conservatives force the evasive SNP to admit that their school curriculum is failing.
Sturgeon’s shambolic “Government” has been shamed into conceding that the SNP’s new curriculum has had a ‘significant negative impact’ on the attainment of pupils.
Education expert Professor Jim Scott published research showing course passes had dropped and subject choice was narrowing. Article.
Floundering SNP MSPs were forced to back the Scottish Conservative motion in the Scottish Parliament which said that pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds were being failed the most.
If the destruction of opportunity under the incompetent SNP was not bad enough, the attempts at a cover-up absolutely stink. SNP ministers have been accused of misleading the Scottish Parliament, with allegations abounding in the national press after FOI requests uncovered a clear 20% fall in National-level course entries - despite Scottish Ministers denying reduction of choice.
Children used to be taught in school and at home that honesty is the best policy, but it seems that the SNP has forgotten this lesson. It could be honest about the many challenges facing Scottish education that its own ill-considered policies have caused, but Sturgeon and Swinney would rather try to change the subject and just shout about separation.
The failing SNP is destroying the Scottish Education system at an alarming and increasing rate.
Nicola Sturgeon is failing our children because her top priority is indyref2, not schools.
Time is running out to save Scottish Education from the failing SNP.
5 November 2019
Nicola Sturgeon is failing our children - again and again.
According to research by the respected and leading education expert Professor Jim Scott, pupils who were already struggling are now faring even worse since the SNP introduced its failed new curriculum in 2013.
The SNP promised to close the attainment gap between the richest and poorest pupils, but things are actually getting worse – much, much worse for many.
Scottish Government figures show that prior to the SNP’s botched introduction of the so-called “curriculum for excellence”, the proportion of pupils leaving school with no qualifications was falling.
But since the chaotic and chronically-underfunded reform, the rates of “no award” have been rising steadily, and in some local authority areas have trebled.
This disaster for our least advantaged children comes on top of the other consequences of SNP mismanagement of Scottish Education, not least the rapid decline in qualifications being taken and passed, and the sharp reduction in subject choices available in S4.
It seems that the claims made by the floundering Education minister John Swinney about the benefits of the Pupil Equity Fund are just not stacking up – and it also seems that he has no idea how to fix the mess the SNP created.
Meanwhile our children are being robbed of opportunity by SNP incompetence - and those least able to cope are suffering most.
Nicola Sturgeon needs to drop her plans for indyref2 and focus on the things that matter – like restoring standards in our schools.
The SNP has dismantled local policing.
Dozens of police stations in the North East and across Scotland have shut in the last few years due to SNP cuts.
Since Police Scotland was founded, a total of 125 police stations and offices have been shut down throughout the country.
A visible police presence is vital to combat rising violent crime on our streets and a lifeline for our communities.
When the Scottish Police Federation is telling us that the SNP has “given up on policing” and committed “an act of policing vandalism”, you would think that the First Minister would take notice, and look at how to fix the mess her incompetent government has created.
But don’t hold your breath waiting for that: Sturgeon’s only priority is the destruction of the Union, not keeping the people of Scotland safe and putting enough police onto our streets.
1 November 2019
Scotland’s NHS is in crisis - thanks to the incompetent SNP.
More than 3.5 million working hours have been lost to the NHS as a result of stress and mental health problems.
NHS staff are facing burnout as treatment times soar and the number of people waiting more than 4 hours in A&E is up by nearly 20 per cent.
The failing SNP has been running Scotland’s NHS for more than 12 years now: it has run out of excuses, and must stop running down the our NHS.
Staff and patients deserve better. Our NHS is suffering thanks to Sturgeon’s obsession with separation and destruction of the Union.
The SNP is still failing Scotland’s children.
A survey by Scotland’s teaching unions showed almost one in three headteachers believe that the SNP’s plan to raise attainment is failing.
Two years after the SNP promised schools would get more money under the ‘pupil equity fund’ scheme, a massive £40 million is still to be spent, and the attainment gap is only getting wider as SNP policies continue to unravel.
Our children are being failed by the SNP because Nicola Sturgeon has taken her eye off the ball.
31 October 2019
The SNP Lord Provost of Glasgow has resigned in disgrace after claiming an incredible £8000 in expenses for shoes and clothes.
Eva Bolander should have realised right away that charging the public for designer clothes and 23 pairs of shoes was just not sensible.
And she should have resigned when this news first broke, not waited for an election to highlight her behaviour and embarrass the SNP beyond what it it could endure.
Nicola Sturgeon now looks even more foolish for defending the ex-Provost to the hilt when everyone in Glasgow could see her expenses claims were beyond a joke.
This has been embarrassing for the SNP from start to finish - and just more evidence that the SNP is unfit to govern at any level.
Yet again, more faults have been uncovered at the delayed Sick Kids Hospital.
A review discovered failings in the building’s fire and electrical systems.
The failure to properly install fire systems, electrical systems and medical gas installations raises real concerns around the safety of patients and staff at the new hospital site.
These remedial works must be carried out comprehensively and full transparency given to the public so that they can be confident in the new hospital when it finally opens.
Nicola Sturgeon’s top priority has always been another independence referendum - rather than making sure vital hospitals are delivered on time and are fit for purpose.
It’s time for the SNP to come clean, stop hiding behind officials, and actually hold someone elected responsible for this mess.
28 October 2019
The SNP has wasted £55 million that could have been spent improving our schools and hospitals.
This shows the scale of Sturgeon’s shambolic mismanagement of our public services.
The SNP has made such a mess of running things that Scotland’s NHS is paying tens of millions to mistreated patients, and the Scottish Prison Service is having to pay shocking sums of compensation to both prison officers and prisoners.
Meanwhile, as if the scandal of compensation payments running unchecked under SNP rule was not bad enough, an Audit Scotland report has revealed that Scotland’s NHS will have a deficit of more than £207 million within two years.
The bulk of that money comes from the scandal-hit Sick Kids hospital that is disastrously behind schedule, the blame for which SNP MSPs are trying to pass on to anyone but themselves.
But ever since Nicola Sturgeon was health secretary back in 2011, the hallmarks of SNP mismanagement - financial black holes and missed targets - have become an almost daily feature of our Scottish NHS and other public services.
None of this is the fault of overworked NHS staff or under-threat prison officers.
It is the fault of a distracted and incompetent SNP Government obsessed with getting another referendum at all costs, no matter who suffers the consequences.
The growing and serious shortage of GPs has been exposed once again as the SNP fails to get a handle on NHS staffing.
The Scotsman reports that a resident at a Glasgow care home lay dead for 24 hours in the home because the chronic shortage of out-of-hours doctors meant no-one was available to certify the cause of death.
The case, which happened earlier in the year, was revealed as Scottish doctors warned that the GP service is failing due to a lack of staff.
The incompetent SNP has created a staffing crisis in the NHS, leaving staff stretched, patients at risk, and even the dignity of the dead compromised.
Nicola Sturgeon’s obsession with breaking up the UK is hurting our NHS and the services that we all rely on in times of crisis.
The SNP needs to come clean on Shetland by-election spending.
The SNP has real questions to answer about by-election spending following another example of its bad record on transparency (news article).
The SNP declared spending just under the £100,000 limit - yet failed to declare the full cost of rental properties that were used throughout the election campaign.
It is also an extraordinary situation that the SNP spent more on one Holyrood by-election (and still lost) than it did on its entire Brexit referendum campaign.
The SNP seems happy to throw huge sums of money at any opportunity to further its obsession with breaking up the Union; at least for once we have to be thankful that it was not taxpayers’ money.
25 October 2019
A medical expert has issued a stark warning about patient safety under the SNP.
Professor Derek Bell OBE, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, has been reported as saying that ignoring the concerns raised by junior doctors will have a negative impact on morale – making the situation even worse.
Junior doctors have spoken out about their unmanageable workloads due to rota gaps, unfilled posts and high levels of sickness absence.
As a vital part of the future of the NHS, it is essential that junior doctors are listened to and valued at work. The SNP has been in charge of our Scottish NHS for a decade and is entirely to blame for the workforce crisis in hospitals across the country.
Meanwhile, the SNP is happy to waste £millions more of your money on gimmicks like its new citizens’ assembly talking shop, sending another £1.4 million down the drain – money that could have been used to pay for more junior doctors.
Nicola Sturgeon’s priorities are separation and division. The SNP doesn’t care what else it breaks just as long as it gets to break up the UK.
23 October 2019
Support for Sturgeon’s separation plans is on the slide
A poll carried out by a pro-independence group has shown that 1 in 4 of those who voted Yes in 2014 have now changed their minds.
Far from building momentum for separation as the SNP endlessly claims, it now seems that Nicola Sturgeon’s failing regime is losing the argument as the facts of 2019 – like the SNP’s £1 billion tax black hole - replace the fantasy forecast figures spouted by the SNP in 2014.
This poll shows, yet again, that more Scots want to remain in the UK than want to leave it – but don’t expect the indyref extremists in the SNP to pay any heed to either the facts or what you think.
Scottish Labour is once again at war with itself.
The Herald reports that Trade union allies of comrade Corbyn have voted against Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray to trigger a selection battle in his seat.
The Unite leadership is trying to remove Ian Murray – apparently because he has been one of the most vocal critics of Corbyn’s hard-left “leadership”. How sad to see that when the country needs decisive action to get Brexit done, and take the UK forward to a bright future under the Conservatives, Scottish Labour would rather focus on 1970’s style purges and infighting and leave the SNP an open goal.
It just proves that the Scottish Conservatives are the only party who can stand up to the SNP.
21 October 2019
Panicking SNP wants to force through separation vote in as little as two months.
SNP Brexit secretary, Mike Russell, has told MSPs he hopes to force through all stages of the Referendums Bill by the end of next month.
This would empower the SNP government to call a separation vote without parliamentary scrutiny - and then hold that vote only 10 and a half weeks later.
First the SNP tried to avoid the Electoral Commission testing the question, now it is trying to dodge the Scottish Parliament and rush a campaign.
But why the SNP panic?
It is an open secret in Holyrood that the SNP leadership fears 2020 – so what new financial disaster or scandal does that SNP leadership know is coming down the tracks in 2020?
What further SNP failings will be exposed to public view?
While the SNP grandstands on the constitution, Scotland's schools, hospitals, and public services suffer.
Nicola Sturgeon needs to end her separation obsession and get back to the day job – if she still wants the job.
17 October 2019
The Scottish Conservatives have called for Sturgeon to release all her private emails related to her role as First Minister.
For years Sturgeon has been using a private political email account to conduct government business - despite strict rules that say party and government work must be kept separate.
In 2015 top civil servants were ordered to direct urgent matters to her SNP email account at weekends or in the evening.
Sturgeon cannot hide behind civil servants and avoid scrutiny any longer.
This raises very serious issues of government transparency and begs the question: just what exactly is she hiding - and why?
Cash-strapped councils are struggling to provide key services.
Research has revealed a gulf in the quality of schools, housing and roads across Scotland’s local authorities.
The research pointed to a wide range of problems: schools struggling due to teacher shortages; council homes below acceptable standards; and every local authority failing to hit recycling targets.
The SNP needs to stop wasting taxpayers’ money on pursuing separation and start to properly fund our Councils, so that they can deliver vital local services and undo years of damage caused by incompetent SNP government.
16 October 2019
Joanna Cherry praises Alex Salmond – and distances herself from Nicola Sturgeon.
The prominent SNP MP Joanna Cherry has been quoted in a press article as saying ‘I’m not Nicola’s best mate’ and describing Alex Salmond as a ‘friend’.
Cherry said Salmond - who has been charged with sex crimes and faces trial in 2020 - was ‘the greatest leader the party’s ever had’.
The ambitious Cherry, who has taken every opportunity to hog the limelight in recent weeks, has not tried to hide her growing dissatisfaction with Sturgeon: according to the press article she apparently 'liked' a tweet commenting on another newspaper article that suggested that the First Minister's "days are numbered".
Cherry has also refused to rule herself out of the running to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader, and described herself as ‘popular with the party membership’.
It seems that the SNP like their cherries more Machiavelli than Maraschino.
When even Nicola Sturgeon’s own MPs think she has run out of steam, why should anyone else think she is up to the job?
Yet again, Nicola Sturgeon has shown that her only priority is separatism.
In 2016 Sturgeon claimed that education would be the ‘number one priority’ of her government.
We all know now how that has worked out, as standards decline and teacher shortages - shortages that the SNP government caused and has done almost nothing to solve - continue to affect hundreds of thousands of Scottish pupils.
During her 45 minute speech to SNP Conference this week, Sturgeon predictably failed to set out how she would reverse the declining standards in our schools or the NHS.
Instead she shamelessly tried to exploit Brexit to push for further division and feed her obsession with breaking up the UK.
This bluster came despite the simple fact that the SNP’s economic case for separation has never been weaker.
Nicola Sturgeon has no answers on how she would replace the pound, or how she would plug the £12 billion gap in an independent Scotland’s finances.
And now she has been forced to admit that under her separation plans there could be a hard border between Scotland and the rest of the UK, splitting up our internal market – on which the prosperity of Scotland depends - and potentially costing thousands of people their jobs.
The SNP will happily steer Scotland onto the rocks in pursuit of its ideological obsessions. Only the Scottish Conservatives will get us back to the things that matter – like schools, hospitals and growing the economy.
September 2019
A respected police chaplain has hit out at the SNP’s underfunding of our police force.
Reverend Neil Galbraith, chaplain for Police Scotland, has raised ‘deep concerns’ that officers in his pastoral care are tired, frustrated, and even depressed. In a letter to the SNP Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf, Rev Galbraith said “our officers are under-equipped, require more resources, and are being asked to face too many challenges”.
He detailed how riot cops have had to wear the same soiled gear day after day, and that officers are getting soaked at crime scenes because they didn’t have time to collect waterproofs.
Nicola Sturgeon cares more about wasting scarce resources on her separation obsession than backing our Police Officers on the ground. The Scottish Conservatives would restore frontline, local policing to our communities.
The list of broken SNP promises gets ever longer.
After 12 years in power, Nicola Sturgeon’s tired government has outlined its Programme for the coming year. But the litany of 30 delayed, dropped or undelivered flagship SNP pledges shows that whatever Sturgeon promises should be taken with a bucketful of salt.
This sorry list of disasters and fudge includes:
Nicola Sturgeon’s failure to close the gap between how well the richest and poorest school students perform.
Nicola Sturgeon’s failure to deliver £500 million of Growth Scheme funding on time.
Nicola Sturgeon’s failure to give victims and their families more say before criminals are released from prison.
It just goes to show that you cannot trust anything the SNP promises, except to try to break up the UK.
The dispute over the SNP’s handling of the Ferguson Marine shipyard rumbles on.
A Herald Article reports that Kevin Hobbs, the boss of the company that owns CalMac ferries, has blasted the ‘design flaws’ in two overdue ferries being built by Ferguson Marine.
Nicola Sturgeon’s Government rushed to nationalise the Ferguson shipyard, despite Finance Secretary Derek Mackay admitting he has no idea how much it will cost the taxpayer.
Meanwhile businessman Jim McColl – who saved the yard in 2014 and still sits on Sturgeon’s council of economic advisers – accused the SNP government of a ‘circus’ and ‘appalling behaviour’ for failing to resolve the dispute.
This is a shambles and island communities are still waiting for these ferries. Sturgeon must get back to the day job and order a full inquiry into the whole fiasco. But we all know that she would rather waste time and money on her constitutional obsession and leave the things that matter – like schools, hospitals and jobs – to her incompetent colleagues.
SNP hypocrisy: a new art-form?
The hypocrisy of SNP posturing in Westminster about treating Parliament with respect is reaching new heights, as illustrated by the Scottish Government’s total disdain for Holyrood, amply demonstrated by the disrespect shown to MSPs looking into the Salmond fiasco: Herald Article.
Scottish Labour (remember them?) are feuding yet again - it must be a full moon.
Labour “leader” Richard Leonard has sacked his finance spokesperson James Kelly, demoting him to Justice to replace Daniel Johnson – who resigned months ago in protest at the leadership.
Shambolic Scottish Labour spends more time attacking itself than it does holding the SNP to account - and is treated with contempt by the Corbyn cabal. What is the point of Scottish Labour?
August 2019
The SNP has missed another hat-trick of key health targets.
New figures show that Nicola Sturgeon's NHS A&E “treatment guarantee” has been broken more than 100,000 times under her latest Health Minister. Worse still, the number of patients waiting over 12 hours has more than tripled in the last year.
The Nationalists have been in charge of Scotland’s health service for 12 years, and the blame for this failure lies squarely at their door. Telegraph Article, Scottish Sun Article.
Just imagine the carnage that another five years of SNP incompetence and failure would inflict upon the NHS in Scotland if the SNP remains in government after the next Holyrood election.
The simple fact is that any “guarantee” you hear coming from the SNP is worthless.
Sturgeon’s “Citizens’ Assembly” is just a talking shop for independence.
This assembly is supposed to be considering options to improve Scotland’s future. But because of Sturgeon’s one-track indy-obsession it is not considering the really important things - like how to improve our schools and hospitals and deal with the drug-related deaths crisis: it is only considering the destruction of the Union. Times Article
This is just the latest SNP attempt to push for another referendum and divide Scotland all over again. And of course you are paying for that: this latest SNP gimmick has already racked up a bill of almost £500,000 that could have been spent on closing the attainment gap or increasing subject choice in schools.
The SNP is still failing rural communities at every turn.
On the same day that new figures from the British Medical Association reveal that rural communities don’t have enough GPs, and as the GP recruitment crisis continues, Nicola Sturgeon tried to deflect the bad news by making more empty promises on 5G coverage: P&J Article
No surprise that an increasingly out-of-touch Sturgeon chose to promote 5G when, thanks to her party, much of rural Scotland still lacks 4G, not to mention decent broadband (or decent roads, schools, bus services...........).
Nicola Sturgeon is breaking her promises on childcare.
There is just a year left for the SNP to meet its own target of 1,140 hours of childcare for 3 and 4 year-olds. But more than 700 of the new facilities needed have not even begun construction, and a Government report has revealed that not enough nursery staff have been recruited. Scotsman Article
Worse still, the impact of the changes on independent childminders has been ignored, threatening many with having to pull out of the role entirely, meaning that the gap between 1140 hours provision and the real full-time cover that many working parents need cannot be filled in many areas.
As ever, when it comes to the details, the incompetent SNP has been found wanting yet again. How much longer can Scotland take this failure?
The SNP must scrap Sturgeon’s sinister “Named Person” scheme.
Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to appoint a state guardian for every child has already been struck down in the courts. Now the SNP Government’s own advisory panel has said the new version would be too complicated for public bodies to follow. Times Article, Scottish Sun Article.
This unnecessary and Orwellian scheme has been unworkable and unpopular from the start. Nicola Sturgeon should drop it and focus on the things that matter.
Jeremy Corbyn has surrendered to Nicola Sturgeon’s demands for indyref2.
The Labour leader has confirmed he would not try to stop the SNP holding a second divisive referendum on breaking up the UK. This cynical move is a complete betrayal of the Labour voters in Scotland who support the Union. Telegraph Article, Herald Article
Comrade Corbyn’s increasingly hard-left Labour cannot be trusted to protect either the Union or the Nation, and the Scottish Labour “leader” has been left totally exposed and isolated by his Islington puppet-master.
Alex Salmond will receive over £500,000 of Scottish taxpayers’ money because of the serious flaws in the SNP Government’s investigation into the allegations about him.
It is outrageous that over half a million pounds has been wasted by the botched handling of this investigation – and you have to wonder how much more the Scottish taxpayer - you - will have to pay out before this scandal finally reaches an end. BBC Report
Worst of all, the people who made these complaints against Salmond have been badly let down by the SNP.
Sturgeon must explain why she wasted taxpayers’ money when the glaring flaws in the Scottish Government’s investigation were so apparent from the very start.
Eventually the truth will out, but expect the SNP to do all it can to prevent the Scottish people knowing the details before the next Holyrood election.
Scottish students are losing out on university places to English and non-EU students.
The SNP’s cap on student places means that Scottish students can only access half the number of courses at Scottish universities as candidates from south of the border. Scotsman Article
There are places on 1000 courses for Scottish students available through UCAS clearing, but more than 2000 courses on offer for English, Welsh, NI and non-EU students. Clearly the SNP thinks it is OK to limit Scottish candidates unfairly despite its endless rhetoric about improving education and opportunity.
Sturgeon’s student cap unfairly discriminates against Scottish pupils, holding them back from achieving their full potential.
SNP blunders are to blame for Ferguson shipyard going into administration.
Scottish taxpayers are facing a massive bill because of the incompetent SNP’s reckless mismanagement of the Ferguson Marine ferries contract. Herald Article
Nicola Sturgeon’s own economic adviser Jim McColl says there is “no economic sense” behind the SNP’s decision and has accused the SNP of ‘abusing their power’. Times Article
He said: ‘We get soundbites from ministers, tweeting about finishing the ferries and saving the jobs in the yard. It’s all PR. There’s no economic sense behind what they’re doing…The way they are acting right now is economically damaging for the local area, and for Scotland.’ Daily Record Article Telegraph Article
SNP Ministers have spent years ducking questions and wasting public money without securing jobs or protecting the future of the yard.
Sturgeon must get back to the day job, fix this mess and order a full parliamentary inquiry.
The SNP has now admitted the Sick Kids hospital might not open before 2021.
Sturgeon and her increasingly-beleaguered health secretary Jeane Freeman have been unable to provide even the most basic information to families and NHS staff on the scale of the problems at the new Edinburgh hospital. Scotsman Article
Despite the delayed opening of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and warnings from Union officials that the new building could have to be 'ripped down', Jeane Freeman has refused to resign. This comes as it was revealed that NHS Lothian hands over £1.4m every month for a hospital that is not yet operational. The safety of patients, visitors and staff is of primary concern, and it is staggering that these issues have been overlooked. Clinicians pressured to sign off flawed hospital plan - The Herald
Meanwhile, the bill for the delayed hospital is to be at least £90m more than planned, according to an Audit Scotland report . The NHS Lothian hospital has been mired in controversy since dangers to patients and staff were identified before it opened – and the total cost of the new hospital could be up to £500m. BBC Report, The Scotsman
Despite the attempts to evade its responsibility for the failure, the SNP cannot say it was not warned well in advance. A senior architect involved in the project has said he raised concerns over design flaws two years ago - but believes meeting deadlines was prioritised over patient safety due to political pressure. Times Article
The SNP needs to take responsibility for its repeated failings in supporting Scotland’s hospitals – but get ready for the SNP to find someone else to blame for its own incompetence, just as it always does. Scotland needs a First Minister focused on hospitals and schools – not separation.
Labour still cannot make its mind up on independence.
Labour’s infighting continues: the Scottish party has gone to war with the UK party leadership over its backing for indyref2. John McDonnell has insisted that a Labour government would not block a second referendum on independence. This is despite the Labour “leader” in Scotland, Richard Leonard, repeatedly saying that his party would not grant a Section 30 order to allow a referendum to be held.
The Scottish parliamentary Labour party released a statement condemning John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn for seeking to ‘undermine’ Richard Leonard. Minutes later, Neil Findlay tweeted that he did not support the statement from his colleagues, and hit out at Jackie Baillie for abusing her power. Meanwhile Labour MP Paul Sweeney had come out in favour of federalism, saying that a second referendum should have not just two, but three choices on the ballot paper – The Herald
It is hardly surprising that Comrade Corbyn and his extreme-left power-base feel that they can treat Scottish Labour with contempt: former Labour MSP Margaret Curran has said Scottish Labour is ‘now a small party in Scotland’ and ‘we are not terribly relevant.’ Herald Article
Unlike Labour’s ever-changing position, the real choice is clear: the chaos of Nicola Sturgeon and Comrade Corbyn trying to engineer years of yet more division; or the pragmatism of the Scottish Conservatives supporting the Union and getting back to the things that really matter to people. In 2014 the Scottish people said no, and we meant it: but you simply can’t trust Labour with the Union – or anything else for that matter.
Senior police officers have slammed an SNP minister for bragging about police numbers.
Community Safety minister Ash Denham claimed on Twitter that the SNP had put more officers on the beat. But Calum Steele, General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation and his Deputy, David Hamilton responded with fury. The Herald
Steele said ‘the SNP has been underfunding the service to the point we are heading to headcount lower than a decade ago’, while Hamilton pointed out that deeper cuts to the frontline are on the way due to Police Scotland’s budget mess.
Can you trust SNP claims about Police numbers? Not really: as usual with any SNP claim, truth is the first casualty - but make up your own mind after taking a look at an independent assessment: Channel 4 News
Our poorest students are being let down by the SNP.
Despite Nicola Sturgeon staking her reputation (such as it is) on driving down the education attainment gap, in reality since 2018 the attainment gap has actually widened - despite slightly more students from deprived backgrounds making it to university. The Scotsman
School standards are slipping rapidly under the SNP. Pass rates are now at record lows since the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) was introduced. The Telegraph
SNP cuts to teacher numbers and their cap on higher education places is holding Scottish pupils back from achieving their full potential. John Swinney has repeatedly failed to listen to teachers, parents and young people.
The incompetent SNP is failing on education - just like it is failing on health, policing and reducing drug-related deaths. Only the Scottish Conservatives will restore our schools to their rightful place among the best in the world.
July 2019
The number of Scottish businesses on the brink of collapse is soaring under the SNP
New figures show an 18% rise in the number of companies in Scotland in serious ‘distress’ compared to the same period of 2018. Herald Article
The number of businesses in severe financial trouble is growing at more than three times the rate of that in the rest of the UK. This increase of firms on the brink of collapse should be a sharp wake-up call for the SNP: it needs to stop strangling innovation and must abandon its anti-business mindset.
Only the Scottish Conservatives have the ideas and determination to support Scottish businesses and grow the economy.
The Scottish Policy Authority has been operating behind closed doors – again.
The Scottish Policy Authority has been criticised for holding meetings in secret on issues including health and safety and a £42 million shortfall. The SNP promised that under new management the SPA would operate in an open and transparent manner. But it seems the SNP is happy to let the SPA operate behind closed doors.
What exactly is the SNP trying to hide from us all, and why? This is the SNP’s secret Scotland – and it stinks.
The SNP needs to get its story straight on indyref2.
The SNP’s deputy leader has insisted that he had never claimed the independence referendum was a once in a generation vote. However, it has emerged that ahead of the 2014 vote he claimed the referendum was a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’.
A generation is generally accepted as being about 30 years, and even allowing for improvements in life expectancy in Scotland having stalled under the SNP’s mismanagement (BBC News), on average you can still expect to live to well over 75. So clearly the Deputy FM thought that the 2014 referendum was a once in two generations opportunity - and not something we should revisit until at least 2075 or so!
Instead of struggling with selective memories, SNP ministers should take the threat of separation off the able completely. We said no and we meant it: the failing SNP needs to and get back to the day job of improving our economy, schools and NHS.
The SNP has the Union to thank for saving Scottish services after the SNP’s £1 billion tax black hole was exposed.
After overall tax revenue in Scotland fell £941 million short of SNP forecasts, the UK Government has stepped in to provide an extra £737 million in next year’s block grant and prevent drastic cuts to vital services in Scotland. This exposes the cost of having an under-performing SNP government which is overseeing sluggish growth, doing nothing to improve poor productivity, and failing to understand that punitive tax rates drive down the overall tax-take. Herald Article.
Delivering more fiscal powers to the Scottish Parliament should have been a huge opportunity for ministers to boost our economic fortunes; instead, the incompetent and economically-illiterate SNP has squandered the opportunity for narrow ideological reasons. Fortunately for the people of Scotland, the benefits of still being part of the UK mean that this disastrous underperformance by the SNP can be compensated for by Westminster.
The SNP needs to end its referendum obsession and concentrate on sorting out its disastrous economic policies.
The SNP is shamelessly politicising Scotland’s drugs-deaths crisis.
Almost 1,200 people died from drug consumption in Scotland last year – a 27% rise year-on-year. This is almost three times the rate of the UK as a whole and the highest rate in the EU. The SNP has had control over health and justice for 12 years; yet it has not dealt with this problem. ‘Call for treatment ‘culture change’ as drug death figures soar 27%’
In their desperation, the Nationalists are now pinning their hopes on drug consumption rooms because they know the UK Government does not agree with them. The SNP Government should be focusing its efforts on rehabilitation and abstinence-based recovery, the very services the SNP chose to cut to the bone.
But to do that the SNP Ministers would have to admit to making a mistake – not something the SNP will ever do voluntarily: much better to blame someone or something else. So after this week’s shocking drugs deaths statistics, former SNP minister Kenny MacAskill claimed that independence is necessary to combat the crisis. The SNP has been in power since 2007 and, on its watch, the number of fatalities has doubled, but rather than take an honest look at the problem, it prefers to politicise the crisis to distract from yet another catastrophic SNP failure.
When will the SNP admit that the only answer to SNP failure is not indyref2, but a change of Scottish Government? When will the SNP abandon its ideological obsession and end its constitutional grandstanding? Don't hold your breath.
Police chiefs say the SNP’s Car Park Tax puts front-line officers at risk
A letter from the Scottish Police Federation to the SNP government has been published, saying:
The car park tax could increase the chance of police officers’ homes being targeted.
The levy would be a “bureaucratic nightmare” for Police Scotland.
Police officers using public transport “along fixed routes at fixed times” would be vulnerable to attacks from criminals they’d brought to justice.
With elevated terror levels police who could no longer use their cars were even more at risk given “a specific terror threat” had been identified against them.
The Scottish Conservatives tabled a series of amendments to the car park tax legislation, which would have exempted a number of groups – including police, teachers and people on benefits – but those were rejected by other political parties. Police officers are just one of many groups who are vehemently opposed to the SNP’s car park tax plans. This explosive letter shows not only their anger about it, but the very real risks they could face as a consequence.
The SNP government should pay attention to what police are saying - and drop these plans altogether.
The SNP should stop using trips abroad to promote its attempts to break up the UK.
Just a few weeks after the First Minister was hob-nobbing with the EU Elites, Fiona Hyslop, the Culture Secretary, has also been to Brussels: once again we have a senior member of the SNP taking needless trips to talk up separation. Their motives are totally transparent: yet another excuse for them to try and create artificial divisions between Scotland and the rest of the UK. Rather than wasting time and hard-pressed taxpayers’ money on these self-indulgent excursions, the SNP should be concentrating on improving its desperately poor record of governance of Scotland, for example by getting a grip on our crumbling education system, a task that seems beyond the competence of the floundering Deputy First Minister. Scotsman Article
The SNP should drop the games, and get back to the day job.
Senior SNP figures propose declaring independence - without a referendum.
Angus MacNeil, a senior MP, and Chris McEleny, a former SNP deputy leadership contender, have drafted a motion for the SNP’s autumn conference. It proposes that the SNP’s next manifesto should promise that a ‘pro-independence electoral victory’ would lead to an immediate start of talks to break up Britain. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/independence-without-a-second-vote-is-proposed-7mcwpx6tl
So having had independence rejected by a substantial margin in a democratic referendum only five years ago, and knowing that every sign points to it losing another referendum, the SNP is now trying to find another way to push its endless constitutional grievance, if necessary by twisting democracy to breaking point.
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