The very first article on this site, Nicola Sturgeon’s five biggest failures, got a huge response, with over 14,400 views so far. But, so many of you said ‘Only five..?’ And we agree, so here’s some more of our First Minister's failures. Share widely...
#5 Dude, where’s our superfast broadband?
Lockdown measures over the last few months have really shown the importance of a reliable and fast broadband connection. In their 2016 election manifesto, the SNP proclaimed they would ensure “100% of premises across Scotland will have access to super-fast broadband by 2021.”
Now, we aren’t in 2021 quite yet, but they are way, way behind that target and the SNP Minister responsible has already conceded that work on the new upgraded network will run past 2023.
The situation is so bad that Conservative MSP Douglas Ross had to write himself a note of permission to go to work in the UK Parliament, staving off criticisms from Nationalists for him making an ‘unnecessary visit’ – but it was necessary, because the broadband where Mr Ross lives wasn’t up to dialling into Zoom for him to do his job.
Repeat this for tens of thousands of desperate workers in this country. Nicola Sturgeon has failed to connect, leaving Scotland’s communications infrastructure unfit for purpose.
#4 Using Monopoly money to buy Scottish businesses
In 2015, a £97m order was placed for two ferries, for the Isle of Arran and the Hebrides, at the Ferguson shipyards in Port Glasgow, which was seen as a lifeline contract to keep the Jim McColl-backed yard afloat. But SNP incompetence over the design of the ships ended up sinking the yard instead and leaving it in need of a Scottish Government bailout.
The ferries are now more than three years behind schedule and will run to over £100m over budget. Quite simply, a deficit which a normal commercial enterprise wouldn’t be able to sustain, but is being sustained by tax-paying Scots.
Not content with a shipyard, six years ago the Scottish Government took over loss-making Prestwick Airport for £1 and have since plunged £50m of Scottish taxpayers money into stemming losses made by the operation. Definitely not ‘pure dead brilliant’.
It remains to be seen whether the SNP will at least recover the monies taxpayers have spent on Prestwick over the years, or not. But whoever thought it was a good idea should go straight to jail and not collect £200 as they pass Go. And sadly, it’s not monopoly money they’re using - it’s our money.
#3 Doctoring the figures
The SNP pledged to recruit an additional 800 GPs over the next decade, however, a report from Audit Scotland stated the SNP government would struggle to meet that commitment.
But with Stamp Duty being far more expensive in Scotland, and with doctors paying £2k a year more in taxes at the average salary level in Scotland versus elsewhere in the UK, it’s no wonder the Scottish Government are finding it harder to attract GPs to Scotland.
The expansion of the primary care workforce, which includes nurses and physiotherapists, is “central” to the SNP’s vision of reshaping healthcare to treat more people at home and in the community, rather than in hospitals, but this is compromised by the difficulties in attracting new talent.
In any case, with an ageing population and an increase in the number of people living with long-term medical conditions, these extra 800 places – if filled – will cater for the increase in demand, and not necessarily reduce the stressful workload GPs currently face.
#2 Nationalism isn’t working
Despite historic investment of over £10bn by the UK Government to intervene in the economy and throw a protective safety net around workers during the unprecedented impact of COVID-19, Scotland’s unemployment rate sits at 4.6%, way in excess of the other parts of the United Kingdom (England checks out at 3.9%, Wales 3%, and Northern Ireland leads, with only 2.3% of workers out of a job).
This is after factoring in just over 628,000 jobs in Scotland have been protected by the UK Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which begs the question, exactly how bad would things be if Scotland had split from the rest of the UK?
The finances demonstrate an independent Scotland wouldn’t have had the financial means to pay for these support measures – the UK’s being one of the most generous in the world – and wouldn’t have had a lender of last resort to ensure the Government was able to even borrow the money if it so chose.
Remember, it was the SNP’s official position to unilaterally continue using the Pound Sterling as the official currency of an independent Scotland. There’s a global pandemic on, and we need to throw an arm around our workers? Sure, let’s phone a foreign power’s central bank to ask if we can write out a blank cheque in their currency…
#1 Deaths from COVID testing failure
Think Nicola is doing a great job at steering Scotland through this terrible pandemic? Let’s talk about testing.
At the end of May, Jeane Freeman stated Scotland had reached a testing capacity of 15,500 tests per day to adequately support the “Test and Protect” scheme as promoted by the Scottish Government.
The opposition parties quickly pointed out that the SNP was only using around half of that capacity, and that they were failing to meet their key promise of providing testing for all care home staff on a regular basis – care homes being the major concern over the number of infections, and sadly, fatalities.
Despite a promise by ministers that the situation would “change dramatically as the new system comes into force,” on 3rd July official Scottish Government figures showed only 5,356 tests carried out by the NHS, and at drive through test areas a paltry 34% of the purported capacity available.
The consequences? In the last week of June, only 23,350 of Scotland’s 50,000 strong care home workforce received the routine test they were promised by the Scottish Government.
According to the National Records of Scotland, 46% of the 4,173 deaths in Scotland, where COVID-19 is cited as the cause of death, occurred in a Scottish care home.
I’m acutely aware of the pain and anguish of the bereaved as a I write this. As someone with two close family members who are frontline workers within the care sector, this is about far more than politics to me.
Nicola Sturgeon does not have a monopoly on the emotional outpouring over what has happened during this pandemic, nor does she have the right to use the victims as a human shield to avoid scrutiny of how her failings contributed to the situation.
It is the duty of opposition political parties to hold her government to account, because through a strong opposition comes stronger government, and a stronger nationwide response. Of course, whenever the media or opposition do challenge the First Minister about these facts, she deflects that 'England is worse', and moves on.
But hey, that’s due to the other pandemic Scotland is grappling with – Nationalism.
Help us fight back
If you can, please help us get more of these articles out to more people, by pledging a monthly donation. Everything helps. Together we can turn the tide against their ugly Nationalism. Thank you!