Articles by Bruce Halliday

There is a parallel universe where the SNP respects democracy.

In this alternative world in 2014, post referendum, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon acknowledged that two million people in Scotland had voted for Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom and that the 10% winning margin —  which meant 24% more people voted NO than YES — was clear and decisive. 

To show their acceptance and heal the wounds of the divisive, “once-in-a-generation” referendum, three days after the referendum, they attended the service of reconciliation which the Church of Scotland had organised at St Giles Cathedral. Salmond and Sturgeon then returned to the Scottish parliament vowing to devote all their energies to the public services of Scotland, to demonstrate the competence of the SNP in government. They spend the next six years on ‘the day job’ improving Scotland’s health, education and economy.

It’s worth reminding ourselves that the SNP have had complete control over Scotland’s Health Service for the past 13-and-a-half years, and that prior to becoming First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon was Health Secretary. In that time, the number of GP and consultant vacancies has increased dramatically. 

As a GP, I have seen firsthand the effect of how the SNP’s chronic underfunding, higher taxation and lack of university spaces have combined to create desperate shortages in Scotland's health service. Yet the SNP, distracted by constant agitation for a second referendum, and lacking competency, is simply not doing enough to improve the situation.