Sturgeon keeps Corbynism alive
JEREMY Corbyn should take heart that his creed lives on – in one part of the UK at least. While the former Labour leader has shambled back to the political fringe, Nicola Sturgeon has proved more than willing to keep the flame of Corbynism burning.
Scotland’s First Minister this week unveiled a lavish-spending election manifesto packed with unaffordable giveaways that would make Mr Corbyn and his hard-Left comrades feel proud.
The SNP blueprint for next month’s Scottish Parliament elections pledged a £6billion spending splurge despite also vowing to freeze income tax.
Giveaways on offer to voters included free dentistry, free bicycles for tens of thousands of youngsters and a promise to provide “every child in Scotland with a device to get online, including a free internet connection and the support to use it”. The document also proposed an extra 20 per cent in spending on the NHS and 25 per cent more on social care.
Consumed by her craving for a fourth consecutive term in office, she appears to have given up any pretence of fiscal responsibility.
Like Corbyn-led Labour in the last two elections, her approach is to offer voters a cornucopia of free goodies while hiding the price tag.
HER claim that the spending taps can be twisted to maximum gush without raising taxes in Scotland signals her intention to try to squeeze more money from Westminster. It is a programme calculated to provoke confrontation with Boris Johnson’s Government and further the SNP’s overarching aim to tear the UK apart.
Ms Sturgeon would like nothing more than to blame the Prime Minister for thwarting her spending plans. Like the Corbynites, SNP hardliners relish the prospect of financial crisis and political chaos to further their revolutionary aims.
Her lurch to the uncontrolled spend, spend, spend approach championed by Mr Corbyn and his Marxist pal John McDonnell should be seen as a sign of desperation.
The Scottish First Minister is under intensifying pressure as polls show support for independence sagging while her feud with rival Alex Salmond threatens to rip apart the separatist movement.
His breakaway Alba Party is even more single-minded in its obsession with the independence issue and appears to have no other policies.
To distinguish itself from the fledgling single-issue rival, the SNP is pushing a detailed programme for a socialist “transformation”.
If the party did achieve its dreams of independence, continued spending on such an ambitious scale would turn Scotland into an economic basket case.
Presumably, Ms Sturgeon and her allies are pinning their long-term hopes on the EU riding to the rescue, inviting Scotland back into the bloc and bailing out the shattered economy. As the manifesto promises, the SNP is determined to “maintain and strengthen Scotland’s relationship with our EU partners with a view to re-joining as soon as possible”.
Even Brussels might balk at welcoming a new member state requiring billions of euros in support, not to mention a budget deficit far in excess of the EU maximum. Ms Sturgeon’s hard-Left manifesto is a massive gamble. Perhaps the Scottish First Minister has forgotten that Corbynism has been firmly rejected by voters across the UK in two general elections.
Scots voters may well prove as sceptical about promises of uncosted largesse at the polls next month.
Ms Sturgeon’s manifesto gives a glimpse of a disastrous future under her independence plans. Pro-Union parties need no more incentive than to fight to strengthen the UK in the coming elections. Next month’s elections are a chance to send her off to join Mr Corbyn on the forgotten political fringe.