Blackford: SNP are the real opposition
THE SNP declared “we are the real opposition” as the party’s 48 MPs arrived in Westminster yesterday.
Ian Blackford, the Westminster leader of the party, said the landslide election victory in Scotland was a mandate to hold an independence referendum.
Speaking in front of his assembled MPs, Blackford said: “The SNP will fulfil the role of the strong, united and focused opposition the country needs,
BY TORCUIL CRICHTON holding this extreme Tory Government to account in the face of Brexit, austerity cuts, the threat to our NHS and the climate crisis.
“With other parties subsumed by internal divisions and acrimony, the SNP will provide real and effective opposition, challenging Boris Johnson’s devastating plans every step of the way.”
Blackford also said the campaign for a second referendum on independence was now “unstoppable” after the SNP returned 48 out of a possible 59 MPs to the House of Commons.
The SNP total is up 13 seats on two years ago, while Tories are down to six MPs having lost more than half the seats they held in Scotland.
Blackford claimed the Scottish result meant Johnson held a “losing hand” by ignoring SNP demands for a second independence referendum.
THE prospect of nearly 50 SNP MPs taking up their places at Westminster is a potent sign of how Scottish politics has changed.
For years, the SNP was a marginal force in the House of Commons and only sent a handful of elected representatives to London.
How times have changed. The SNP’s dominance is so complete that some in the party were disappointed not to make more progress last week.
With such a large Nationalist group at Westminster, the Tory Government will be held to account on funding for Holyrood and the devolution of more powers to the Scottish Parliament.
However, while we expect the UK Government to raise its game, the same is also true of the SNP administration in Edinburgh.
After 12 years in power, the SNP is showing serious signs of wear and tear on the NHS. Two hospitals on either side of the M8 are in crisis and patients are waiting too long for treatment.
On education, cited by Nicola Sturgeon as her top priority, the huge attainment gap that existed when she took over in 2014 still exists.
Justice is another problem area. Moving towards a single police force was always risky but ministers said the creation of the Scottish Police Authority as an oversight body would allay fears. In reality, the SPA has been a hopeless failure.
Many people lent their votes to the SNP for the first time last week. If the Nationalists want this to be repeated, Ministers in Edinburgh need to start improving public services – and fast.