Nicola’s just a ‘devo’ diva

DEVOLUTION has been a disaster – and not just in Scotland as Boris Johnson has supposedly claimed.

All three governments have failed across the UK, with the Northern Irish Assembly perhaps being the most stark example.

Hailed as one of the great achievements of the Good Friday Agreement, it was riven with disputes from the start. Given the decades of Troubles, this is hardly surprising.

The fact it was suspended for three years and yet the country carried on with civil servants in charge tells you everything you need to know about its value. The politicians didn’t turn up for work yet no-one noticed!

In Wales, the local government seems to be driven by socialist dogma. Its handling of the Welsh NHS has been so catastrophic it has been seized on by Tory opponents as how not to run a health service.

Whichever party is right, it has led to a terrible decline in care for cancer patients. Many Welsh people cross into England to get care that is delayed or unavailable at home.

Now to Scotland. Perhaps First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, below, and the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford would like to address how they have allowed their nation to slide down so many league tables during 13 years in power?

Scotland’s education system was once the envy of Europe with proportionately more school-leavers going on to university than England could manage.

That has since been eclipsed – highlighted by a study two years ago that showed 20% of school-leavers in the most deprived parts of England still managed to go to uni, whereas in Scotland the figure is a depressing 13%. Perhaps the SNP could also explain why life expectancy for men in the

East End of Glasgow is 64.4 years – lower than Pakistan, Mongolia and Djibouti – and well below the corresponding figure of 79.9 years in England and Wales, and 78.7 years in Northern Ireland? Amazingly, the SNP’s desire for Scottish independence continues to poll well – and that is precisely the point the PM was trying to make.

It is ironic that Tony Blair may end up as the architect of the break-up of the United Kingdom yet be seen to get away with it.

Then again, have you ever heard that before?