Big NHS issues despite powers

This week, devolution was a key topic of debate in Westminster Hall.

A motion brought by my colleague Stephen Kerr, the MP for Stirling, saw the Scottish Conservative and Unionist and SNP MPs lock horns about the use of devolved powers.

After 20 years of devolution, and 10 years of SNP government, it is very clear that significant issues remain.

Some Nationalists seem to think devolution can be used to further separate Scotland from the rest of the UK.

However, the whole point of devolution was to ensure that our two levels of government,Westminster and Holyrood, work together for the benefit of the people of Scotland.

Unfortunately, in most major policy areas namely health and education, devolution has not brought the benefits that were expected; where Scotland once led the UK in education performance, Scotland now trails England and Northern Ireland in almost every internationally recognised category, whilst Scotland has the lowest life expectancy of all the nations of the UK.

Under the SNP, health spending in Scotland over the last decade has increased more slowly than in England, growing by 34%, versus 50% in England.

Per head, this translates to a spending growth of 39% in England, but only 28% in Scotland. We know the consequences for NHS Tayside who, yesterday, announced the cancellation of non-urgent operations over the Christmas period

Shockingly, there is even precedence for this, with the number of cancelled planned operations in the Tayside region in January this year proportionally higher than the average across the health service, amounting to 244 of 2246 operations, or 10.9%.

All of this is even worse because these problems are set against the backdrop of a significant budget increase for Scotland.

So, it is disingenuous for SNP MPs to say this has been caused by an overall squeeze on Scotland’s budget.

Instead, it has been caused by the choices of the SNP Government in Holyrood.

We all know the SNP’s love of grievance politics. Their divisive approach has fuelled their 10 years in charge at Holyrood, always dominated by the quest for independence rather than getting on with the things that matter to people in their everyday lives.

Well now, the people of Scotland have a grievance of their own, and it is with the SNP administration.

Voters will no longer stand for the constant attempt to blame Westminster for the wrong choices the SNP has made at Holyrood.

If the SNP does not bring an end to their dysfunctional governance and use devolution as it was intended - working with Westminster to pass powers to local communities and deliver better public services for our constituency – we will have the opportunity to end it for them at the next election.

• Luke Graham MP is always keen to hear your views. Contact him by sending an email to luke. grahamoffice@parliament. uk