We’ll speak up for those sick of SNP

The results of the council elections in Stirling make one thing crystal clear: across Stirling and Scotland, it is only the Scottish Conservatives that have the strength to fight back against the SNP.

In Stirling the Scottish Conservatives gained five seats on the council, moving up from four councillors to nine, becoming the joint largest party and winning the share of the popular vote. Talking to people on the doorsteps throughout the campaign I know there were many who voted Scottish Conservative for the very first time and are fed up with the broken promises of the SNP after 10 long years in power.

We will speak up for the vast majority of people in Stirling who have had enough of the uncertainty and division of the last few years and we will demand that politicians of all parties respect the democratic verdict of the Scottish people in 2014 and get back to the things that matter - getting our economy back to growth and restoring excellence in Scotland’s schools.

The last month has seen yet more bad news for the SNP. Scotland’s economy is shrinking – it is halfway to a recession – and the job rate is lagging behind. In Q4 2016 Scotland’s GDP contracted by 0.2 per cent while UK GDP grew by 0.7 per cent. The employment rate in Scotland now stands at 73.4 per cent, lower than the UK rate of 74.6 per cent. We are also under-performing the rest of the UK on a number of other fronts; pay levels, levels of employment, business confidence and Scotland now has the highest rate of shop closures in the UK as can be seen by the empty streets in Stirling and across the country.

On education, fully devolved to the Scottish Parliament since 1999, the SNP’s record is shameful. New figures released last week have shown that reading and writing standards among pupils in Scotland have fallen to “shameful” levels. The latest Scottish Survey for Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) showed a rise in the percentage of pupils who are functionally illiterate from seven per cent to 16 per cent in the last four years. Fewer than half of S2 pupils in Scotland were performing well in writing, down from 64 per cent in 2012.

These results are an absolutely shameful illustration of the neglect of this SNP Government.

Nicola Sturgeon said that education was going to be her personal top priority. She said: “I want to be judged on this’’. It’s time for voters to cast their judgment.

On health, almost one in six patients are waiting too long for treatment. In December 2016, only 83.8 per cent of patients were seen within the 18 Week Referral to Treatment standard. Last year, NHS Scotland met just one key waiting time target. Furthermore, in 2015/16 the NHS failed to meet targets including A&E waiting times, cancer treatment waiting times and child and adolescent mental health service waiting times.

The SNP cannot continue to divert attention from the failures on their watch. They are in charge of the NHS in Scotland – what happens in Scotland is the SNP’s responsibility. The NHS in Scotland is facing a growing crisis, and the SNP need to act.

The SNP’s top and only priority is independence at all costs, independence at any cost. Nicola Sturgeon said it herself when she said that independence “transcends the issues of national wealth, oil and balance sheets’’. We fundamentally disagree, we need a Government that prioritises jobs, the NHS, education, economic growth and local public services – and puts to one-side their obsession over independence.

As we turn to the election on June 8, we know Nicola Sturgeon is still refusing to listen; only last week she said independence would be at the “heart” of the General Election campaign. The council election results show that in Stirling a vote for the Scottish Conservatives will ensure that your voice is heard.