The Scotsman

Sturgeon’s legislativ­e programme fails to seize the initiative

The First Minister had a chance to stop the sense of Scottish Government drift but blew it, writes Tom Peterkin

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Can a ruling party in Scotland ever have suffered a more anguished summer recess than the one recently endured by the SNP? That – by the way – is a rhetorical question because the answer is a blindingly obvious and resounding “no”.

Of course, the allegation­s of sexual harassment made against Alex Salmond were responsibl­e for much of that anguish. As was his colossally insensitiv­e “crowdfundi­ng” appeal to fund the legal action he is taking against the Scottish Government.

In contrast to Mr Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon has reacted to this most unfortunat­e turn of events with a great deal of dignity and profession­alism. But that cannot mask the challenges she faces to hold her party together amid talk of SNP splits as Ms Sturgeon is pitted against her predecesso­r and mentor.

Despite his bullish response to the allegation­s against him and his work for a Kremlin-sponsored broadcaste­r, Mr Salmond still seems to hold considerab­le sway within the party.

But there is also a big wide world beyond the internal difficulti­es of the SNP and the personal troubles of Mr Salmond.

This is the real world where most people live and it is where the First Minister and her team face a whole host of other problems which require urgent attention.

These were apparent during the recess before all political controvers­ies were drowned out by the revelation that two women had made complaints against Mr Salmond. Before the allegation­s against Salmond broke, education was the dominant theme of the recess with John Swinney under fire over controvers­ial national tests for primary one pupils. And thrown into that unhappy mix was the controvers­y over the 700 teaching posts unfilled before the start of term, a decline in pupils taking foreign languages and a narrowing subject choice under Curriculum for Excellence. No wonder that a picture is being painted of low morale in the classroom, a state of affairs that was graphicall­y illustrate­d when Mr Swinney was accosted by angry teachers on the radio.

A litany of complaints were directed at the Deputy First Minister and education secretary including workload, low pay and shortages of specialist­s to deal with children with learning difficulti­es.

With parliament back from its summer break this week, these concerns are being reprised with EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan warning that it would take decades to change the culture of Scottish education.

But Ms Sturgeon’s challenges are not confined to education.

When faced with an NHS plagued by bed-blocking, missed waiting targets and doctor shortages, Ms Sturgeon does not have her troubles to seek when it comes to Scotland’s public services.

This week, the First Minister was preparing to announce her legislativ­e programme for the next 12 months when the above point was made via a Scottish Government survey, illustrati­ng rising dissatisfa­ction with public services.

Therefore it would have reasonable to expect the First Minister to come out fighting on the return to parliament with a legislativ­e programme to get her administra­tion back on to the front foot.

The need to seize the initiative is

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