It’s about bins and potholes, NOT indyref!

POTHOLES and bin collections. These subjects exercise local residents to such an extent that they have become shorthand for ‘council elections’ in the lexicon of politicians and journalists alike. As a former councillor myself, I can vouch for just how much they matter to people. Which makes it all the more astonishing that neither rates a mention in the SNP’s manifesto for Thursday.

That’s right, in a 28-page prospectus for a local government election, Nicola Sturgeon and Co don’t even refer in passing to either issue.

And it may not surprise you to learn that ‘independence’, or ‘independent Scotland’, crops up six times. Even by referendum-obsessed SNP standards, that takes some doing in a manifesto purporting to make the case for electing council representatives.

But we shouldn’t really be surprised the SNP talk about anything but local government – because their record in the area is so poor.

Nicola Sturgeon’s government has imposed years of savage real-terms cuts to council budgets, leaving local authorities unable to adequately provide the services they are responsible for.

When you add in the fact that the SNP government has ring-fenced spending on certain core council services, local authorities have been forced to make eye-watering cuts to their non-protected services. This explains why one in eight of Scotland’s libraries has closed permanently since 2010.

It also explains why so many local roads are blighted with potholes and why bin collections have become less frequent.

Bread-and-butter council responsibilities such as essential road repairs and refuse collection have been reduced to Cinderella services thanks to SNP funding cuts.

And that’s why the push for another divisive independence referendum – one that most Scots don’t want – features so heavily in even their local election narrative. They hope that by focusing on the constitution, those sympathetic to the cause will ignore the SNP’s myriad policy failures – from declining education standards and our crisis-ridden NHS, to the ferries fiasco and Scotland’s shameful drugs-death record.

Due to their consistent record of failing Scotland, nationally and locally, after 15 years of Holyrood rule – not to mention their neverending push for a destabilising referendum on the constitution – I view this election as a chance to lock the SNP out of power in our town halls.

BUT we are not just asking for your vote to stop the SNP; our manifesto is full of attractive new policies to improve the lives of voters up and down Scotland. Scottish Conservative-run councils will fund tutoring and additional classes to help school pupils catch up following two years of disrupted education caused by the pandemic.

Unlike the SNP, we do see improving local roads as a priority. We will establish Pothole Action Funds – with money set aside to ensure repairs can be carried out as soon as local residents report potholes – and scrap some parking charges.

As for your bins, figures show that Scottish Conservative councils already empty them more frequently than Labour and SNP ones – and we’ll continue that proud record going forward.

So the message is clear and simple: if you want to lock the SNP out of council chambers and ensure that your local priorities are dealt with, you simply must vote Scottish Conservative on Thursday.