Shuffling SNP pack’s no good.. they’re all jokers

AFTER months of speculation and scandal, Scotland’s embattled Health Secretary Michael Matheson has finally resigned – despite Humza Yousaf’s best efforts to defend him.

Matheson not only attempted to land taxpayers with the £11,000 bill he racked up watching football in Morocco, but he was later caught lying to the public about it.

The distracted health secretary still managed to cling on to his job as our NHS was plunged deeper into a deadly winter crisis.

But Matheson’s attempt to squeeze every last penny out of his ministerial salary is only one part of this story – what this sorry saga has revealed is just how weak Humza Yousaf and the SNP are.

When he had a chance to do the right thing and put our NHS and patients first, Yousaf decided to pick party loyalty over the good of the country.

He stood by his health secretary instead of standing up for taxpayers, defending the integrity of a man who admitted to lying to the public.

Once again, the SNP’s first instinct was to close ranks and choose cover-up over accountability.

Now that Matheson has resigned, Yousaf may hope swapping one failing SNP minister for another is going to solve the problem.

But it won’t.

While the Government pretends there is no crisis, that is not the experience for patients across the country.

For many people, delays in accessing treatment can be fatal.

There were more than 12,000 people last year for who an ambulance was called but who died before reaching the hospital – an increase of over 70 per cent in just four years.

That’s people who may have survived if an ambulance could have reached them sooner.

There are 828,398 Scots on NHS waiting lists and the 62-day cancer treatment standard hasn’t been met since 2012. This is the real-world consequence of SNP incompetence and failure.

Back when the First Minister was health secretary, the government promised to contact all the women who were wrongly excluded from cervical screening by August 2021.

More than two-and-a-half years later, 65,000 women are still waiting to have their cases reviewed.

At least one of these women has died while waiting.

People who need the NHS are being failed by an incompetent SNP Government.

Yousaf’s desperate reshuffle won’t stop the rot in this incompetent and secretive government.

He can shuffle the pack all he wants – the only cards that are left to play are all jokers. No amount of moving the deckchairs can change the reality before us.

The people of Scotland need change and it is only the Scottish Labour Party that will deliver it.

From making our economy work for working people, to reforming and renewing our NHS, Scottish Labour is ready to serve the people of Scotland.

The job over the next 12 months is to boot the Tories out of power and remove the SNP’s last remaining excuse for failing Scotland. A chance to serve the people of Scotland – that is all we ask.

I HAVE been bowled over by the courage and bravery of esther Ghey in the aftermath of her daughter Brianna’s tragic murder.

In the face of unimaginable grief and some of the worst of public life, esther is fighting to deliver meaningful change on important issues such as mental health services and social media regulation.