Time for a reckoning after years of failure

After a campaign abuzz with the scandals and squabbles of national politics, polling day for the council elections finally arrives. Local matters have seldom intruded, even though these are what matter most to voters.

the SNP has sought to make today about the Prime Minister, plastering its selfdescribed ‘gravy bus’ with the slogan ‘Send Boris a message’.

today is not about Boris Johnson and not about sending him messages.

there is understandable anger over Downing Street parties, just as there is about Sir Keir Starmer and Labour’s boozy curry nights, as well as Nicola Sturgeon’s repeated breaking of the rules on face coverings. No party has clean hands on these matters.

there will be time enough for reckonings down the line. today the reckoning must be with local services, how well they are funded and whether they serve the communities that rely on them.

today is your opportunity to pass judgment. On the decline of Scotland’s once-proud education system. On the state of roads and town centres. On the pressures facing families.

On the availability of housing, the cleanliness of the local high street and the cost of council services. On the soaring taxes you are made to pay for it all.

A long, yellow line runs through every one these issues – and it leads straight to Bute House.

the SNP has been in power for 15 years. In that time it has waged an aggressive campaign of centralisation.

It has grabbed municipal powers and undermined autonomy. Starved town halls of almost £1billion in real terms. Used the public purse to make councils dance to its tune.

A party never done preaching about independence has effectively annexed local government in Scotland.

To what end? Higher taxes. Less attainment. Breakfast clubs cut. elderly and vulnerable people crying out for care packages.

Local planning decisions overturned by the flick of a ministerial pen.

Leisure facilities underfunded. Parking charges rising. Uplift fees climbing. Bin collections reduced. Streets strewn with garbage. Others swarming with rats.

each an outrage. each traceable directly to the SNP Government at Holyrood. to its mismanagement. to its incompetence. to its callous cuts.

the SNP wants you to vote on Boris and birthday cakes. But Boris didn’t shutter your library. the SNP did that.

Boris didn’t invent a new tax on parking at your work place. the SNP did that.

Boris didn’t starve schools, roads and bin collections of vital cash. the SNP did that.

Voting SNP today would not send Boris a message, it would send one to Nicola Sturgeon. It would tell her things are going fine. More of the same, please.

It would tell her and her party that, no matter how often or how egregiously they fail Scotland, there will be no price to pay. that failure will be rewarded. that it may carry on regardless.

Carry on regardless is exactly what the SNP will do if no rebuke is delivered at the ballot box today.

even during this campaign, Sturgeon has made clear her priority is another divisive independence referendum.

two weeks ago, we learned that her taxpayer-funded Constitution and external Affairs Directorate has seen its budget double to £40million. there’s not enough money for hiring teachers or filling potholes but there’s always enough money for her independence pipe dream. Scotland deserves so much better. today we can begin to make the change Scotland needs.