Record of failure

TODAY, Miss Sturgeon becomes Scotland’s longest-serving First Minister – after more than seven years of failure. Hers is a reign characterised by broken pledges and unrelenting scandal, with grand plans of public service reform ending in disaster.

Miss Sturgeon’s ‘defining mission’ to close the attainment gap in schools within a decade was ditched last week.

The newly nationalised railway has been brought to its knees weeks after being moved to public ownership.

And the row over unfinished CalMac ferries – which has seen frenzied blameshifting as blundering ministers scrambled to dodge responsibility – could cost taxpayers up to £400million.

Back in 2014, when she took over from Alex Salmond, Miss Sturgeon promised to be the ‘most accessible First Minister ever’. In reality, her pathologically secretive administration has sought to cover up its shortcomings and keep voters in the dark.

Meanwhile, the party’s bid to tear Scotland out of the UK continues to dominate its threadbare policy agenda – despite having run into the sand.

For the rest of her tenure, however long it should prove to be, Miss Sturgeon should set aside the constitutional game-playing – and for once focus on her day job of running the country.