Broken promises as SNP drops scores of manifesto pledges

DOZENS of manifesto pledges on health, education, tax and jobs have been broken, in an indictment of the SNP’s decade in government.

Promises to cut class sizes, keep NHS waiting times low, scrap council tax, create 2,000 jobs and help first-time buyers have all been missed, according to analysis of SNP manifestos by the Scottish Conservatives.

The SNP was accused of prioritising its ‘divisive and unpopular’ independence obsession, above delivering for Scotland.

Targets aimed at improving the health, wealth and quality of life of people across the country have been left ‘undelivered, forgotten or downright ignored’, the Tories said.

An astonishing 29 promises made in 2007 when the SNP came to power were broken.

After Alex Salmond secured a landslide win in 2011, he thanked voters with a further 22 broken pledges.

Some vows, such as council tax reform and reducing class sizes, were made in both elections and broken both times. It raises questions over how many pledges made by Nicola Sturgeon in May will stand the test of time – especially with the First Minister having committed officials to plotting another independence bid.

Chief of these is closing the attainment gap between rich and poor pupils, which Miss Sturgeon has said her Government should be judged on.

John Lamont, Scots Tory chief whip, said: ‘These are 51 key pledges the SNP made that have been left undelivered, forgotten or just downright ignored.

‘The Nationalists’ 2007 and 2011 manifestos are littered with inflated promises that were abandoned in favour of a gambit for independence.

‘The time for the SNP to start delivering on its promises to the

‘Inflated promises abandoned’

Scottish people as a responsible government is long overdue.’

In 2007, the SNP promised smaller class sizes in P1 to P3, means tested grants to replace student loans, an 18-week maximum wait for NHS treatment, and a first-time homebuyer’s grant of £2,000. None of those commitments was met.

In 2011, the party said it was ‘determined to see an increased performance in the next PISA survey’ which measures school standards. But when the international comparisons were released last year, Scots pupils had slumped in English, maths and science, and are trailing South Korea and Vietnam.

That year the SNP also promised to end the ‘childcare postcode lottery’ that affects thousands of working parents, maintain waiting time standards, deliver the Queensferry Crossing on time, create 2,000 third-sector jobs, and ensure Scotland has the highest broadband uptake in the UK. The targets were not met. But Nationalist MP Tommy Sheppard said: ‘The people of Scotland, not the increasingly Right-wing Tory Party, are the people to judge the record of the SNP and have re-elected the SNP on two occasions.

‘They know the SNP will protect Scotland from Tory plans to hit living standards hard by imposing prescription charges and tuition fees while giving tax cuts to the wealthiest.’