History will shine a harsh light on SNP’s catalogue of failures
IF you would like to know what First Minister Nicola Sturgeon gets in return for the £1 million of taxpayers’ money she spends on spin doctors each year, consider the popular narrative about the Scottish Government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite abundant evidence of failure after failure, a myth of Ms Sturgeon as uniquely competent has begun to take root. Make no mistake, this analysis was developed during a meeting of SNP spin doctors.
The truth is that, by and large, administrations across the United Kingdom have walked shoulderto-shoulder through the pandemic. They often share mistakes just as they share successes.
History will shine a harsh and unforgiving light on some of the First Minister’s mistakes since coronavirus struck.
The Scottish Government’s decision last year to transfer infected patients from hospitals to care homes remains unfathomable.
Under Ms Sturgeon’s supposedly superlative leadership, coronavirus tore through homes, killing thousands.
It was while being guided by the wisdom of Sturgeon that Scotland recently spent time at the top of the European league table of coronavirus hotspots.
The truth behind Nationalist spin is that the current Government has frequently been found wanting. Bad decisions have been taken by over-promoted ministers and Ms Sturgeon has frequently overpromised only to under-deliver.
The SNP Government set itself a target of vaccinating all over-18s in Scotland by today. As is customary, the First Minister has failed to deliver.
Just last week, Ms Sturgeon’s Health Secretary Humza Yousaf promised that the rollout of first doses for all who are eligible would be completed by this evening. In fact, almost 465,000 Scots are yet to receive a single shot.
This is no near-miss by the Health Secretary who maintains the SNP’s fine tradition of making a promise and then promptly breaking it. It is difficult to understand how, given the huge number yet to receive a single jab, Mr Yousaf felt the promise of full rollout by today was even vaguely plausible.
The Scottish Government’s response to its failure to deliver on this promise is to deny any such failure exists. It considers that all the people who could have been jabbed have been jabbed and adds that some people have switched appointment dates.
Even a £1 million-a-year team of spin doctors couldn’t come up with something better than that.
Scots – in common with our neighbours across these islands – have made innumerable sacrifices since the coronavirus pandemic first struck.
Extended families have endured long periods of separation, major events such as weddings have been cancelled, and children have spent months away from the classroom, dealing with the stress of home-schooling.
It should not be too much for us to expect in return from the Scottish Government some basic competence.
Mr Yousaf was an unimpressive Justice Secretary and, so far, he has maintained his standard in charge of health.
If Boris Johnson had promised complete vaccination rollout by today and then failed as dismally to deliver as the SNP has, the nationalists would be having a field day.
There would be cries of ‘betrayal’ and demands that Scots should be allowed to choose independence in another referendum.
Instead, Mr Yousaf will blunder on as if nothing had happened. Failure that would be deemed a career-ending catastrophe in one of the SNP’s opponents is simply shrugged off.
Scotland is moving slowly towards the further loosening of lockdown restrictions. With so many people still unvaccinated, the SNP may be creating the perfect storm for a major spike in transmissions.