JAMIE HALCRO JOHNSTON: ‘The SNP's last decade in power has left Scotland with a trail of broken promises’.
It's been 10 years since the independence referendum, and while the usual suspects are still obsessed with the ‘what could have been’, it's time we take a hard look at what actually is.
The SNP's last decade in power has left Scotland with a trail of broken promises. The NHS is buckling under pressure, with new hospitals delayed, getting an appointment to see a GP or dentist ever harder, and vital local services – such as in maternity and urgent care – lost or cut.
The housing crisis is worse than ever, with too many young people being priced out of the communities they were brought up in and the chance of owning their own home an increasingly distant dream.
Our transport links are deteriorating, with our ferries network in crisis and far too many Highland roads riddled with potholes. And, of course, a dualled A9 - promised by 2025 - will now not happen before 2035, if you believe even that.
Despite five SNP MSPs from the region taking hefty ministerial salaries, the Highlands keeps missing out. It's no wonder local people are so frustrated.
And yet the SNP broken promises keep coming. They are now backtracking on their pledge to provide free school meals to all primary school children, despite the Scottish Parliament backing a Conservative motion telling them to. And the SNP will push on with their plans to reintroduce expensive peak rail fares despite this being rejected by Parliament and another Conservative motion.
The SNP ignoring the will of the Scottish Parliament ... twice.
But what has been most shameful in the last few weeks has been the SNP’s rhetoric on cuts to winter fuel payments. Yes, Labour have chosen to cut them in England. But these are now devolved benefits and the SNP could deliver them this winter if they wanted to. And by deferring the Block Grant Adjustment, which they have the power to do, they would still have the money this year to do that. But they chose not to.
The SNP could make winter fuel payments in Scotland and protect Scottish pensioners, but they won’t. Instead, they chose to follow Labour’s lead, turning their backs on those in need and playing politics with the lives of some of our most vulnerable.
You won’t be surprised to hear that dealing with local concerns about power infrastructure across the Highlands makes up a significant part of the work I do.
There is a real sense of anger that those communities being asked to bear the brunt of the impact of new infrastructure are too often those which benefit the least. And that communities feel local objections are too easily being brushed away by power companies, with consultation processes mere formalities to be followed but not acted upon.
My Scottish Conservative colleagues and I will continue to ensure that local voices are heard, that the power companies are held to account, and that rural Scotland is protected.
