The SNP manifesto for the UK May General Election released today is described by its evangelist, First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, as ‘full of ideas’ – which it is.
However, it provides evidence that the SNP Scottish Government, intoxicated with the adrenaline of the big stages in London and the national media attention, has forgotten that its core job is building Scotland.
Touting a stronger voice for Scotland at Westminster may give the troops a prompt to cheer – but Scotland’s situation at home badly needs the ideas, the energy, and the pzazz that has wilfully been spent on making an impact south of the border.
It is interesting to hear Ms Sturgeon talk of the SNP ‘rebalancing the UK’ by promoting greater economic growth through more spending in the north east of England. It is amusing to watch her sheer cheek in usurping the role of the UK Government south of the border – double-cheek when England has no devolved powers at all to shape its own circumstances and Scotland is about to be the recipient of a power-bonanza.
But, while the mischief of this is worth a grin [and gets it], what is not amusing is that the effort that has gone into twisting the UK Government’s tail has come at Scotland’s expense.
The SNP has now been in power in Scotland for eight unbroken years, the last five of of them with an overall majority that has allowed them to do exactly as they like in the face of a hopelessly feeble and mesmerised opposition.
The SNP may talk in grandiose terms today of ‘rebalancing the UK’ – but in eight years there has been no trace of an economic development strategy worth the name for Scotland- nor is there today.
What about the west of Scotland – and by that we mean the entire west coast from Dumfries and Galloway to Sutherland?
Scotland is massively unbalanced in favour of the Central Belt and then the east coast.
The west coast infrastructure – if you could call it that – is mend and make do. There is no plan, no ‘rebalancing’, no grand vision for the west coast – just the constant and ultimately disabling drip feed of grants and subsidies to keep it ticking over and still inhabited.
The west coast is a basket case.
If the SNP Scottish Government has any genuine ability to create a rebalancing economic development strategy that amounts to more than a bit of bling at press conferences for a manifesto that is about little more than proposing to spend other people’s money on other people’s affairs, then they need to show that ability in making sense of Scotland.
That is what they were elected to do and they have, to date, failed utterly in meeting that challenge: by never engaging it.
