It may be, however, that this appears the only option left open to the struggling SNP. After all, when you are a party who have broken almost every election pledge you made last time round, you are unlikely to want to stand on your record. Class sizes, school buildings, support for first time buyers, just the beginning of a very long list.
Broken promises are not the only reason the SNP are keen to deflect attention from their actions in government.
The SNP will certainly be anxious to draw attention from their record on tackling poverty. The council tax freeze imposed by the SNP has disproportionately benefited those on middle and higher incomes, whilst some council house tenants have seen up to 20 per cent rises in their rent since the introduction of the freeze. The £7.5m funding allocated to support the implementation of the government’s own anti-poverty framework, has been ‘subject to substantial cuts in the context of wider budgetary restraints which have been imposed on the Scottish government’, and only £5m will now be available, a cut of one third. Meanwhile, the SNP, along with the Tories, failed to support a fairer pay policy which would have guaranteed real-term pay increases for those on the lowest wages in the public sector while paying no bonuses to higher earning staff for the next two years.
Voluntary organisations, such as the network of rape crisis centres, are nervously awaiting the outcome of the budget, as the prospect of the further removal of ringfencing calls their very viability into question.
Alex Salmond will also be looking to distract the voters from the SNP’s record on jobs, as on their watch Scotland has fallen behind the rest of the UK with lower growth, fewer business start-ups and higher unemployment than the rest of the country.
So the rationale for the SNP’s move appears more clear, but it also demonstrates just how out of touch the SNP have become.
During the first Holyrood election, we engaged with the electorate with the belief that jobs, health and education were their priorities and, therefore, should be ours. The SNP had appeared to have learned by the 2007 election, and concentrated on these issues in their own campaign, with independence not rearing its head in their last manifesto until page 17.
To the people of Scotland, these are the issues that impact most deeply on their lives, to the SNP they were just gimmicks, to be discarded at will.
This time round, the SNP are not even attempting to pretend that they have any goal outside the single issue which draws them together, the separation of Scotland from the rest of the UK. Perhaps they have very little choice, after all, with their record in government, their lack of interest in jobs, in health, in education, in the lives of the people of Scotland has become crystal clear.
The SNP have treated the voters with contempt, and soon, they will have to face them again.
Erm… Dont let the facts get in the way of a good Scotland or SNP bashing…
To date, the SNP had delivered on over 68 of its 94 manifesto pledges. Not a bad record for a minority administration I’m sure you’ll agree
Given that the London Labour Party in Scotland has voted against 90 of those 94 pledges then I’d suggest that it is an excellent record
As for the independence argument, and given the ‘poor poll results’ perhaps someone on this forum would care to explain the intransigence and the reluctance of the Unionist triumverate in Holyrood to let the peoples of Scotland have their say?
Something doesn’t add up….
Ho hum, another day in the life of a footsoldier of regressive Blue Labour, ankle-biting the most progressive party in Scotland. As ever, the incoherence of these arguments is always the SNP’s best card.
Can we have a breakdown of Labour’s ‘progressive’ policies on Trident, ID cards, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nuclear power, control of the financial sector, responsibilty for the UK deficit, corrupt councils, national alcohol abuse etc, etc? Also I’d love an analysis of Labour’s 50 year tenure over Glasgow (almost half of which they were also the UK government and for 8 years in charge at Holyrood) which has produced a city with some of the highest levels of drug & alcohol addiction, knife crime, mental illness, cancer, heart disease and early mortality in Western Europe.
Perhaps best not to hold my breath, eh?
‘London Labour Party in Scotland’ doesn’t even make any sense! lol
“‘London Labour Party in Scotland’ doesn’t even make any sense! lol”
Certainly makes more sense than the constant squirming and writhing Labour in Scotland goes through trying to ‘brand’ itself
Actuallt London Labour Party in Scotland makes perfect sense, if you have the context.
The Labour party in the Scottish Parliament is not independent or even devolved. It is controlled by Labour’s London HQ, hence the reference.
Why does Progress allow such crap to be printed? Ms Fisher’s anguished howl is worthless. Hold the SNP to account, sure, but tosh like this is simply embarrassing.
I think Judith Fisher is getting carried away by her hatred for the SNP!. Observing from afar (well London) they seem to done a very good job in Scotland with many policies I agree with – ending PFI, ending private sector involvement in the NHS, reintroducing free university education, moving towards free prescriptions. I only wish I could vote SNP in Southwark!
An interesting piece by the standards of the Labour propaganda press, I suppose. Firstly, the council tax freeze has been a major benefit to the people ‘in the middle’ – earning between £15,000 and £30,000 a year – that is, those who normally end up paying for everything, and who were subject to ruthless squeezes under Labour, who relentlessly upped the council tax in their time in power. Any commitment by *any* level of government not to raise taxes is more than welcome at a time when all we ever seem to get are tax rises. If our Labour blogger is so concerned about rich people not paying proportionate council tax, then perhaps she should have encouraged her noble comrades at Holyrood to support the Nationalist plans for a local income tax. Which they didn’t. Surprise surprise. Indeed, dare I say it, but had our blogger’s party perhaps not sabotaged so many of the Nationalists’ sensible policies (cancelling the Edinburgh trams anyone?), we would be in an altogether better position today. Secondly, with the Nationalists, we know what we’re getting: a party which will use any stick to beat Westminster if it thinks Scotland is getting a raw deal. Given that, under Labour, we repeatedly got an exceptionally raw deal whenever Scottish interests were to be considered, I’ve been impressed by the way the nationalists have stood up to Westminster bullying/cheating on nuclear power stations, the Fossil Fuel Levy and do-downs and dictates over what falls within and without the parliament’s remit. We have an aggressive, pro-active government that seeks new powers and solutions for the Scottish people without asking permission from anyone other than the Scottish people. That’s in sharp contrast to the Unionist parties, who simply do as they’re told by their masters, and Westminster which seems to think it can rob us, create a culture of dependency, and that we’ll be grateful for it. Whatever else the Nationalists do, they stand up for Scotland when Labour would sell us out, there’s no question there. What is a vote for Labour? It’s a vote for another decade of relentless tax rises in Scotland, more of the same economic incompetence, and the consolidation of an outdated, outmoded ideology in a country that desperately needs modernisation in every sense of the word. The SNP are cautiously going in the right direction, but to be honest, all of the parties have some good ideas. Except Labour. It’s a stagnant pool, a dead end, a museum piece fit only for the history books which might have once deserved praise, but deserves only deafening silence now. And, in case anyone has any lingering doubts, let’s not forget which party comprehensively deregulated the banks over the past years, sold the country’s gold when prices were at an all-time low, presided over a massive expansion of taxes on low and middle-income earners, tried to take the credit for the economy as it boomed, then refused to accept any blame when it went bust, and declared itself perfectly comfortable with the idea of people being ‘filthy rich’. It’s a record of economic incompetence that cannot be allowed to happen again.