Copyright scotsman
The end of last week was Hallowe’en, a time of the occult, the supernatural and the downright scary. So it was an appropriate backdrop for the horror story of the SNP’s mismanagement of the public finances to be laid bare once again for all to see. In last year’s Autumn Budget, the UK Labour government provided a record funding settlement for Scotland, the largest in the history of devolution. But Scots aren’t feeling the benefit of this money. After the Audit Scotland report, many will be asking: where’s the money gone? It’s completely unfathomable that the SNP have spent the last year falsely accusing the Labour government of continuing Tory austerity, only to then not spend all the extra money Labour provided them with. In fact, Labour’s budget last year decisively ended austerity. And what’s even more flabbergasting is that since Labour was elected last year, the SNP has made over £90bn of spending demands to the Labour government while at the same time opposing pretty much every single revenue raising measure. This is simply not a serious way to run a country. Responding to Audit Scotland's report, the SNP’s Finance Secretary Shona Robinson said that the figures show the “firm grip” the Scottish Government has on the public finances. But that rings hollow when the same report projects that by 2029/30 the Scottish Government will face a £5 billion financial black hole in its budget, due to their mismanagement of the public finances. Consider their record of cost overruns on big public projects: £900m on HMP Barlinnie’s replacement, £363m on the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa ferries, and £343m on setting up Social Security Scotland. And look at the bureaucratic maelstrom they have unleashed since 2007, with their 132 quangos (more than the number of MSPs) now costing the public purse £6.6bn every year to maintain. Meanwhile, frontline services are struggling. Think of what that £1bn could have been spent on: fixing potholes; supporting young people who aren’t in education, work or training; bringing down NHS waiting lists, on which 1 in 6 Scots find themselves; closing the ever-widening education attainment gap; or easing the pressure on local authorities whose budgets have been hollowed out after years of cuts. Scottish taxpayers are paying more and more and getting less and less in return. In England, where the NHS is run by Labour, waiting lists are falling and the NHS is making use of new technology - just look at the NHS app widely in use across England. In Scotland, meanwhile, waiting lists continue to grow and staff are still relying on pagers and fax machines. Are we really getting value for money? The truth is the SNP cannot be trusted with our money. A Scottish Labour government with Anas Sarwar at the helm would treat public money with respect and end the SNP’s shambolic approach to budgeting before it does any more damage. Now that would be a new direction. Ian Murray is Labour MP for Edinburgh South
