Russell Findlay: The SNP has let Scots down in so many areas, but its economic record alone is bad enough

Russell Findlay MSP is the leader of the Scottish Conservative Party. 

Frankly, you could write a big book on the SNP’s catalogue of cock-ups during their 18 years of running Scotland (into the ground).

 But rather than subjecting you to a War and Peace-sized tome, I intend to focus on their biggest failure.

 You might think it’s schools, as they’ve trashed Scotland’s formerly world-leading education system. Or healthcare, given that one in six Scots now languishes on an NHS waiting list.

 Perhaps drug deaths, with Scotland having the worst record in Europe for seven straight years. Or even the SNP’s anti-women gender law, founded on Nicola Sturgeon’s bizarre beliefs.

Add to the list the many costly fiascos that have skinned taxpayers. These included their chaotically botched recycling scheme and a ferry contract mired in corruption and which has betrayed island communities.

That’s before we even get to their legislative bin fires. Who can forget their bid to criminalise ‘offensive behaviour’, targeting only football fans? Or their illiberal hate crime law ushered in by Humza Yousaf?

Then there was John Swinney’s creepy, and thankfully abandoned, ‘named person’ law to allocate a state guardian to every child in Scotland.

Believe me, there’s plenty more.

But their number one failure is none of the above. In the words of a Bill Clinton advisor: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

The SNP’s economic mismanagement has been a slow kiss of death on Scotland. Scotland’s economic growth has lagged behind the rest of the UK’s since the SNP took power in 2007, costing our economy nearly £12 billion. Scotland’s economy grew by 14.35 per cent between 2007 and 2023 compared to 20.7 for the entire UK.

This is in large part due to having a nationalist administration in Edinburgh which is permanently preoccupied with breaking up the UK. When your entire political movement is built on wishful thinking, why bother about the economics of the here and now?

Another factor, perhaps overlooked by those not attuned to Scottish politics, is that the SNP are a socialist party who always seek to position themselves to the left of Labour. John Swinney struck the deal that brought the Greens, a party that does not believe in economic growth, into government. So, whatever tax heist Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves come up with next, chances are the SNP will have already embraced it.

And since power over income tax was devolved nine years ago, SNP-imposed increases have cost Scottish taxpayers a total of £7.8 billion. Scottish employers now struggle to lure top talent — who don’t much like the idea of handing their hard-earned wages to a bunch of SNP duds to squander.

 Like all left-wing politicians, John Swinney regards higher taxes as virtuous, rather than harmful to individual and collective prosperity. Labour have the same high-tax, low-growth mentality. When their National Insurance hike caused companies to cut jobs, expansion and investment, Swinney’s only likely regret would have been that he’d not been able to do it first.

 A lanyard-class of SNP politicians champions the public sector while sneering at the private sector.

They unquestioningly regard social security as a very good thing … and the bigger it is, the better. In an act of extraordinary naivety, they have built a social security agency which takes applicants’ claims at face value. It’s an invitation to fraudsters.

It is staggering to learn that one in 10 Scots of working age has never actually done a day’s work. This has all resulted in an SNP client state comprising those on the bloated public payroll and those who suffer the bleak existence of being trapped on benefits. On average, public sector workers now enjoy higher pay than those in the private sector, along with more generous perks and less onerous expectations.

Those who do strive and toil might do fine, but they don’t see any way to do better, no matter how hard they try.

I was delighted when Kemi Badenoch re-stated out party’s commitment to championing aspiration and rewarding hard work – founded upon a strong and growing economy.  Scotland used to lead the world in innovation, whether in science, engineering or invention. I want to see that energy of ambition to flow again.

Politicians’ role is to create a culture that is open for business and where opportunities are there for those with the drive to seize them. Having done so, they need to get out the way. Policies like getting rid of stamp duty (and its Scottish equivalent) are exactly the kind of measures that will boost the economy.

 Kemi is also correct in saying that we must tackle illegal immigration which concerns Scots as much as it does other Brits. My home city of Glasgow, run by the SNP, declared a ‘housing emergency’ two years ago and is saddled with debts of £1.6 billion. Yet it has become a magnet for asylum seekers from across the UK entirely due to virtue-signalling decisions made by the SNP in Edinburgh.

People can see that the existing system is unfair, unaffordable and unsustainable — yet the SNP seem to think that all immigration is good and that it should effectively be a free for all.

I lead a recent Scottish Parliament debate on the impact of illegal migration on our communities and public finances. The response from intolerant SNP and other left-wing MSPs was to shriek about ‘racism’ while refusing to actually debate. I had to laugh when just 48 hours later, Swinney told Sky News that there should be a “pause” on asylum seekers coming to Glasgow. Is that also racism?

 We want to attract skilled workers, entrepreneurs, investors and those who staff frontline services. Sensible and controlled migration of those who will contribute helps our economy.

 And I want the Scottish Conservatives to stand for economic growth above everything else. 

 Our focus will be on welcoming and encouraging entrepreneurs and backing small businesses with big ambitions.

 We want business to inform government policy, not for government to dictate to business.

 Economic growth is essential to Scotland’s prosperity.

 Only by growing the economy can we generate much-needed revenue to fund public services.

 It’s the only responsible and sustainable way to cut NHS waiting lists, fix the education system and repair pot-holed roads – while the SNP and Labour spitefully rely on soaking the ‘rich’, which only ever results in a shrinking tax take.

We are the party of economic opportunity and rewarding hard work.

I want a Scotland that encourages aspiration instead of taxing ambition, which will only take us further down the SNP and Labour’s miserable road of impoverishment.