A Matter of Trust: Nicola Sturgeon kept quiet about Police Scotland spying on Sunday Mail journalists for five months, it is now clear to note that Scotland doesn’t have a leader in Nicola Sturgeon, how much longer can this grubby woman be allowed to poison the political life of Scotland, let's face facts, she has got to go

Dear All

Trust in politics is essential, since the SNP got into power in 2007, trust in them is collapsing; even their own members don’t trust them now.

You can’t have failed to notice that scandal after scandal plague the SNP, whether, its accusations of exploiting the poor and vulnerable, financial scandals, (yes, there is more than one) or violence, the stories keep coming out.

The Scottish press are noticing this even the Holyrood magazine is talking about the shine coming off the SNP.

https://www.holyrood.com/articles/editors-note/trouble-ahead-nicola-sturgeon?

I don’t trust Nicola Sturgeon, even when I was an SNP member, I found it hard to like it, my initial thoughts were this was someone who couldn’t be trusted, it was my gut feeling.

In September 2010, I went to the SNP National Assembly in Perth, it was hosted by Nicola Sturgeon, at that event I proposed the National Police Force and the National fire service. I outlined my idea to Marco Biagi. My idea for the Police was a single force which would have a triple lock of accountability, national board, local boards and a new justice 3 Committee.

Labour MSP Graeme Pearson in his review of Police Scotland says that there should be a new committee to oversee the Police and other emergency services.

5 years behind George Laird.

Back to Sturgeon, Nicola Sturgeon kept quiet about Police Scotland spying on Sunday Mail journalists for five months.

Five months, this raises questions not just about the practice by the Police but about her personal integrity, which as I have stated time and time again, doesn’t exist. Nicola Sturgeon is a relic of an old Scotland, the political landscape has changed, conversations have been taken place but her and the SNP aren’t party of the discussions.

There is talk about the setting up of a new party of the centre right by people sickened by Sturgeon and her crew.

This party would be small ‘c’ Conservative without being Tory, it would be a party to hold the SNP to account, which needs to happen, it will not be an SNP MK2.

So, what do you make of Nicola Sturgeon keeping her gob shut for five months?

She was the First Minister of Scotland and she did nothing, she hide behind the excuse of refusing to comment because there was an investigation.

Just as we expect to be able to trust politicians we should also expect to trust the Police and expect them to uphold the rule of law.

Something went wrong in Police Scotland because it wasn’t set up correctly, it wasn’t because it was too big, and it was because there weren’t the right personnel to lead it and right systems in place to stop abuse.

Since the scandal came to light, police have had to obtain judicial approval before using surveillance to identify journalists’ confidential sources. However despite this the Interception Communications Commissioner’s Office ruled last week that Police Scotland had broken the new rule five times.

They are calling the actions by the police regarding illegal spying as “reckless”, and it certainly is, one way to stamp it out is rather simple.

If an officer engages in illegal spying, it should be made clear that they will lose their job and be prosecuted. If this requires additional law to be put on the books, so be it, and the penalty should be prison. No surveillance should be carried out without proper authorisation and that must come from senior officers who should be update with a series of reports.

Holyrood’s justice committee meets today to discuss a potential inquiry into the scandal which should be a priority.

One thing is certain, Nicola Sturgeon in each passing day is proving herself to be not just unfit to be leader of the SNP but also unfit to be the First Minster of Scotland, it is time she considered her position and left not just public office of First Minister but politics altogether.

Nicola Sturgeon cannot be trusted with the future of Scotland, and do read the Holyrood article which I have linked to above.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University