University of Fail, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon’s day job report card comes out, Scottish deficit record is six times bigger than UK's last year, £12.6 billion deficit shows SNP Government incapable of generating wealth in Scotland, official figures show Scotland is running a 7% deficit, the highest in Europe, independence means brutal savage cuts to government and council services

Dear All

If you listen Ad nauseam to what comes out of the mouths of the SNP, you will hear one thing over and over again, ‘Scotland is a rich country’. 

In the minds of the SNP, the streets are littered with gold, the sea full of oil, below it and fish; we have more wood to house the entire world. We are the country which could be Saudi Arabia of renewable energy, and everything is rosy in the garden. That isn’t the real picture, we are the highest taxed part of the UK, we have an inept and incompetent government failing to deliver services, our councils are short of money and the First Minister appears to be looking for a new high paid job.

The SNP bubble of nirvana has well and truly burst, but those who watch politics already know this, for some time, we have heard the air escaping. Scotland’s deficit was more than six times as big as the UK’s last year. The deficit was 7% of GDP compared to the UK’s which is running at 1.1%. This is a new record for Nicola Sturgeon who is so rotten at the ‘day job’ that she keeps running off to Book Festivals and everywhere else she can get away too. So, why so bad, part of the reason is ‘plank’, plank as in Finance Secretary Derek Mackay, the heir to Sturgeon in waiting. As well as not being able to run the country, the SNP needed cross-border transfers of cash, public spending per head in Scotland was a record £1661, or 13.6%, higher than in the UK as a whole last year.

The failed tax policies of the SNP have also caused a problem, tax revenues per head in Scotland were £307 less than in the UK; this makes the combined “fiscal gap” £1968 to Scotland's advantage. Nicola Sturgeon’s needs bigger financial bailouts than Alex Salmond ever did. So; ‘where is this rich country called Scotland that is dripping in wealth’, the official figures show it doesn’t exist. It seems the wealth of Scotland is being enjoyed alright, but by the SNP who live and travel in luxury.

Long gone are those happy days, where the deficit was a mere £9 billion, we are loaded down with a deficit of £12.6bn in 2018/19.  Derek Mackay in trying to highlight some deflection highlighted a £3bn growth in onshore revenues to a record £61.3bn which he credited to a strong economy. In fact the economy in Scotland is so strong we can’t pay our way. This is the reality of the SNP’s dream, it’s a nightmare designed by them to go from Westminster helping us, to the EU bailing us out while at the same time plundering our assets.

Given the news is so bad, Nicola Sturgeon decided to pass the buck to Derek Mackay to announce the bad news, she decided to skip town and go to hide out in Shetland at the by-election. It seems that Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister doesn’t like to be associated with bad news. Sturgeon likes to keep her delusion going that present herself as super smart and all knowing and all seeing. But the truth is she is an over the hill failed politician who has gone by her sell by date. When Salmond stepped down, she should have gone with him, but she hung around for the FM spot.

Mr Mackay stressed GERS reflects the nation's finances under the current constitutional settlement and boosted the case for Scotland to be in control of its own economy.

For the first time, the GERS report suggested Scotland would ordinarily have a far greater gap between income and expenditure than the UK's.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said:

"Today’s GERS figures show clearly how Scotland benefits from being part of a strong UK with every man, woman and child in Scotland receiving a ‘Union dividend’ of nearly £2,000 a year. These Scottish Government figures also show there would be a £12.6bn black hole at the centre of an independent Scotland’s finances. Real questions need to be asked about the First Minister’s stewardship of the country’s economy. With Scotland’s deficit now more than six times greater than the UK average, the Scottish Government needs to take action. Scotland remains the highest taxed part of the UK. This is harming our economy and should be a huge concern to us all”.

Jack added:

“The UK Government is investing in Scotland to deliver jobs, opportunities and sustainable growth, including £1.4 billion for city and growth deals. We are working hard to support businesses and bring further opportunities as we leave the EU on 31 October.” 

Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said:

"These figures reveal an enormous gap between what Scotland spends and what it raises in tax. We can have much higher spending in Scotland on public services thanks only to fiscal transfers from the rest of the UK. These figures make it clear - had we followed Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon’s advice in 2014 and backed independence - Scotland would now be facing up to an unprecedented financial black hole.”

What we should remember is that to solve the black hole means even steeper cuts right across the board, in services provided by the government and services provide by councils and also by NGOs. The SNP independence Scotland would be the fleshed out Skintland previously plastered on a magazine which drew so much SNP anger. The SNP aren’t a party of government, their record stinks, they are a party of protest who lack vision and plan.

Murdo added:

"Thanks to this union dividend, we continue to dodge the SNP bullet. What is remarkable is that, despite today’s clear evidence of the cost of independence, Nicola Sturgeon is still demanding we re-run the independence referendum as early as next year. Not only is she unable to spell out how she’d close the gap between spending and tax revenue, she can’t even tell us which currency we would use.These figures show once again that the SNP’s independence obsession isn’t standing up for Scotland – it would wreck Scotland. It’s time to take indyref2 off the table, and back a Scottish Conservative plan to get back to the things that matter - growing our economy, delivering high-quality public services, and keeping the UK together."

Scottish Conservative Leader Ruth Davidson tweeted:

“Official figures show Scotland is running a 7% deficit - the highest in Europe. The next highest are
Cyprus - 4.8%
Romania - 3%
France - 2.5%

And the overall UK's deficit has been brought down to 1.1%

For the SNP to pretend a 7% deficit is not an issue is criminally negligent”.

Recently the SNP nationalized the Ferguson shipyard, the person standing outside was again Derek Mackay, if I was a betting man, I would say that once the two Ferries are completed, the future of that yard is over. Normally, you see Nicola Sturgeon swooping in for the ‘selfie’ as ‘heroine’ but in this case she didn’t. Was it because the yard is being propped up just for the short term? Sturgeon bought a white elephant, previous she bought Prestwick Airport and that is another enterprise which isn’t doing well. The SNP aren’t a party of government nor are they a party of business.

Finally, the SNP run with a message that decisions about Scotland are best made by people in Scotland, well given we have record deficit running at £12.6 billion, should remember that the location of where decisions are made is meaningless; it is the quality of the mind making them that is important. Nicola Sturgeon may be hiding in Shetland going round peddling her candidate but the reality is she is a bad leader. As a bad leader, Sturgeon is unable to appoint talented Ministers because the SNP is setup to appoint flawed individuals incapable of seeing the bigger picture.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University