The SNP Sustainable Four Year Con Cycle; Scotland to be denied a public energy company, Scottish will not be getting cheap energy, instead they get an SNP Government cheap website on how to save money on energy, Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols famously said, "Do you ever feel you have been cheated", ever single Scot who buys energy in Scotland has, and has been for the last 14 years!

Dear All 

The SNP has always been big on promises, but the reality of their promises is disaster after disaster, failure after failure. This is because the SNP are, and always will be a party of protest, and not of government. If you take them setting up taskforces to save jobs, everyone has failed. If you look at the 'Ferry disasters', that was £250 million spent on effectively scrap metal. Prestwick Airport, was another failed business venture done for PR purposes. In 14 years of being in charge, they have singly failed to turn round the Scottish economy, they failed to create the conditions for jobs and businesses to start up. There is no master plan to make Scotland flourish by the SNP, there is no master plan to fix any of the departments of government that the SNP have control of. Scotland is in decline, in every aspect of its development, City of Glasgow, dubbed second city of the empire, reduced to being filthy, branded a 'midden' and a 'slum'. The denial of the SNP administration  is breathtaking, according to the deadbeat leader of the Glasgow SNP, it just needs 'spruced up'. Spruced up as a possibility has like the Scottish independence boat sailed a long time ago. 

In order to spruce up her zombie government in Holyrood, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon invites the leaders of the Greens to join her government. In order to do this, firstly, there had to be the creation of two made up and ultimately bogus jobs created. As the broadcaster Andrew Neil pointed out these jobs are meaningless, they are about securing a majority in parliament. The cost of buying the Scottish Greens was around £60,000, £30k for Patrick Harvie and £30k for Lorna Slater, for that Sturgeon bought a political party using UK taxpayer funds. Anyone who looks at the Scottish political scene knows that somewhere down the line, this will be a disaster. I suspect people know exactly why Nicola Sturgeon needs the Scottish Greens in government, the Gender Recognition Act, the Greens serve a purpose and that is as human sandbags. In the prelude before women's rights are erased, there is still the pretence of 'green' government. 

One idea floated by the SNP was the creation of a public energy company, as with any of the SNP schemes, it was hailed as special, it was hailed as being great, it was hailed as being pro customer. Announced in 2017, as a flagship announcement by Nicola Sturgeon at the 2017 SNP conference under the hype that “energy would be bought wholesale or generated here in Scotland – renewable, of course – and sold to customers as close to cost price as possible”. Effectively now the project after 4 years is scrapped, it never got off the ground, it never benefited Scots. The 'public energy company' was just another pie in sky announcement to make Nicola Sturgeon look good. Just like everything she touches, this scheme was heavily weighted towards failure. Can you name anything of real merit that the SNP has achieved which required anything beyond a policy change? The chances that you probably cannot, because as I mentioned, they are incapable of government and incapable of long term vision. 

A Scotland's future ended pretty much in 2007 when the SNP took over the Scottish Executive, despite a rebranding to call themselves a Scottish Government, they really aren't, Scottish Government is just a term used to 'big' them up as having equal status with Westminster. Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP just run some devolved services in Scotland, and are able to pass laws as they relate to devolved matters. The current leader of Scotland is not Nicola Sturgeon, it is the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, of course the SNP would have you believe otherwise. In the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Nicola Sturgeon is desperate to get recognition at it to raise her profile with world leaders, her endgame is 'get the hell out of dodge' to a new job. Once lockdown eases more, just like the failed politician that she is, she will be touring Europe and America giving speeches. Covid effectively torpedoed her job hunting and also Brexit. I personally doubt that any major organisation would wish the baggage of Nicola Sturgeon in their ranks, even although she will dump her hangers on. The UN won't touch her, the EU is effectively closed post Brexit, there is no UK job that the UK government would consider her for, her career as a lawyer is dead, and she has no sellable talents to offer. Although a business can find work for an extra pair of hands, they don't pay top dollar for someone who is thick, and whose track record in government is failure. 

As the public energy company is now dead, it said there will be a national public energy agency, so what does that mean? For the public, it will be meaningless and for the government, existing funds will be moved around in a paper shuffling exercise to create an illusion of something new. The classic spin of the SNP was this will be “a new dedicated national public energy agency”.  

The SNP added: 

“We will work to have a virtual agency established within the coming year and a dedicated physical agency by September 2025, with a remit to accelerate transformational change in how we heat and use energy in homes and buildings, aid public understanding and awareness, and coordinate delivery of investment. Fair Work First criteria will be part of the evaluation criteria for any future heat contracts”. 

A virtual agency that only really exists on the internet, interesting that it took 4 years for the public energy company to totally be abandoned. Will Sturgeon announced in another 4 years time that the national public energy agency will be halted by another reshuffle? I think the odds are the 'agency' will not happen, if it does, it will probably be a run out of a cupboard organisation. It is time the people of Scotland wised up, they have been played for fools, and they have been bought cheap, a cheap laptop here, a low cost bike there. Discrimination in Scotland is high, division is high, social mobility is almost gone, rights eroded, educational opportunities, housing opportunities and health opportunities, all scaled back. Council services reduced, but council tax increased, we pay more for less, and each year, we see the physical decline because money is either cut or funnelled elsewhere. 

Failed Justice Secretary, now given the title, Net Zero Secretary Michael Matheson confirmed in an answer to a parliamentary question that “ministers will now focus government efforts” on the new public energy agency. 

He added: 

“This will coordinate and accelerate delivery of heat and energy efficiency work, inform and educate the public on the changes required, provide expert advice to national and local government, and work with public, private and third sector partners to deliver this transformative national project.” 

Finally, for those who don't follow politics, what Mathieson has said is meaningless jargon, because all of the above already happen. As Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols famously said at a gig: 

"Do you ever feel you have been cheated"! 

Well, you have, and have been for the last 14 years in Scotland under the SNP.

Yours sincerely 

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University