The Holyrood elections of 2026 may seem far away. But in order to drive the SNP out of government in Scotland and deliver the refresh that is required, we can’t let failures like Ferguson Marine get brushed under the carpet.
Under Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Government rushed headlong into an agenda which prioritised the hypothetical sensitivities of a miniscule part of the population over those who account for just more than half.
The big-state circus needs to pack up its tent. It guzzles record sums of cash without doing any better for families, workers and businesses.
Whilst SNP ministers have emerged unscathed, the taxpayer hasn’t been so lucky: costs have soared from £97 million to £450 million.
Landlords who are unable to raise rents enough to cover their expenses quit the rental market. In under a year, the number of new lets in Scotland dropped by over 25 per cent. The ones that have remained on the market have become increasingly unaffordable.
On the first afternoon the Government lacked an orator who could make Conservatives feel good about being Conservative.
The Speaker and the leader of the Scots Nats both rebuked Sunak for giving irrelevant and frivolous non-answers.
The Government plans to scrap the legal requirement for people to self-isolate if they have the virus; a move that has huge implications.
Backing traditional industries is very far from the electoral liability that strategists fear.
Panic has gripped the nation – and is leading politicians to make flawed decisions.
It should seize the initiative and challenge the right of the party to speak for all Scots.
Furthermore, by allowing the Queen to do this, the Government has dragged the monarch into the political murk.
She says it would be “absurd and completely outrageous” if it challenged the Scottish parliament in court over legislation on another referendum.
For many, Brexit is a powerful justification for a new independence referendum. But this, too, works both ways.
We can argue what gender ideology’s “Mr Bates vs The Post Office” moment was, but a biological male towering over the women he’d unfairly robbed of a gold swimming medal or a multiple rapist with everything intact in a women’s prison are strong contenders.