Inside Holyrood: MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston says 'the sign of a government going off the rails is when its plans, even under the gentlest of scrutiny, fall apart' after a proposal to cut the bottom of classroom doors was floated before being slammed
As well as being Shadow Business and Tourism Minister, I’m a member of Holyrood’s Economy Committee.
Recently, we took evidence from representatives from Scotland’s tourism and hospitality sectors; sectors of real importance for jobs and livelihoods across our region.
It was striking how little enthusiasm there was for the Scottish Government’s performance in supporting these sectors. The snail’s pace in getting financial support out to businesses was highlighted.
And unfavourable comparisons were made with support provided by competitors like Ireland to their tourism sector. While VisitScotland’s budget has been cut, Ireland has increased spending on promoting and supporting tourism by an amount greater than the entire reduced budget of VisitScotland.
And SNP ministers have squeezed the finances of Highlands and Islands Enterprise – the body responsible for supporting businesses across our region – and forced the “worst settlement ever” on our local councils.
But SNP MSPs – and their new Green pals – have now waved through their budget regardless of the damage it does to local businesses, to local services or to your council tax bills.
Nicola’s DIY disaster – The sign of a government going off the rails is when its plans, even under the gentlest of scrutiny, fall apart.
The SNP’s policy on inter-linked fire alarms is a shambles, with ministers insisting all properties have these alarms installed by the end of January … but then frantically back pedalling because no-one had checked whether there were enough alarms available, enough tradesmen to install them or even that the public were aware of the new measures.
And then we had the SNP telling schools that the government will pay for them to chop the bottoms off classroom doors to aid ventilation. But no-one in the SNP had thought to ask the Fire Service what they thought of this or its impact on fire safety.
When asked about these proposals, instead of admitting that maybe she might have got it wrong, the First Minister simply denounced those with the temerity to question her bonkers idea.
The plans have now, if you’ll excuse the pun, been axed.
Pension matters – Having marched them halfway up the hill, Nicola Sturgeon is desperate to convince her supporters that she is serious about another independence referendum (she isn’t) and that she’ll deliver one next year (she won’t).
So we now have to endure another argument over who would pay pensions in the SNP’s post-indy state of Freedonia, with Ian Blackford claiming it would be taxpayers from south of the border, while anyone not entirely disconnected from reality rightly recognises – as the SNP said in their 2014 prospectus for independence – that for “people living in Scotland in receipt of the UK state pension at the time of independence, the responsibility for the payment of that pension will transfer to the Scottish government.”
How weak must the SNP’s case be if they can’t be honest about pensions?
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