SNP accused of 'wasting' eyewatering £4.5bn of taxpayer cash during 14 years in power
PAUL WITHERS 17:40, Fri, Apr 23, 2021
THE SNP has come under extraordinary attack from Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, who has claimed the bitter rival has "wasted" £4.5billion of taxpayer cash during their 14 years in power.
Mr Ross, who is aiming to prevent an SNP majority at the Scottish election on May 6, has released a dossier of what his Tories labelled “SNP waste”, with the leader adding the figure “vanished into a black hole of SNP incompetence”. Included in this is £147million spent resulting from delays to the delivery of the new Sick Kids hospital in Edinburgh, £24million on the malicious prosecution of administrators from Rangers Football Club and £47million spent on Scottish manufacturing firm Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) which was placed into administration at the end of last year.
But the document also claims the spending "waste" from the SNP has surged in the 14 years the party has been in power in Scotland.
It states that in 2007/08 - the SNP's first full year in its minority Government - the figure had stood at £52million.
But this almost jumped to £99million for the first year of the SNP majority Government in 2011 and to an astounding £840million in 2019/20 under the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon.
Mr Ross launched a scathing attack against the SNP, accusing the party of "squandering billions", with money that could be spent on improving education, health and public services vanishing "into a black hold of SNP incompetence".
SNP news: Nicola Sturgeon's party has been accused of wasting billions of pounds while in power
SNP news: Nicola Sturgeon's party has come under pressure over their spending during 124 years in Government
The Scottish Tory leader raged: “The SNP have wasted a shocking amount of taxpayers’ money over their 14 years failing Scotland.
“They’ve lurched from scandal to scandal, squandering billions in the process through sheer incompetence.
“This vast sum could have been spent on improving our schools, hospitals and public services. Instead, it vanished into a black hole of SNP incompetence.
"The amount they throw away escalates with every new SNP government.”
SNP news: Douglas Ross launched a scathing attack against the SNP's spending
He claimed the "wasted billions" has been a result of the SNP "putting independence first and everything else last".
The MP for Moray warned if the SNP win a majority in the Scottish election in just under two weeks' time, they could follow a similar line instead of focusing on rebuilding Scotland and fixing the lasting damage from the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Ross added: “The reckless way they waste cash is visible all over Scotland.
"Delays to the Sick Kids in Edinburgh, water problems at the QEUH [Queen Elizabeth University Hospital] in Glasgow, botched ferry-building at Ferguson Marine in Inverclyde, a bad deal at BiFab in Fife, hold ups to the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) in the North East, and a CAP IT system that plagued rural areas.
SNP news: Douglas Ross accused the SNP of 'squandering billions'
SNP news: Keith Brown demanded Douglas Ross break his 'deafening silence' on the lobbying scandal engulfing the Tories
“The SNP have not only wasted billions, they’ve wasted the last 14 years by putting independence first and everything else last.
“If the SNP win a majority, they will waste the next Scottish Parliament focussed on getting another referendum, instead of rebuilding Scotland.”
But the SNP has fired back at the claims from Mr Ross and the Scottish Tories, who have accused the party of using this to "hide from the stench of sleaze surrounding their own party and the failures of their Holyrood campaign".
They claimed the Conservatives have "squandered billions in Covid contracts.
Ms Sturgeon's party also accused its rival of wasting billions of pounds on PPE contracts and private sector Test and Trace deals during the current pandemic.
An SNP spokesperson said: "This is utter nonsense from the Tories who are desperately trying to hide from the stench of sleaze surrounding their own party and the failures of their Holyrood campaign.
"We'll take no lessons on wasting money from a party who have squandered billions in Covid contracts when handing them out to their closest friends and Tory donors.
"Billions have been wasted on PPE contracts and private sector Test and Trace deals that could have been spent supporting people."
SNP depute leader Keith Brown has also demanded Mr Ross break his “deafening silence” on the lobbying scandal engulfing the Tories, which has involved rime Minister Boris Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, health secretary Matt Hancock and former Prime Minister David Cameron.
He said: "Douglas Ross must finally break his deafening silence on the growing Tory sleaze scandal engulfing Westminster, condemn these seemingly dodgy deals and back calls for a full independent enquiry.
"The public have a right to know why Tory donors and friends have been handed contracts, special access, tax breaks and peerages by the Tory government, with the cost to the public purse extending to at least millions of pounds. It absolutely stinks.”