General election: Is SNP making life worse in Scotland so it can blame Westminster? – Christine Jardine

The Scottish Government is failing in so many areas – from health to education – that Christine Jardine believes they are not working to fix problems and are holding back improvvements to bolster a sense of grievance that could lead to independence.

Nicola Sturgeon is desperate for indyref2 before her time as leader is up (PIcture: Jane Barlow/PA)

The thing I love most about election campaigns is the chance to get out and talk to people without the feeling that you are somehow slacking at the other part of your job.

But then I have always thought that politics is about people. Or at least it should be.

For the past eight years, however, politics in Scotland has often appeared to be obsessed with nothing more than the constitution.

And there’s a risk that if things go the wrong way this week we will be in for whole lot more of it. Endless debates on borders, currency and trade agreements.

The things that most affect our lives every day, that cause stress for many who worry whether they will be able to pay their mortgage this month, that keep us awake at night worrying about our children’s health or future and climate change.

Those are the things that will be put to one side again while we indulge in endless constitutional wrangling. And I am not talking about Brexit.

If the SNP can spin Friday morning’s electoral map to make it sound as if, to quote their usual lexicon, the people of Scotland are being ignored, it may only be a matter of days before we are plunged into another constitutional morass.

The First Minister is desperate to have her chance at an independence referendum of her own before her time is up. If we let her. If we buy the spin rather than examining the actual voting figures.

But I think that this time the SNP may find that it is not quite as simple as they think.

In 2015 the nationalists reached their electoral high water mark by promising people that they would turn the green benches tartan, and be a stronger voice for Scotland.

Having witnessed the past two-and-half-years at first hand I know that has not been the case. Of course, there are SNP MPs who have worked hard for their constituents and responded to issues. But all too often what most of us have to hear on a daily basis is what a wonderful job the Scottish Government is doing and that the SNP speaks for Scotland.

Well let’s examine both of those viewpoints. The ‘Stronger voice” and speaking for Scotland is nonsense. The SNP speaks for the SNP, not for Scotland.

If there is any doubt just look at the figures. In 2017 slightly less than a million people voted for the SNP. More than 1.6 million voted for other parties. They do not speak for Scotland.

And on that constant preaching about the success of the Scottish Government. Where do I begin?

I could start with the year-long wait for mental health treatment for young people, or the fact that the legally binding waiting times targets have been missed almost a quarter of a million times.

Or I could bring up the area that Nicola Sturgeon invited us to judge her on, and point out that education performance in science and maths is down, and that an international report claimed that one in five children in Scotland leave school functionally illiterate.

And then there is the fact that Edinburgh’s much anticipated and lauded Sick Kids hospital still is not open.

The Scottish Government is failing in so many areas that the constant back-slapping by their members at Westminster offends those of us who live with the consequences of its shortcomings.

And instead of working to fix real problems and acting to deliver change with the powers they already have, they hold back improvements because it helps prop up the case for independence.

Take the Waspi women for example. My frustration at the lack of compassion on the part of the Conservative Government is compounded by the knowledge that the Scottish Government has the powers to alleviate those women’s suffering but doesn’t.

To help them out could deprive the nationalists of a grievance, something else to blame Westminster for. And we all know how important that is to them.

What about the welfare powers that were due to come into effect and they opted not to use? Again that might potentially mean taking responsibility.

And that is the crux of the issue. Taking responsibility and getting on with serving the country.

For eight years, important improvements have had to wait while the nationalists played out their independence game plan.

Brexit’s three-year monopoly of our attention, energy and resources has cost us valuable time when we could have been fighting climate change, investing in the NHS or improving the lot of hard-working families up and down the country.

And now the nationalists want more. More disruption, more uncertainty, more division.

The attempt to take us out of a 40-year economic union has proved so disastrously difficult and divisive that I cannot believe that anyone still thinks picking apart a 300-year-old political, economic and family one would be anything short of catastrophically challenging.

Those of us who cherish being Scottish and British will not give up easily on the world’s oldest and most successful Union. So let’s be realistic.

Let’s accept that the country has spent too long caught up in constitutional wrangling and listen to what people are telling us: get on with trying to build a better, brighter future on a healthy planet before it’s too late.

Christine Jardine is the Liberal Democrat candidate for Edinburgh West