Kate Forbes' backhanded compliment to Labour, Tories and Lib Dems was just bizarre

Kate Forbes' suggestion that opposition politicians were putting people off moving to Scotland came after figures showed the biggest population increase since the 1940s, fuelled by immigration (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images

Blaming others for Scotland’s problems is one of the SNP’s few talents. Record NHS waiting lists? Blame Westminster! Huge cuts to the affordable housing budget amid a housing crisis? Blame Westminster! Scotland knocked out of the Euros? Blame... OK, they didn’t actually try that one.

However, instead of the usual suspect, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has now criticised opposition politicians for keeping up a “constant drumbeat of negativity”, claiming this was having “a negative impact on whether or not people want to move to the country”. This was a bit odd, given only the day before it was revealed that relatively high net-migration had led to the biggest increase in Scotland’s population since the 1940s.

In a way, it’s a bit of a backhanded compliment to the opposition’s chief drummers, Anas Sarwar, Russell Findlay and Alex Cole-Hamilton. Who knew they had such power?

Of course, in the real world, they don’t. If anything is putting off potential ‘new Scots’, it’s the SNP’s high taxes. Ministers may be tired of hearing about it but that constant drumbeat is unlikely to subside anytime soon.