Why Nicola Sturgeon leaving Holyrood is unfortunately not the end of an era

The malign influence of many of Nicola Sturgeon’s failed policies continues to this day

And breathe! Yes, it’s over, we can relax. Finally Nicola Sturgeon has announced her departure from Scottish politics. It’s the end of an era, many are saying. Really? I have my doubts.

There are times when political leaders have cause to put aside their differences and pay respect to an opponent because there is a widespread acknowledgement that he or she established a significant legacy through great achievements. In Sturgeon’s time in politics, I cannot think of any such justifiable reason to award any plaudits.

Even before becoming First Minister, Sturgeon demonstrated her willingness to put personal grievances before the public’s need for healing when she failed to attend the service for conciliation at St Giles’ Kirk following the 2014 independence referendum. This very public slight set the tone for what was to come once she was sworn in as Alex Salmond’s uncontested replacement.

I know I am not alone in believing her performative politics was consciously more divisive in Scotland than Margaret Thatcher’s – and contributed far fewer positives to the balance sheet measuring her impact on general prosperity, the standards of public services, Scotland’s social harmony and the level of liberty enjoyed generally.

Nicola Sturgeon speaks to the media after announcing she will not stand for re-election to the Scottish Parliament next year (Picture: Robert Perry) | PA

Rise in drug deaths

So many notable nationalists argue she put back the cause of independence that I’m surprised there is not a conspiracy theory going about suggesting Sturgeon is really a deep cover agent of MI5. Why, she even managed by her own actions to cause the SNP to splinter.

Did Sturgeon leave a positive legacy in education and health care, did public services like our island ferries improve, was the A9 dualled, have drug rehab facilities been expanded sufficiently to cater for the rise in drug deaths during her time in office? What exactly is the legacy we are meant to recognise?

Following the public recognition that Scottish school attainment was falling behind that of other countries – and especially for those in our most deprived communities – suddenly Sturgeon became very keen to claim the raising of education standards as her top priority. Having a brass neck like no other, she announced with all sincerity that she was willing to be judged by her record on education.

I should not have to remind readers that the decline of standards in attainment, literacy and numeracy continued as Sturgeon found new priorities upon which to focus. The descent into shockingly violent levels of bullying and indiscipline also happened on her watch.

Protect NHS from Sturgeon, not Trump

Her record on running the NHS, either as an anonymous Secretary for Health or First Minister, was best described when Andrew Neil interviewed her ahead of the 2019 general election.

Neil famously stated: “Only two of your eight waiting times targets have been hit, while you haven’t hit the A&E waiting time target since 2017. The two-month cancer target you haven’t hit since 2013. Children are dying in a new Glasgow hospital because the water’s contaminated by pigeon droppings. A new multi-million pound Edinburgh hospital should have opened in 2012 is still unfit to open – you can’t even get the ventilation system to work.

“You’ve got the worst drug-addiction problem in Europe but you cut drug treatment budgets by £15 million. You clung on to your last health minister, you’re under pressure now to sack a successor. You’ve called for legislation to protect the NHS from Donald Trump, maybe the NHS needs legislation to protect it from Nicola Sturgeon?”

On Brexit, Sturgeon allowed her Westminster MPs to abstain from a vote, thus ensuring the UK moved outside the EU’s customs union. It was an outcome which coincidentally suited her demands for a second referendum based upon her warnings against a harder Brexit that she helped to create. That displays Machiavellian logic and perverse political priorities.

Cancel culture

Her deliberate approach of demanding a referendum to break up the United Kingdom as the answer to any problem she faced was divisive enough, but she trumped that by her new-found conversion to gender politics. Such thinking led to the farcical situation in which a convicted male rapist who self-identified as a woman was initially incarcerated in a female prison.

Her administration collaborated in the cancelling or marginalisation of critics who attempted to explain the all-too-obvious and disturbing risks her gender legislation posed and continues to belittle those who have been proven right.

A feminist icon? A role model for women? Don’t make me laugh, Sturgeon put back the cause of women’s rights by more than a generation with Scottish Government agencies introducing policies that meant women’s spaces should be shared with biological males even before her legislation was going through Holyrood.

Covid sermons

For those who ever doubted it, we can now see that, during the Covid pandemic, Sturgeon was prepared to have lockdowns sooner, longer, harder and more economically damaging. The daily delivery of sermons from Sturgeon, peppered with patronising and passive-aggressive putdowns of those members of the Scottish media who dared to ask testing questions, provided her with free publicity in the run-up to the Scottish Parliament elections. I shall never be convinced that abuse of power was not intentional.

The subsequent inquiry into how Sturgeon and her government conducted themselves during that time is still to report in full, but the evidence already available demonstrates a conscious disregard for co-operative working with the UK authorities.

Elderly patients were turned out of hospitals into care homes without testing or even after testing positive for Covid. Sturgeon could have stopped this at the same time as UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock did but the practice continued for nearly ten more days. Was that in Scotland’s best interests?

The malign influence and justification of many of Sturgeon’s failed policies – carried on by subsequent SNP First Ministers – continues as they absolve her of her failings. End of an era? Aye right. With a book and a likely trial of the husband she is now divorcing, we know we have not heard the last of Nicola Sturgeon.

Brian Monteith is a former member of the Scottish and European parliaments and editor of ThinkScotland.org