Programme for Government of continuing failure - Sue Webber

John Swinney unveils his inaugural Programme for Government at Scottish Parliament. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell

But perhaps we should not be surprised that a man who has been at the top of the SNP Scottish Government for almost all of the past 17 years had little new to offer, a 30-minute speech which revealed virtually nothing which hadn’t already been announced.

Progress this, develop that, continue with the other; a tired litany of rehashed policies which are at best flagging and at worst failing, marked by the dearth of new firm commitments.

And then there was the sleekit cancellation of previous pledges like free meals for all Primary 6 and 7 pupils; empty promises announced with sanctimonious fanfare, abandoned in silence.

The reasons were plain for all to see the day before in finance secretary Shona Robison’s grim pre-budget update revealing cut after cut because she and her colleagues have broken the bank on unaffordable public sector pay deals without productivity reforms in return, and the vast expansion of benefits

All the while they expect Westminster to fund it by handing over even more money which would only add to the existing £22 billion deficit, gaming that the resulting shortfall would be an excuse to bleat about how dreadful the United Kingdom is for Scotland.

It’s the most cynical burning of public money for political gain, but it was always going to end in tears. Now the gravy train has come to the end of the line and the real victims are thousands of confused people suddenly stranded on the trackside as budgets are slashed. Even junior ministers have no idea how some of the savings will be made

That they have bowed to pressure from high profile performers to reinstate Creative Scotland’s Open Fund, but that just means £6 million will have to come from somewhere else.

“We will invest in community-based youth work,” said Mr Swinney, but failed to mention that YouthLink Scotland, the national youth work agency which supports over 500,000 young people, faces a 30 per cent budget cut.

Mr Swinney, an Edinburgh man, even had the gall to say new NHS treatment centres would deliver improvements to orthopaedics, ophthalmology and general surgery, when his government has just suspended plans for just such a facility for Lothian at the Royal Infirmary. If that’s not playing Edinburgh people for fools, it’s hard to know what is.

However, the proof of an administration which has lost sight of its priorities was the time Mr Swinney devoted to the so-called biodiversity crisis and the loss of some undefined species. Important, yes, but hardly top of most people’s concerns.

But to his eternal shame there was not a single word about the drug addiction crisis which caused the deaths of 1172 people last year, by a long way the worst record in Europe. Do we really have a First Minister who cares more about the loss of some insects or lichen but not about real people with real families needlessly losing their lives every single day?

Whether it’s because the widely supported Right to Rehab bill is a Conservative proposal or not, it exposes the SNP’s bleeding-heart claim to be helping the most vulnerable for the shallow posturing it really is.

Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative Lothian MSP