SNP and Tory governments have run out of ideas, energy and time – Ian Murray MP

The venues used by the SNP and Labour for annual conferences are vast, cavernous spaces.

The energy at the Labour party conference, where Keir Starmer announced a number of new plans, was obvious (Picture: Stefan Rousseau/pool/Getty Images)

To fill them with energy requires enthusiasm and ideas. So it’s no surprise that delegates at the nationalist conference in Aberdeen told reporters just how flat last weekend’s conference was. A party bereft of policy has lost its way after 15 years in government.

What a stark contrast with Labour’s conference in Liverpool, where positive energy filled the halls.

In Liverpool, new policies were announced to reverse the Tory tax cuts, spend more on the NHS, achieve net zero quicker, launch a publicly-owned energy company, boost home ownership, deliver better working conditions, produce a domestic abuse register, and employ more teachers, among others.

In Aberdeen, the SNP abandoned any pretence at policy-making, with hot air filling the empty spaces.

In her speech, Nicola Sturgeon mentioned “cost of living” five times, but “independence” 45 times.

She could have set out a vision to use the power already in her hands to deal with Scotland’s problems, yet chose to double down on the politics of division.

She even boasted about yet another document on independence being published soon, hardly a priority for people receiving emails about their energy direct debits going through the roof.

An opinion poll last week found the cost-of-living crisis is by far the top priority that people in Scotland want their government to focus on. Just seven per cent of people said independence.

That shows just how detached from reality Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have become.

If that wasn’t clear enough, the nationalist conference saw desperate attempts to portray a Labour government and a Tory government as the same. Nobody believes that.

Everyone knows a Keir Starmer-led government would be vastly different to the chaos of the Truss administration, instead delivering fairness, economic stability and a green future.

Every single SNP politician knows that, despite posting wild claims on Twitter to please party spin-doctors. Nicola Sturgeon knows it, although she can’t admit it of course, because the logical next step is to ask voters to choose Labour. That’s why she, Keith Brown, and Ian Blackford all spent their time on stage attacking Labour.

They are spooked by the revival under Keir and Anas Sarwar, know that a Labour government would deliver a fairer UK, and are desperate to avoid that because it could dilute support for independence.

It perfectly suits the SNP to keep the Tories in place, ensuring there is continued distraction, grievance, and the opportunity to behave like an opposition when in government.

It means less focus on the A&E crisis, with new figures showing only 64.2 per cent of attendances were handled within four hours for the most recent week recorded.

In primary care too, NHS Lothian has been warning about pressures from a growing population in Edinburgh for a decade and has repeatedly raised this with the Scottish Government.

All that Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has to offer is insults to nurses, and silence about patients’ and experts’ concerns. He didn’t even make a speech at SNP conference on how he is going to sort out NHS.

Scotland deserves better than two governments which have run out of ideas, run out of energy, and are running out of time.

Ian Murray is Labour MP for Edinburgh South