SNP lambast UK Government as 'reverse Robin Hoods' despite the billions sent to Scotland by Westminster – John McLellan

The problem with the competition for UK Government Levelling-Up cash is failed bids are perfect opportunities for grievance, as if the SNP needs an excuse.

Robin Hood, played by Patrick Troughton in 1953, may not have been as generous as the UK Government (Picture: Ron Case/Keystone/Getty Images)

And oh so predictably, in piled Nationalist councillor Lesley Macinnes, their local finance spokesperson, to lambast the UK Government as “reverse Robin Hoods” because the application for £20m to fund Inch Park’s redevelopment hadn’t made the cut. But was it Turnabout Friar Tuck who put £300m into the Edinburgh City Region Deal, or Will Switcheroo Scarlet who handed over £16m for the Granton Gasholder?

It’s not that Inch Park was not a worthy project, but so too was the Cockenzie power station site regeneration which received £11.3m. And with the SNP’s track record, no wonder stepping in with £27m for a new Fair Isle ferry was prioritised.

“It’s clear councils are losing out and communities most in need are being sidelined,” she said without a smidgin of irony, while Edinburgh Council once again wrestles with a multi-million-pound gap caused by the SNP’s relentless stripping of local authority resources.

But sounding a bit Conservative herself, she added: “It’s about time the Tories stopped pretending this wasn’t our money to begin with.” Really? Tories don’t pretend “our” money is anyone’s other than the tax-payers.

Unfortunately for her, there aren’t enough taxpayers to cover Scotland or Edinburgh’s needs, and even with her colleagues raiding ever more of our ─ no inverted commas needed ─ money, the Reverse Robin Hoods need to send over £12bn north to make the SNP’s ends meet.