SNP descending into organisational chaos - your views

"Is there no end to the SNP’s shame or internal civil war?”

SNP descending into organisational chaos

Is there no end to the SNP’s shame or internal civil war? During the past week we have seen a SNP MP and two former SNP MSPs continue to draw their salaries despite being disgraced.

In addition to the toxic fall-out between Salmond and Sturgeon over the Inquiry into the Scottish government’s costly court case of sexual harassment against the former, the SNP MP Joanna Cherry has accused the party leadership of ‘Stalinist revisionism’ after she had been sacked from its front bench.

The SNP MP, Neale Hanvey has also been sacked from the front bench having donated to a crowdfunding campaign to launch legal action against a fellow SNP MP Kirsty Blackman. Previously he had been suspended for his antisemitic social media comments. Surprisingly at one time he sat on the SNP’s Conduct Committee!

At Westminster, the SNP’s Margaret Ferrier is still paid £84,000 a year despite admitting she put lives at risk when she travelled in public transport from London to Glasgow knowing she had Covid. She was arrested and charged for her ‘reckless conduct’.

At Holyrood, the shamed SNP minister Derek Mackay, who sent inappropriate messages to a 16-year-old boy, has refused to stand down and has since pocketed £90,000, plus over £11,000 in expenses despite not setting foot in the Parliament for over a year.

Meanwhile, Mark Macdonald, the SNP MSP who was suspended for breaches of the Code of Conduct, including sexual harassment, still draws his £64,000 a year salary. Both will receive golden handshakes of £50,000 when they leave the Parliament in May.

With the increasing divisions and infighting within the SNP and the lack of honesty and shame among its Parliamentary representatives, the SNP has clearly lost its moral compass. It should rightly lose the trust of the public.

Tim Jackson, Whim Road, Gullane.

National Care Service

The Scottish Socialist Party has been fighting for the creation of a publicly owned and run, free at the point of use, National Care Service since before Covid-19. Now the pandemic has highlighted the desperate need for this. Private companies have failed to properly protect residents and staff while charging up to £90,000 a year. Recently ex-NHS Scotland chief executive Derek Feeley’s ‘Independent Review of Adult Social Care’ recommended the creation of a National Care Service. Unfortunately this is in name alone; the review recommends that hiring six high level executives is the full extent of change.

To discuss this review and the campaign the SSP is hosting its fourth livestream on Wednesday February 10 at 7pm on Facebook and YouTube. Joining our national co-spokesperson, Colin Fox, in conversation will be Dr Allyson Pollock, Labour MSP Neil Findlay, and veteran care worker Trish McLaughlin.

Graeme Cullen, SSP Lothians Branch chair, Edinburgh.

Failing record

In the past 10 years of SNP government in Scotland local council budgets have been cut by £1.5billion. Food bank uptake has risen by over 400%. The number of teachers cut by 4000 and Scotland has dropped in European Education League from eight to 23.

A recent report flayed Scottish Health services for paying £1725 per nurse per shift to agency nurses, instead of employing permanent staff. The nurses themselves got £20-£30 an hour per shift. A chaotic plan to devolve childcare services has caused delays in attendance, carers and disability allowances. Independence? Really?

Anne Wimberley, Belmont Road, Edinburgh.