In her Scotsman column this week, Christine Jardine calls out the SNP/Green Scottish Government for wasting public money and effort on independence rather than tackle the problems people face day to day.

I appreciate we all want familiarity for comfort in difficult times, and there can be no doubt that these are tricky times for the SNP. With internal party squabbles, broken ferries, and an ever-lengthening social care backlog, who can blame them for wanting a distraction? But why should taxpayers have to fork out for the SNP’s therapy for frustrated nationalists? Particularly when public funds are tight and so many people are worried about providing for their families.

Lsst week, the Government published a paper on citizenship in an independent Scotland. Promise heavy but reality light is probably the best that can be said about it. As Christine says:

We would all also have our new passports by ‘independence day’. Oh and the colour of these new passports would be maroon, just in case that’s of any interest. We would also somehow have rejoined the EU without the nuisance of having to meet the criteria.

You could promise us all free transport to Narnia at the moment and it would not be any less realistic than these current proposals. The SNP has to get over this assumption that whatever they say, other countries and people will just fall into line and say: “Rightie-ho then, on you go.”

She concludes by turning  one of the SNP’s usual arguments back on them:

We are used to those who don’t agree with independence being accused of doing Scotland down. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to argue that by focusing on fantasy over reality, the Scottish Government is doing exactly that.

You can read the whole article here.

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