Tag Archives: snp government

It took less than the 14 minutes of Mhairi Black’s opening speech in the SNP Opposition Day debate on the cost of living crisis today for her to reveal what the debate was really about. Independence. I guess we should expect no better from a nationalist party, even one that has the power to do much more than it is doing to alleviate poverty and help those struggling at the moment.

Our Christine Jardine was there to keep them honest. In a blistering speech, she pointed out where both SNP and Conservatives were going wrong.

I have often stood here and criticised the Conservative Government, on their energy price hike; inflation; interest rates; and the situation that faces our young people throughout the UK, where too many of them live with the fear that they will never be able to own the house of their own that they would like or that the ever-increasing rent rates in this country, which in my city of Edinburgh are outrageous, put too many options beyond their reach. We must then consider the fact that the Chancellor did not listen when the Liberal Democrats asked him to cut energy bills by £500 per household, which would have made a significant difference to so many families; that the growth in the economy in the first three months of this year was only 0.1%; that, according to the Office for National Statistics, average pay, after taking inflation into account, fell by 3%; and that the take-home salary fell by more than £1,400.

I was delighted when I saw this motion, because our economy in the UK is on its knees and so are far too many families, and not just in Scotland. My disappointment is that SNP Members do not seem to appreciate that they in a unique position, of which I, like many other Members, are jealous, as their party can do something about it in Scotland. By that, I do not mean independence, which it turns out this debate is actually about after all.

She went on to highlight some of the SNP Govermment’s key shortcomings