SNP independence obsession leaves Scotland ill-prepared for snow blast | Politics | News
On Tuesday, Aberdeenshire Council declared a major incident after snow fell for the second year in a row in the county I am proud to call home. It’s snowing for the seventh consecutive day, leaving rural areas deprived of vital services, food and supplies.
Council staff and local farmers in Aberdeenshire and Scotland are working hard to keep communities connected, but the reality is that they have been hampered from the start by the SNP Government in Edinburgh being distracted by the never-ending independence campaign.
If they had spent the last few years working day jobs, then maybe we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in now. The SNP has taken a sledgehammer to Local Government funding in Scotland, with the Convention on Scottish Local Authorities (COLSA) predicting a funding gap of nearly a billion pounds for Scottish councils over the next two years.
Worse still, rural councils in Scotland are not properly compensated for the costs they incur simply because of their rural geography. The cruel irony is that these are areas that have been disproportionately affected in the last few days.
We have now already seen the impact of these cuts with the closure of libraries, swimming pools and community centres. But we have seen it especially acutely during this period of extreme weather, as local authorities scramble to clear roads, keep communities connected and ensure schools remain open.
The SNP did not have to spend years wasting taxpayers’ money to introduce an illegal gender reform bill or to allow the cabinet secretary to use taxpayer-funded limousines to go to football matches or open ’embassies’ around the world. They were a choice. An election that puts parts of Scotland in real danger.
The SNP Government could have stepped in and provided additional funding to our rural councils or called on the support of the military. They did neither. Instead the ‘Resilience Room’ meets throughout the week – right?
The whole hesitant response to this situation epitomizes years of inaction in Scotland. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In May this year Scotland has a chance to vote for change and appoint Russell Findlay to Bute House, a First Minister who will lead Scotland for change with common sense.
The SNP have run out of ideas and we hope we won’t run out of time.
