Wednesday 12 July 2023
Carry On Spending
Philip Patrick has a useful TCW reminder of the SNP spending addiction.
Carry On Spending! The SNP’s farcical Egyptian jolly
IT USED to be typical for 70s sitcoms to set a film-length edition overseas, usually on the pretext of a works outing or group holiday. Cue culture shock hilarity and national stereotypes of a sort somewhat out of fashion these days. But revelations that the Scottish government spent £150,000 of taxpayers’ money taking a large cast and crew on the road to a five-star resort in Sharm El Sheikh for last November’s COP 27 (with a nice wee stopover in Milan) revives memories of the sitcom trope. Minus the hilarity, of course (the SNP produce the least humorous politicians on the planet).
I remember an observation made by my school history teacher in the 1960s. He told us how in what was then the not so distant past, there had always been MPs prepared to stand up and quibble about every penny of government spending. "It is not like that today" he told us. That was over fifty years ago.
If any of this could be fixed, the devolution settlement might be the best place to start, with far more oversight and much greater scrutiny urgently needed. Devoid of any real accountability or likelihood of losing office, and supremely confident that Westminster would continue to sign the cheques come what may, a ‘spend, spend, spend’ mentality developed on a ministerial and personal level during the SNP era.
There are now 28 members in the bloated incubus that is the Scottish government cabinet (Donald Dewar made do with nine in the first Scottish ‘executive’ in 1999) all with staff, limousines and expense accounts. It seems there is always room for another first-class customer on the gravy train with plum jobs which seem to have been plucked from the BBC’s W1A. For instance Julie Hepburn, wife of Minister for Independence Jamie, has recently been appointed to the new role of ‘head of strategic delivery’, no doubt with a generous salary. This has to stop.
It won't stop though. If voters won't stop it, then it is beyond the reach of worthwhile political change until the slow-grinding wheels of reality shift the spending debate in ways voters won't like.
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4 comments:
It makes one long for independence, so that we don't have to foot the bill. Apparently, the Barnett Formula is still in operation, so every time we buy something or collect our salaries...
Sam - it's a pity the SNP became so dominant as there are so many examples of the damage it has done. From this side of the border it's hard to see what voters think they are likely to gain.
You have to remember that Labour in Scotland was even more corrupt than SNP now. And it was all wrapped up in the religious bigotry. I forget which way. Remember Speaker Gorbals Mick.
Conservatives were the party that thought trialling the Poll Tax in Scotland was a wizard idea.
The Liberals chucked Charles Kennedy under the metaphorical bus.
Nobody ever mentions that in an independent Scotland there is no need for an SNP.
We are even more fucked than England. Instead of the choice of two clone Parties, we have three.
Doonhamer - I do remember Speaker Gorbals Mick with his fondness for taxis and hiding expenses. I don't understand Scottish politics though, it seems even more tribal and destructive than it is here.
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