READ MORE:
In the University of Glasgow’s Senate Room, the Labour leader told journalists, colleagues and guests that Scotland was a nation “stuck in a rut” and in need of a “new direction.”
“Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to pretend that every decision [the SNP government] has made over the last two decades has been a bad one.
“But I think it is clear to see that this SNP is not the party that it was, that it has lost its way, has run out of steam and run out of ideas, is now incompetent in Government and is bad with your money.”
The NHS is already in “permanent crisis,” he argued, with long waiting lists, and A&E services “in disarray.”
“As a new year dawns, it is clear that Scotland needs a new direction,” Mr Sarwar said.
“In 16 months’ time Scotland will face a choice – do we continue with the managed decline under the SNP or do we change direction?”
In Edinburgh, the First Minister told an audience of civic, charity, academic and trade union high heidyins gathered in the University of Edinburgh’s Playfair Library, that operations could be cancelled and medicines rationed if opposition parties — like Labour — block his budget.
There would, he added, be no universal winter heating payments for pensioners, fewer teachers, and no new cash for the arts or for affordable housing.
“Voters will rightly struggle to understand why politicians, despite being in agreement with probably more than 95% of the Budget’s contents, choose to block it from passing to prove some nebulous – and ultimately highly damaging – political point,” he added.
The SNP leader went on to say the public would seek answers from populists if they feel politicians are not delivering.
Speaking to journalists after the speech, it was put to the First Minister that the public already cannot get the services they want when they need them. And that this was driving voters into the arms of populists.
Asked what responsibility he takes for this, he replied: “I’m going to fix it.”
At the moment, polls suggest a tight race.
Given Labour trounced the SNP last July that’s some turnaround for both parties.
Mr Sarwar’s party won 35% of the vote in Scotland just six months ago, but now support is close to 22% on the constituency vote, and 20% on the regional list.
Which is pretty much where they were in 2021 when they came third to the Tories.
Those plummeting poll numbers have been triggered by the decision to scrap the Winter Fuel Allowance from pensioners, changes to the Inheritance tax on Farms and not compensating WASPI women for pension changes despite promising to do just that.
It’s not that the SNP has had a revival in support, it’s that under Mr Swinney, it’s not got any worse.
Their current average for the Hollywood constituency vote is 35%, and 28% on the list, which is still well below the 48% and 40% they won at the 2021 Holyrood vote.
Nevertheless, if the election was held tomorrow, they would likely remain in power as a minority government.
“The crucial question really in the next 16 months is who wins is who manages to improve things and can claim the credit, or alternatively, who manages to win the blame game,” polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland.
The long campaign has started.
Happy new year.