The SNP today stand accused of inflicting almost two decades of division and dismal failure on Scotland.
To mark the 18th anniversary of them coming to power, the Scottish Conservatives have highlighted 18 of the Nationalists’ greatest failures in office.
Rachael Hamilton, deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said John Swinney had been at the heart of the “scandals, botched bills and cover-ups, all played out against the backdrop of the SNP’s relentless obsession with trying to break up the UK”.
But she said Scots had the chance to ensure that the next 12 months were the SNP’s last in charge of the country by voting them out at next year’s Scottish Parliament election.
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: “Scotland is reeling from almost two decades of division and incompetence inflicted on the country by the SNP government.
“By any objective analysis the Nationalists’ record is one of dismal failure and for the sake of our ailing public services and over-taxed population their disastrous reign must end in 12 months’ time.
“Under the SNP, Scotland has suffered record drugs deaths, a collapse of education standards, a crisis in health and social care, the ferries fiasco and broken promises on upgrading key roads and eradicating delayed discharge and the poverty-related attainment gap.
“There have been scandals, botched bills and cover-ups galore, all played out against the backdrop of the SNP’s relentless obsession with trying to break up the UK despite Scots voting decisively against independence in 2014.
“At the centre of this whole debacle has been one man, John Swinney. His fingerprints are all over the SNP’s 18 years of failure.”