‘The SNP's mismanagement of power has only deepened division,’ writes Frederick Chedham

I remember BBC types praising with deity-like admiration the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon during the Covid pandemic (along with praise for that awful woman in New Zealand). A strong powerful woman riding to the cause of feminism, tolerance and independence, they chorused with the middle-class BBC liberal snobbery that gets up so many people’s noses.

The truth that eluded them was that when she wasn’t weaponising the pandemic crisis against the Westminster Government she despised, she was presiding over a murky mess of financial scandal, political skulduggery, misuse of power, political posturing not to mention a side scheme to install a new camper van on her mother-in-law’s drive. And who can forget her invidious attempts to destroy her mentor Alex Salmond, a politician whom many will not agree with but whom it is difficult not to admire. He may well come to enjoy the last laugh.

You don’t hear much from the metro snobs at the BBC about Sturgeon’s brave stunning and courageous leadership anymore.

Enter Humsa Yousaf, now mockingly and widely referred to as Humsa the Useless. A politician who failed in every portfolio he held. Let’s remember he gathered a motoring conviction for no insurance while transport minister and holds a lamentable record of failure as health secretary by every key metric.

Gaffe-prone and comical though he is, (he actually asked Ukrainian women refugees where their ‘men are’), there is a more sinister side to Yousaf – namely, his obsession with racial identity politics. He has brought his religion into politics in a way that his leadership rival Kate Forbes never was allowed to. Whether it’s his triumphant leading of prayers in Bute House, the infamous Holyrood ‘White’ speech, or his legal action against a nursery for not admitting his daughter, he sees race and identity everywhere, an insecurity and prejudice recently fuelled by seeming to care more for the people of Gaza than of Scotland. His attempts to intertwine religion with politics and his divisive rhetoric have crudely exacerbated tensions within Scottish society.

• ‘Tory spin is out of control – they are skating on paper-thin ice’
• 'Children should be in school - attendance is the most basic education requirement'
• 'A war around Taiwan would make Gaza look like a picnic'

At the pinnacle of his efforts rests the much-derided Hate Crime Act, a piece of legislation that neither politicians nor the police can agree on what is covered and ironically the introduction of which caused more than 4,000 hate crime complaints against Yousaf himself.

Yousaf feels, like Sturgeon before him, that he can bend the rules because of his identity.

But what have these iconic progressive leaders for feminism and multicultural tolerance achieved during their times in office?

Glasgow looks dreadful, so do many other UK cities under Labour control I hear you say, but its dirty streets, knife crime and drug culture are worse than most. Its NHS is failing, shockingly more (although it’s a close-run thing with Wales), than the rest of the UK. It can’t build a two-lane carriageway or two basic passenger ferries.

It’s overseen the shrinking of Scotland’s economy, is helpless in the face of rising levels of violent and sexual crimes, wrung its hands at massive train cancellations at SNP-run ScotRail and has squandered considerable public cash on independence propaganda papers. By muddying the waters of free speech and criminalising dissent, the SNP has created a chilling effect in society, stifling legitimate criticism and debate. The alliance with the looney Greens was always bound for disaster as the economic reality of net zero met the zealot-like fantasy land that the party inhabits.

SNP politicians debate ideological causes such as hate crime laws, gender identity and puberty blockers in schools and health and the creation beyond their authority of foreign policy with pretend embassies. When their political motivations are unwrapped, the sad fact is they have become more interested in uniting the rainbow coalition of lefties and activists and are more concerned with ideology than practical governance. They can’t even produce or agree on a coherent plan for independence, a cause they allege to stand for.

Of course, to the ‘believers’ any party with National or Nationalist in its title (who cares which) is good enough for them. They look past any political failing in their champions because that’s what zealots do. But to many the failures, nasty smells, activism and downright incompetence are too much to stomach any longer.

At the root of all this is the failure of Blair’s devolution. This constitutional experiment, intended to strengthen the Union, has instead provided a platform for grievance politics and incompetence. The SNP's mismanagement of devolved powers has only served to deepen divisions and sow discord.

In other words—it’s a shambles.