We Don't Got the Power
Nicola Sturgeon blames — gasp! — Westminster for belated response to cost-of-living crisis.
The First Minister had a busy old summer.
One minute she was headlining at the Fringe, relaying gossip about Liz Truss, and the next she was filing a case at the Supreme Court. When she wasn’t Denmark-bound to open an embassy, she was luvvying it up back in Edinburgh with her Hollywood bestie Brian Cox.
Entertainer, litigant, diplomat, showbiz interviewer. Her summer was like one long Bob-a-Job week. If she’d had the time, she might even have tried her hand at running the country.
This might explain why she appeared to deliver her latest programme for government statement on autopilot. Sturgeon, the unmatched empress of retail politics, a woman who can roll up any old scraps of policy and flog them as a dazzling bouquet of fresh ideas, was noticeably absent. In her place, was a business-like First Minister, either unable or unwilling to put on a show.
In some of her measures for addressing the cost-of-living crisis, she sounded like an old school Leftie. She announced a rent freeze to help tenants. Labour said she had stolen the idea from them, though the 1970s has a decent copyright claim against both of them.
Her overall tone, though, was one of deflation. Why ever could that be?
‘A new UK Prime Minister has, of course, just been appointed,’ she told the chamber.
Ah.
‘I congratulate Liz Truss and wish her well.’
No doubt.
What did she want to see the incoming Prime Minister do?
‘Cancel the October rise in the energy cap and freeze energy prices at the current level.’
So the policy Liz Truss’s team had already briefed?
Could it be that the new occupant of Number 10 had stolen the First Minister’s thunder on her first day in the job?
So her statement was reoriented on how she could do so much more if only those rotters at Westminster would allow her.
'Regrettably, the powers to act in the manner and on the scale needed do not lie with this parliament,’ she asserted. Westminster had to 'increase the budgets of devolved governments, or grant us greater powers to borrow’.
I know when I reflect on the government that nationalised Ferguson Marine, Prestwick Airport and ScotRail, the first words that come to mind are: 'These people ought to be in charge of more money.'
As for powers, Sturgeon has them coming out of her ears. It’s just that things always seem to get worse when she uses them. I'm loath to rush to judgement after a mere eight years but maybe this First Minister gig isn't the job for her.
In the dying minutes of her address, she pledged a Bill for another referendum on independence. ‘Last but by no means least,’ she assured. Yes, she buried the subject at the very end of her speech because it is such a key priority for her.
If I were a member of the SNP and my leader was promising a referendum next year, I’d find it curious that, in a 4,600-word speech, ‘independence’ appeared just four times.
If Sturgeon’s statement was a dull affair, Anas Sarwar's response was certainly not. The Scottish Labour leader zinged Sturgeon’s government for its laziness, its ineptitude, and its blame-shifting.
‘Never has there been a politician with so much power who has done so little with it,’ he jabbed.
‘Change will only come when the First Minister and her government decide to end the culture where every failure comes with a ready-made excuse: It’s always somebody else’s fault,’ he railed.
He pronounced: ‘Government is more than a campaign. The title of First Minister is more than a status. Power is more than a privilege and a responsibility. Use government, use your status, use the power to change people's lives and improve Scotland right now.’
Sarwar’s speech was pure electricity, and no price cap either.
Originally published in the Scottish Daily Mail on September 7, 2022.
We Don't Got the Power
Having read what the Labour Leader said I would call it damming and an accurate statement of the complete waste of a parliament by the SNP. An Independence grievance machine masquerading as a government.
I understand that Sturgeon is soon to jet off to New York to attend something or other . Apparently she has not been invited so she’ll remain on the periphery collecting selfies and spreading the word . After that she’s flying to Cairo to COP27 ? ….again not an official delegate so what will she doing there and why is she not staying at home sorting out our problems ….or is that something that international superstars don’t do ?