Ten years after the manifesto – the ten broken promises that shame the SNP

This is the full devastating document on SNP failure published today by Scottish Labour.

Today is ten years since the SNP launched its manifesto for the 2007 election. In a decade of division it has broken plenty of promises – here are the ten biggest:

1. Scrap the council tax. The 2007 SNP manifesto promised to scrap the council tax. Instead, the Nationalists froze the council tax for ten years, a policy which benefited better off Scots at the expense of the poor.

Ten years later they are tinkering round the edges, but have rejected a cross-party commission to replace the council tax. Labour’s fairer plan would mean 80 per cent of households would pay less

2. Cut classroom sizes. The SNP promised “smaller class sizes, starting with a reduction in the first three years of primary to 18 or less”. Instead class sizes have actually grown as education spending has been slashed.

Labour would use the powers of the Scottish Parliament to increase spending on our schools.

3. Support a 50p top rate of tax. In 2015 the SNP supported a 50p top rate of tax on the wealthiest. Then in 2016 it abandoned that idea. The SNP’s excuse was a dodgy dossier.

Scottish Labour supports a 50p top rate of tax to invest in our schools.

4. Abolish delayed discharge. In February 2015 SNP Health Secretary promised to ‘eradicate delayed discharge out of the system’ over the course of the year. Instead the equivalent of three large hospitals were filled with delayed discharge patients every single day in 2016.

Labour would stop the cuts to local councils which deliver social care budgets to support more people to be cared for in the community – not needlessly kept in hospital.

5. Scrap student debt. The 2007 SNP manifesto promised to scrap student debt. Instead, student debt has soared by 42 per cent since the SNP came to power.

Labour would use the tax powers of Holyrood to protect the education budget and provide better bursaries to the poorest students.

6. A legal right to treatment within 12 weeks. The SNP passed a law giving patients a legal right to treatment within 12 weeks. The Nationalists have broken their own law more than 50,000 times, while thousands of nursing and consultant posts lie vacant.

Labour’s NHS Workforce Commission will deliver a blueprint to give our hospitals the doctors and nurses they need to deliver the care that patients deserve.

7. Oppose austerity. In 2015 the SNP proposed “a real alternative to austerity”. Instead, it has slashed more than £1.5 billion from local services like schools and social care.

Labour is the only party in Scotland offering a real alternative based on investment in public services.

8. Education. Nicola Sturgeon said she had a “sacred responsibility – to make sure every young person in our land gets the same chance I had to succeed at whatever they want to do in life” and promised to make education her “defining mission”. Instead, the SNP government hasn’t passed a new law in a year, as education takes a back seat to independence.

Labour drove education onto the political agenda in Scotland, and is the only party proposing reforms that can cut the attainment gap.

9. Oil price. The SNP predicted a second oil boom in the early years of an independent Scotland. Instead revenues have plummeted – which means an independent Scotland would have faced turbo-charged austerity.

Voting to stay in the UK has protected public spending in Scotland.

10. An independence referendum was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Nicola Sturgeon said the 2014 independence referendum was a “once in a lifetime opportunity for Scotland.” Instead – despite the majority of Scots continuing to oppose another referendum – she is determined to divide Scotland once again.

Scottish Labour believes that together we’re stronger and will never support independence.

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