Swinney accused of presiding over ‘lost decade’ on referendum anniversary

John Swinney and his Government have been accused of presiding over a “lost decade” since the independence referendum.

Wednesday is the 10th anniversary of the poll which saw 55% of Scots vote to stay in the UK.

In a set-piece speech on Wednesday morning, Mr Swinney said Scotland is now closer to independence than it was 10 years ago, while he used a debate in Holyrood later to say the “people of Scotland should have the opportunity to take that decision again”.

But Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross claimed the three SNP-led governments since the vote have focused more on the constitution, to the detriment of issues facing Scotland.

“As historians look back over the last 10 years, they will see them as Scotland’s lost decade,” he said.

“The years in which we divided our country and fought bitter arguments against ourselves on an issue we had already voted on.

“Generations of Scots will come to see this as a national act of self-harm.

“They will wonder why some chose to continue the same arguments again and again, why the government of the day chose to indulge in fantasy politics instead of dealing with the real issues faced by our country, or why the national interest was ignored for the SNP’s nationalist interest.

“My message to John Swinney and the SNP Government is this: You lost, get over it and let us all move on.”

But as he opened the debate, the First Minister made the case for another referendum.

“The people of Scotland were able to take their decision (in 2014), and my firm view in opening this debate today is that the people of Scotland should have the opportunity to take that decision again,” he said.

“This Parliament has confirmed its belief that it should be open to any nation of the United Kingdom to choose to withdraw from the union by democratic means – that is my view and I believe the view of this Parliament should be respected.”

In his speech earlier to SNP activists, he said: “People can see as a consequence of the pressure to get more powers here in Scotland we have added to the achievements and the strengths we have already put in place.

“People can see the positive impact of decisions being taken here in Scotland.”

He added the “challenge” for independence supporters is now to convince more Scots that their priorities could be better addressed outside of the UK.

Mr Swinney said: “I think we are closer to achieving that than we were in 2014.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar highlighted what he branded “failure” by the Scottish Government in areas such as housing, the NHS, drug and alcohol deaths, and education as he demanded: “What has this SNP Government been doing for the last 10 years since 2014?

“The truth is the reason why we have made so little progress over the last 10 years is because this SNP Government has been leading a campaign, not a Government.

“They have been trying to hide their failures behind the smokescreen of the constitution.”

Continuing his attack, he insisted the SNP is “the party of the past” and of “failure, decline and incompetence”.

Similarly, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “The SNP have spent the last 10 years picking at the scab of their defeat.”

He accused independence supporters of “fanaticism” as he appealed to ministers to “change the subject” and focus on areas including mental health, sewage or long Covid.

Mr Cole-Hamilton added: “There are warning lights blinking across the dashboard, public policy crying out for ministerial attention.”

But Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer said the last decade had “only deepened” his party’s support for independence.

He highlighted how there had been “10 years of Tory government, Brexit, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and now a Labour Government but no change from those Tory policies”.

Mr Greer added: “Greens believe in independence for a simple reason – we think the best decision-makers for Scotland are the people who live here.

“The Scottish Greens believe that this isn’t as good as it gets for Scotland.

“We can be a fairer, greener nation with the powers of a normal independent country.”

Alba MSP Ash Regan argued that with pro-independence parties having a majority in Holyrood, they can still push the issue forward.

She stressed she wants to maintain the “spirit of the referendum” in which supporters of different parties “put our differences aside for independence”.

Ms Regan said: “There are three pro-independence parties in this chamber. If we start working on it today, we still have the time, we have the arithmetic, to turn this ship around and achieve independence.”