The Scottish National Party’s record in government is a litany of failures. Yet it continues to ride high on back of nationalist sentiment as it focuses exclusively on ideology and not competence.

My piece in @ForeignPolicy

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/02/voters-ideology-competence-scotland-snp-trump/.

Short thread 1/12

With Scottish Parliament elections next year, the #SNP will focus exclusively on separating Scotland from the UK and strive to keep all emphasis off its repeated scandals and poor record.

EG from this year... 2/12

1. COVID. Earlier this yr, SNP decided to free up hospital beds by discharging 3599 elderly patients after testing only 650. Even though 78 tested +ve, ALL were sent to care homes. Resulting in over 2000 deaths - half of all deaths in Scotland. 3/12

2. EXAMS FIASCO: Due to lockdown, SNP decided to grade pupils based on algorithm on history and prestige of the school rather than their hard work. So poorer students had their grades changed around eight per cent more often than those from the richest sections of Scotland. 4/12

3. FERRY CONTRACT DISASTER. Despite repeated warnings, SNP fumbled the nationalization of a near-defunct ferry company with poorly constructed contracts leading tax payers with a bill of over 100 million (and no ferries). 5/12

4. MACKAY COVERUP: When SNP learnt Finance Minister Derek Mackay had messaged a 16 yr old school boy 270 times, rather than act decisively and ask him to resign, it tried to cover it up by pressurizing The Sun not to publish allegations. 6/12

5. SALMOND AFFAIR: SNP leadership have continuously failed to cooperate with the Parliamentary enquiry into allegations that Sturgeon and her husband (SNP CEO) were unduly involved in the investigation and prosecution of former party leader Alex Salmond for sex offenses. 7/12

Most other parties in a democracy would be battered by this record of failure, and yet the SNP continues to enjoy popularity margins that defy political gravity.

How does the SNP manage this?

By focusing exclusively on separatist ideology.

8/12

With politics in 1990s & 2000s, ideologies were barely noticeable. Parties were criticised for lack of differences between them: "they're all the same".

So the principal criterion for political success was “competence.” And incompetence was punished swiftly & severely.

9/12

If a minister did something particularly stupid, they were gone. If their party leadership stood by them, the whole party would be punished instead.

Today we have overcorrected to the point where competence plays virtually no part in the democratic conversation.
10/12

So Sturgeon can brush off every one of these scandals almost on autopilot: "We recognize that errors have been made. We will investigate. We will get back to you with our findings at some point."

They never do, and the electorate never follows up. 11/12

But none of this is necessary. We must demand basic competence from the SNP, even if you agree ideologically. A chastened SNP would deliver a better country. But for that to happen, it needs to be admonished at the ballot box, not to throw around the same old excuses. 12/12