Covid WhatsApp-gate: A Richard Nixon-style scandal that shows why Scotland needs a change from SNP – Murdo Fraser

Scottish Labour might not turn out to be much different that Humza Yousaf’s nationalists

In light of what we now know about her behaviour over the Covid pandemic, it appears that Nicola Sturgeon fits the old adage of Abraham Lincoln like it was a made-to-measure suit. “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time,” the iconic US President said. “But you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

During Covid, the nation wanted to believe she had all our best interests at heart, but now we know that the very day she told us she would not politicise the pandemic she was discussing doing just that with Cabinet colleagues. We are no longer fooled by her, if we ever were. We are no longer fooled by the woman who was Alex Salmond’s closest confidante saying she could not remember a thing about the scandal that engulfed him when questioned.

Nor will anyone by fooled by the revelation that the former First Minister deleted all her WhatsApp messages during the pandemic, in actions which appear designed to frustrate the various public inquiries which are ongoing, and to cover her tracks. The fact that her deputy John Swinney did the same and so too did public health officials like Jason Leitch, and there becomes something Nixonian about a scandal well worthy of the suffix ‘gate’.

Yousaf’s offer to cooperate with Starmer

But there are some who still want you to believe ‘all of the time’. Some, as you would expect, are SNP diehards but it seems they are joined not just by her continuity successor, Humza Yousaf, but by some in Scottish Labour. For presumably tactical electoral reasons, they seem less than willing to attack her.

At the weekend, we saw the First Minister make an offer of “cooperation” with Keir Starmer. Humza Yousaf, convinced that Labour will win the forthcoming general election, wants to discuss how he might negotiate another independence referendum with support from a Starmer government.

It’s a desperate tactic from the SNP leader as his poll numbers collapse. Latest polling suggests as many as 25 of his MPs are about to lose their seats. With support for independence now higher than support for the SNP, Yousaf believes that by putting the referendum cause front and centre, he can shore up his party’s vote.

I am not so sure. Even diehard SNP supporters I meet are resigned to independence being off the agenda for at least a decade. And even if another referendum were to be held, without a convincing economic case – of which there is no sign – the outcome would be no different from the previous one. But Yousaf, having to defend a woeful record of 17 years in government, has few other cards to play.

On the same day as the First Minister was reaching out to Labour, the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was offering an olive branch in the other direction, this time trying to woo SNP voters with an overt pitch to independence supporters. Perhaps this explains why there seems to be a lack of vigour in the Labour attacks on Sturgeon and her cronies. Why point out wrongdoing if it might cost you a vote?

Labour attacking SNP from left

The message from Labour is that the country needs “change”. It’s a well-tried soundbite, but utterly lacking in substance. How, exactly, would Scotland under a Labour administration differ from 17 years under the SNP? We simply have no idea, beyond a few soundbites.

Over the last few years at Holyrood, we have seen Labour attack the SNP mostly from the left. When it came to Budgets, Labour MSPs demanded even higher taxes to raise more revenue, wanting to go further than the SNP despite the evidence that punitive taxation is counter-productive due to behaviour change. Some Labour MSPs still demand a wealth tax, a policy which might be designed to denude Scotland of entrepreneurs and captains of industry.

On housing, the evidence shows that the SNP-Green rent cap has had a devastating impact on the availability of properties for private rent, and harmed the very people it was designed to help. But rather than point this out, Labour MSPs demand that the SNP go even further on rent controls.

It’s the same with land reform, where Labour’s calls are for the government to go further, faster – despite the damage that will be done to rural jobs. And when it comes to health or education, Labour are strong on criticism of the SNP’s record, but woefully light on alternative solutions.

A credible Tory vision

For all that he wants to portray himself as an alternative to Yousaf, we should never forget that Anas Sarwar whipped his MSPs to vote for the Gender Recognition Reform Bill – an approach which horrified feminists in Scottish Labour ranks, and which he must surely now regret. Yousaf wants a Labour government at Westminster which, he hopes, will remove the block to gender reform here.

So the “change” that Labour offers doesn’t amount to a great deal, it seems. And if the strategy is to appeal to pro-independence voters, then perhaps that shouldn’t surprise us. Fortunately, the electorate in Scotland does have a real choice at forthcoming contests.

Unlike Labour, the Scottish Conservatives are building a credible and substantial alternative vision for Scotland, which won’t just be mimicking the failed SNP approach. In the autumn, we published our Grasping the Thistle paper, a detailed plan to support business and revive the Scottish economy.

Similar papers on health and education are set to follow. We are setting out clearly what the change we are offering is, and it will be a refreshing contrast to the tired consensus Scotland has seen over the past two decades.

The revelations about the Sturgeon administration’s handling of the pandemic make the case for change at Holyrood convincing, but it is only the Scottish Conservatives who can promise a genuinely fresh start.

Murdo Fraser is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife