Meeting of the Parliament 08 February 2023
No, I will not.
If that is the case, the definition of ministerial arrogance is asking well-qualified professionals for their views over and over and ignoring the responses. I honestly do not know what should worry us more about the SNP Government—its policy insanity or its arrogance. Looking at Mr Stewart and Mr Yousaf, I cannot work out which one of them is Laurel and which is Hardy. Having made a huge mess in our NHS, they are about to make a massive mess of Scotland’s social care system, and the people who will pay the price are those who work in, and those who rely on, social care.
I pay tribute to those people who work in the sector. They are overstretched and undervalued, and they do essential work for vulnerable people in very difficult times. However, the pressures that they face are only set to grow as the Government allows itself to be distracted by the creation of a national care service. Just when the system needs urgent attention, Nicola Sturgeon’s Government proposes to waste £1.3 billion of essential resources on a massive structural reorganisation.
Let me nail two myths that the Government is happy to leave uncorrected as it seeks to shore up public support for this failed policy. First, unlike our national health service, a national care service will not be free at the point of delivery—many people will still lose their homes to pay for residential social care. Secondly, despite the impression that is given, the service will not be run at the front line by the Scottish Government. In fact, the private sector might have to take on more of a role as councils and third sector organisations hand back the keys to Scotland’s care homes. The SNP could be the party that further privatises social care in Scotland.
The SNP-Green coalition is, once again, trying to rush through its ill-conceived legislation against the will of the third sector.