Hansard

I declare an interest as a practising NHS general practitioner.

The Scottish Conservatives will support the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill, which we are here to debate, but let us not pretend that we have arrived at this moment by design. We are here because of yet another Scottish National Party policy that promised the world and delivered a fiasco. The now defunct National Care Service (Scotland) Bill was once hailed as the most significant reform to health and social care since the creation of the NHS. In reality, it was a half-baked plan that was dreamt up by ministers in an ivory tower and clearly dead in the water before the ink had dried on the first draft.

What has been the price? Nearly £30 million has been spent on a policy that nobody wanted—not the unions, not COSLA and not care professionals.

The care service is not the only SNP debacle in the Parliament. When responding to Brian Whittle, the minister said that we can ask the Scottish Government questions about spending any time. Okay—£200 million has been spent on ferries that are still not finished; £180 million was spent on a deposit return scheme that was scrapped before it was launched; more than £600,000 was spent on failed Supreme Court adventures, from defining a woman to indyref2; and £140 million was spent on a Scotland-only census that flopped. Get out that abacus. Approaching £1 billion of public money has been torched in this parliamentary session alone on vanity projects that never delivered, all paid for by the Scottish taxpayer—and for what? There are big promises and bigger budgets, but zilch delivery.

The SNP now presents the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill—a more modest and workable approach that includes Anne’s law, which guarantees care home residents the right to see loved ones. We support the bill due to Anne’s law. In fact, we would have supported it years ago without the eye-watering price tag of the national care service experiment.

SNP ministers love bold commitments. They rail against Westminster one day but send their constituents the invoice the next. Their convictions are as reliable as the CalMac ferry timetable. Their principles are stirring in speeches but missing in action.

At least the new bill is stripped back and serious about protecting the rights of residents and empowering carers. There is no grandstanding or runaway spending, just practical reform—finally.

However, let us not forget how we got here. The Parliament has been a hall of shame for SNP governance—a flagship bill in ruins, two ferries that are still incomplete, a bungled census and legal stunts that never stood a chance. There has been £1 billion of broken promises and missed targets, with public services left in a worse state than before. Think about what that money could have done for classrooms, GP surgeries or community care.

We support the bill and we back Anne’s law, which should have been on the statute book a very long time ago, but let this be the last car crash in SNP policy making—enough with headlines, enough with hubris and enough with the costs. Scotland does not need another slick soundbite. It needs serious leadership with a plan, a purpose and a price tag that does not leave the public short-changed. The SNP loves to talk about conviction, but, when it comes to commitments, it costs the country a fortune and too often leaves our people stranded. It is time to stop paying premiums for pipe dreams. Scotland deserves better.