JOHN Swinney would doubtless like nothing more than for Scotland to be gripped by his grandstanding critiques of UK foreign policy.
As long as ordinary folk and the media are talking about the First Minister’s take on the Trump-Zelensky-Starmer drama — and not things closer to home — he’d be quite content.
John Swinney appears to be trying to use foreign politics as a distraction[/caption]
Zelensky’s meeting with Trump last month[/caption]
But when a government in trouble points one way, there’s a decent chance that some very important things are happening elsewhere.
Over the past week or so, the First Minister has been trying to get you to look at what he’s not responsible for, rather than focus on what he is.
That means his preaching about Donald Trump and how the US President’s proposed state visit should be cancelled, rather than — for example — appalling news about NHS Scotland and childhood mental health services.
Before I get onto that, and for what it’s worth, I do have some dim opinions on Mr Swinney and his Westminster leader Stephen Flynn’s forays into foreign affairs.
First, they slag off the UK Government’s international aid being cut to pay for a defence spending uplift.
Yet in the next breath, they demand the UK does whatever is required to support Ukraine, including putting boots on the ground.
So, how is that going to be paid for, guys?
SNP chiefs are also tying themselves in knots by advocating diplomacy, while proposing picking a fight with Donald Trump.
They want us to talk tough with Russia, but get rid of our nuclear deterrent.
And Mr Swinney says that his government’s international approach “will continue to be led and guided by our compascompassion for Ukraine”.
So, foreign policy dictated by an emotion. This stuff is beyond moronic.
But, at least in part, it is also designed to grab your attention from the very real troubles of a devolved government which is consistently failing to deliver on their bread-and-butter duties.
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Polling last week underlined Scots’ disenchantment.
Asked about the Scottish Government’s performance in seven key areas, people overwhelmingly said they are doing a bad job.
The worst verdict of all was on the NHS, which may come as no surprise given the state of waiting lists and a lack of imagination beyond throwing more cash at wages.
Last week, while Mr Swinney was trying to grab your attention with a Holyrood speech about President Trump, a slew of dismal Scots health statistics were published.
Given the data, it was certainly convenient for the First Minister to be pointing across the Atlantic. The saying ‘a good day to bury bad news’ was made for days like this.
Scotland’s NHS waiting list in Scotland remains above 800,000, up from 480,000 in 2019. There were 62,291 waits of more than 52 weeks — up by 46 per cent in the past year.
But in case anyone wasn’t fully focused on the transatlantic showboating, the Scottish Government was taking no chances, chucking out the usual red herrings to spin the NHS figures as a triumph for SNP ministers.
Journalists were encouraged to regurgitate a celebratory press release declaring: “Child mental health waiting times target met.”
But anyone who looked into the figures would have seen the target — for 90 per cent of children to be seen within 18 weeks of referral — was easier to hit as there were far fewer kids starting treatment than the same period a year earlier.
Worse still was the number of kids turned away. Of the 8,919 referrals received in the last quarter of 2024 by specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, 2,604 kids were rejected because their illness was not deemed to be serious enough.
This amounts to 29.2 per cent of cases — the second highest proportion on record.
So, it’s little wonder they hit their target, as fewer kids are starting treatment, and dizzying numbers are being turned away before they get that far.
In 2018, SNP ministers pledged to set up services for rejected children, after an audit found some were knocked back because they hadn’t attempted suicide.
Then-Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said it was “completely unacceptable” that “young people were being rejected from treatment without proper explanation or being directed to more appropriate care”.
Experts who work in the field say this is still going on. But rejection rates are now even higher.
There’s still no national approach for helping kids who may not need specialist CAMHS, but still need help nonetheless.
NHS data shows 55,052 young people referred to CAMHS have been turned away since Ms Freeman said what she said in 2018.
Those on the front line say fallback services remain piecemeal, and tell of the additional distress still being caused to thousands of children who think they are going to get help, then are told they do not qualify.
This is not the fault of CAMHS specialists, who are swamped by the most acute cases. It is the fault of the Scottish Government for continuing to send children to services which may not be appropriate and failing to provide adequate alternatives.
Playing at being a world leader may be a welcome distraction for Mr Swinney. It may even be a cynical distraction technique.
But no amount of grandstanding about Trump or polishing stats is going to change the reality that distressed children are still going without help — seven years after SNP ministers promised they would sort out this scandal.
Chris Musson reckons the First Minister’s foray into foreign politics is misguided[/caption]
