I would like to start this week’s column by thanking everyone who helped to make the recent UCI Cycling World Championships held in the city a great success.
While I still believe I was right to point out in my previous column that it shouldn’t take a major event coming to Glasgow to fix our roads, the championships showcased us to the world.
There were some truly thrilling races in both the men’s and women’s races which I’m sure will live long in the memory of those Glaswegians and visitors who came to spectate.
It will have also given our economy a boost – notwithstanding the diversions that many people had to tackle as events took place in the city centre and West End.
However, on the whole, this was an event where Glasgow did itself proud once again in hosting a major sporting event, just as we did with the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
While the spending on supporting the hosting of this event was beneficial, other spending commitments made by the SNP Government in Edinburgh have been the exact opposite.
During these challenging times, ministers should be ensuring that they are spending public money wisely and costs to a minimum.
We now know the astonishing costs of Scotland’s most recent census that took place last year on the SNP’s watch.
Many Glasgow Times readers will remember how the SNP’s census turned into a complete and utter shambles.
SNP ministers had typically acted as they knew best and arrogantly refused to listen to the concerns raised by many of the issues that would arise if they did not carry out a census in sync with the rest of the United Kingdom, as has traditionally been the case.
Their decision to do so resulted in poor return rates across the board – with Glasgow’s return rate only reaching 81.7% by early June last year.
That was despite numerous extensions announced by SNP ministers and is well below the 90 per cent rate that is usually hit when the census is carried out each decade.
The result of their botched decision-making is that it is set to cost an astonishing £140 million and taxpayers will foot the bill.
The SNP have a long history of mismanaging major public projects and now the Census can be added to that list.
Not only have the SNP wasted an enormous amount of taxpayers’ money compared to what the census usually costs to run but their insistence on going it alone will have potentially far-reaching implications when it comes to making future policy decisions and making them accurately within the ministerial corridor.
It has only just been announced that the first results from the census will be unveiled next month.
People will be eagerly awaiting these results, though, of course, we would already have them if the SNP had carried out a census in tandem with everyone else in 2021, even given the challenges of the pandemic.
We can only hope that this data is proven to be accurate enough. Without it, who knows how our hospitals, schools, roads, transport network, housing needs and every other day-to-day service will be affected.
Ministers cannot escape from their failings on this. They must tell the public what lessons they have learned from this sorry debacle and that they are fully committed to holding future censuses as part of the UK-wide edition starting in 2031.
The other area of the SNP’s wasteful spending I want to touch on is their continued obsession at every turn.
Only last week it was revealed that Humza Yousaf incredibly needed a 27-strong entourage to accompany him to the launch of one of his latest independence papers in June.
It is simply disgraceful that so much civil servants’ time and resources are being wasted to help promote the SNP’s independence propaganda.
They are continuing to blur the lines between party and government which is completely unacceptable.
Humza Yousaf should not be spending taxpayers’ money on these independence papers when he should be focused on tackling Scotland’s real priorities.
He is continuing to push for a divisive independence referendum – including appointing a dedicated minister for independence at great cost – to distract from the bitter infighting that continues to engulf his party.
Instead, Humza Yousaf and the SNP – and their Green coalition partners – should be diverting resources towards supporting people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, helping to reduce NHS waiting times and strengthening the economy.
Or he could focus on tackling Scotland’s shame of our record drug death rate. The latest figures are out as this column is published but I am sure I will have more to say on the SNP’s shameful record on that front in my next column.
Nicola Sturgeon admitted to taking her eye off the ball as drug deaths spiralled. I can only wish Humza Yousaf would take his eye off pushing for independence and spend money on Scotland’s real priorities.
By Annie Wells