In the midst of a new development in the never-ending motorhome saga, Humza Yousaf addressed a rather, er, sparse crowd at the SNP’s ‘national council’ event in Perth today. With a speech that was much longer than it should have been, Yousaf spent most of his time lashing out at the Conservatives. Quelle surprise.
‘We have the opportunity to ensure that Scotland is Tory free,’ the First Minister told his devotees this afternoon. ‘Not a single Tory MP left in Scotland. That is definitely a prize worth fighting for.’ Possibly because he knows that trying to retain all his party’s Westminster seats would be to fight a losing battle…
But Yousaf didn’t just contain himself to Tory-bashing. He quickly turned his attention to the real threat to his party: Labour.
‘Who else is going to stand up for Scotland?’ he roared, quite forgetting that under the last 16 years of SNP rule, the NHS Scotland is facing an existential crisis, the poverty-related education attainment gap has widened and the party’s primary cause — independence — is becoming a more distant fantasy. He went on:
Labour’s branch manager? After all, Anas Sarwar has promised us that he will stand up to Keir Starmer. I’m sure Sir Keir is terrified at the thought. Quaking in his boots. But I don’t know what is more ridiculous: going into an election campaigning on the message of Vote Labour to protect Scotland from Labour, or the idea that Anas Sarwar is going to stand up to anyone.
Burn… Yousaf continued his tirade against his former Hutchesons’ Grammar School contemporary:
He can’t even stand up to his own frontbenchers. At their conference just a few weeks ago, his finance spokesperson suggested that Labour would impose backdoor tuition fees on Scottish students, and Anas Sarwar didn’t say a word. He can’t even stand up to his own Scottish Labour MPs. Both of them defied his orders in Gaza and lined up behind Keir Starmer. He can’t even stand up to his own councillors. He can’t even stand up to his own councillors. This month we’ve had the shameful spectacle of Inverclyde Labour increasing council tax by more than 8 per cent against his direct orders. Anas Sarwar isn’t going to stand up for Scotland. He would bend the knee to Sir Keir Starmer.
Ouch. Labour hit back at the First Minister’s ‘hollow speech and baseless attacks’, adding: ‘It’s clear…that Humza Yousaf has nothing to offer the people of Scotland’. As the cost of living crisis continues to affect Scots across the country, and the Nats haven’t yet seen the conclusion of the police probe into its finances, the SNP government certainly has a lot on its plate. Considering Yousaf started the event by hailing the return of the stone of destiny to Scotland and left it darting questions about the infamous SNP campervan, perhaps the First Minister should expend more energy on the state of his own party before attacking others. Those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones — no matter how historical…
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