Douglas Ross: Learning Lessons

It has been an eventful year, to say the least. 

The Scottish Conservatives saw the back of another SNP first minister, not much more than a year after he took up the post. But if Humza Yousaf’s tenure was brief, it was also tumultuous. The SNP’s continuity candidate brought a continuation of the convulsions that beset the party around Nicola Sturgeon’s departure, but he managed to add to the wreckage with further catastrophes during his time in office.

There was more incoherent and illiberal legislation, such as the Hate Crime Act, coming into force, the continued SNP appetite for wasting taxpayers’ money on doomed court cases, and the weekly announcements of worsening NHS figures, declining education results and cuts to essential public services.

Naturally, though, according to him, Westminster was still to blame for every problem and the subject of independence continued to be the top of every agenda. Continuity indeed.

The dominant story, however, was the Michael Matheson scandal – and for good reason.

All governments must deal, at some stage or another, with grave errors or misconduct by their ministers. Then, damaged to a greater or lesser degree, they move on. 

If the erstwhile health secretary had resigned as soon as his wrongdoing came to light, that is probably what would have happened here. As it was, his arrogant defiance, the first minister’s bad judgement, and the SNP’s habitual closing of ranks provided a graphic illustration of this government’s worst faults.

The public could see, even if the SNP couldn’t, that this was a case of misappropriating public money, lying and covering up, and, when that became unsustainable, simply refusing to take any responsibility or accept any censure. It was an individual example of the entitlement, secrecy, deception and denial that have been the hallmarks of the nationalists’ time in office.

Long before Humza Yousaf ditched the anti-growth Greens – who should never have been anywhere near government in the first place – public disillusionment with him and his party was obvious.

John Swinney, dragged back to lead his party again a full 20 years after his first ignominious shot at it, has been unable to paper over the cracks. There was widespread incredulity when he doubled down on defending Michael Matheson and, true to the SNP playbook, attempted to deflect blame.

Under him, the SNP is now engaged in full-blown civil war, while the disastrous consequence of their poor decision-making is the abject state of Scotland’s public services – in our NHS, schools, justice system, transport and other frontline operations.

Since he was at the heart of those decisions and has continued by adding to them during his thoroughly underwhelming time as first minister, it seems fitting that he should be the one faced with the results.

The number of chickens coming home to roost was alarmingly apparent in Shona Robison’s devastating tax-and-axe budget, which received universal condemnation from every quarter.

After successive years of record block grants and having already made Scotland the highest-taxed part of the UK, the finance secretary announced savage cuts to almost every public service.

Yet such is the scale of the SNP’s economic mismanagement that these unprecedented attacks on frontline services were not, she told us, enough to plug the black hole in the budget. So hard-working Scots were clobbered with yet another tax rise, widening a gap with other parts of the UK that will stymie our competitiveness and make it even more difficult to attract the key workers – doctors, dentists, engineers, teachers – and businesses on which future growth depends. 

No wonder, then, that the political year ended, immediately after Holyrood went into recess, with a general election at which the SNP, and their separatist ambitions, were roundly rejected by Scottish voters. 

The insistence of successive SNP leaders on focusing on breaking up the UK, while neglecting the basic tasks of government, has come back to bite them. Their heavy general election losses ought to take the independence issue off the table for the foreseeable future but, such is the SNP’s obsession, there’s no guarantee of that.

As a UK election, the story was obviously of an impressive Labour victory, though even in the first weeks there are signs that their programme and support may be rather more fragile than the parliamentary numbers might suggest.

It was obviously an extremely challenging contest for the Scottish Conservatives, given the UK backdrop. But our robust opposition to the SNP and support for the Scottish people’s real priorities saw us weather the storm better than many had predicted. 

We retained five of six (slightly redrawn) parliamentary seats – a respectable achievement in difficult circumstances which is testament to my Westminster colleagues and to our relentless focus at Holyrood on holding the SNP to account for their failings.

On a personal level, I was naturally disappointed not to win the seat I contested. As has been well documented, there were unique and extremely unfortunate circumstances that led me to step in at the last minute to contest Aberdeenshire North and Moray East. But it didn’t turn out as I’d hoped, and the sizeable Reform vote allowed the SNP to squeeze home – a similar dynamic to that which played out in the neighbouring constituency of Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey.

My decision to fight the seat had already led me to announce that I would stand down as party leader, but I’m committed to carry on fighting tirelessly for Scotland and the Highlands and Islands. In particular, I’m eager to continue to argue passionately for the Right to Recovery Bill in my name, which has received widespread support for the measures it outlines to tackle Scotland’s shameful and longstanding drug deaths crisis. It’s a hugely important proposal and will continue to receive my unwavering commitment.

Over the next few weeks my party will select new leaders in Scotland and the UK. That will obviously involve discussion and debate about our focus and direction, and I am sure that we will take it as an opportunity. 

More than ever, there needs to be a robust challenge to this utterly discredited and splintered SNP government, which, though hopefully on the way out, still has the best part of two more years to continue inflicting damage on the country. 

My party will also, at a UK level, have the task of holding Labour to account. For Labour, like the other opposition parties, has all too often lined up to back some of the SNP’s worst decisions – on gender self-ID, the Hate Crime Act, higher taxes and turning off the taps in the North Sea. 

Labour has already shown that it can’t be trusted on its pledge not to cut winter fuel payments to pensioners, and is already drawing up the tax rises it denied it would make. 

Over the past year, as always, Scottish Conservatives alone have stood up for the interests and priorities of voters. In the wake of the general election, we clearly have lessons to learn. We need to attract more voters to the principles for which we stand, and which I am convinced are shared by many Scots who do not currently lend us their support. That will now be a task for my successor and for the next leader of the UK party, both of whom can expect my wholehearted support.

But the job at Holyrood continues, because this year, though it has been one of the most catastrophic in the SNP’s history, has not yet seen them removed from office – as they so richly deserve. The Scottish public issued a damning verdict on them in July, but they are not yet out the door.

The Scottish Conservatives, the largest opposition group at Holyrood, will continue to challenge their failures and to present a clear and brighter alternative. I’m looking forward to continuing to play my part, albeit a different one, in that crucial mission.  

And after more than four years at the helm leading the Scottish Conservatives, I’m also looking forward to getting more precious time to spend with my family.  

Politics can be all-consuming and while it has been a privilege to lead this party, I am already enjoying the benefits of additional time with my wife Krystle and our boys.