Kemi: SNP are stoking the politics of envy… Scots deserve better
Kemi Badenoch has insisted Scots 'deserve better' than the SNP as she launched a blistering attack on its failings in government – and claimed Nigel Farage is a threat to the Union.
The Conservative leader said Scotland is in decline under a Nationalist government focused on stoking division, with education, justice and the NHS going backwards while millions of pounds of taxpayers' cash is wasted on 'independence propaganda' and the ferries fiasco.
She said the SNP needs to be defeated in next year's Holyrood elections because 'the Scottish people deserve better', and are 'paying for more and getting less'.
She also claimed that Nigel Farage is a threat to the Union because he does not care about more SNP rule.
In her first address to the Scottish Conservative conference as leader, she said: 'We have seen Scotland decline under the rule of Left-wing parties that stoke division and the politics of envy.'
She said education standards have fallen to record lows on the SNP's watch, while police numbers have plunged and the NHS recovery is ' lagging behind England' – with 100 times as many patients in Scotland's hospitals waiting more than 104 weeks for treatment than south of the Border.
She said the SNP was still 'obsessed' with breaking up Britain and has been 'wasting millions on independence propaganda'.
And she accused the Nationalists of wasting money on 'failed ferry projects', hate crime laws which threaten free speech and 'putting male rapists in women's prisons'.
She said: 'This year we saw the SNP suffer yet another loss in
the Supreme Court, because instead of sorting out Scotland they were trying to redefine what a woman is.
'This is not a party focused on what people in Scotland need, so we need to bring about their electoral defeat. Because the Scottish people deserve better.'
She insisted that 'the answer to these problems does not involve any more devolution'.
Hitting back at Reform, which finished ahead of the Tories in third place in last week's Hamilton by-election, she said: 'The Union is just not that important to them. In April this year, Nigel Farage said he would be fine with the SNP winning another five years in power.
'He's fine with another five years of higher bills, longer waiting lists, declining school standards, gender madness, and ultimately, independence.
'Reform will vote to let the SNP in, Conservatives will only ever vote to get the Nationalists out.' Her comments about Reform refer to Mr Farage saying in a recent interview that he is 'not that worried about the SNP' and that the party is 'going to have
a resurgence'.
Asked by journalists after her speech in Edinburgh if Mr Farage is an 'active threat to the Union', Ms Badenoch said: 'If he wants the SNP to have another five years, that is a threat to the Union, so yes.'
On the Barnett Formula – the funding mechanism which delivered an extra £9.1billion over three years to Scotland in this week's spending review – she said it was not the problem, 'it is the SNP that is the problem'.
She said: 'It doesn't matter how you change it, they're still going to mess things up.
'What we need to do is get the SNP out of running Scotland, and then all sorts of things will start to improve.'
In her speech, Ms Badenoch condemned the income tax gap between Scotland and the rest of the UK, and said: 'The SNP's failure to grow Scotland's economy has cost public services more than £1billion in this year alone. And that's before Labour's jobs tax kills growth.
'Scottish people are paying for more and getting less.'
She said she will demand that the windfall tax on oil and gas is ended, saying: 'I didn't agree with imposing the levy in government ... But it is a good example of what I think we got wrong.'
Introducing Ms Badenoch yesterday, Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: 'We are under new management: two new leaders with a shared vision to renew our party and champion our common sense Conservative values.
'We are both realistic about the challenges we face, but we are also optimistic that our party can earn back public trust.
'Our country needs a strong Conservative and Unionist Party that can win again across the United Kingdom. We need it because of the damage that our rivals are doing to our country.
'The SNP are weaker for Scotland. Look at the mess they have made of our beloved country.'
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said of Ms Badenoch: 'The suggestion that she is the only one who can address the concerns of Scots is like an arsonist claiming they are best placed to put out the fire.'
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