Once again, we see the SNP spin machine wanting to pretend that everything is fine, but John Swinney cannot escape his record. After a global pandemic, he was the one who cut hundreds of millions of pounds from Scotland’s GPs, social care and mental health budgets. What is the result? Cancer targets are missed, waiting lists are out of control, deadly disease diagnosis is delayed and thousands of patients are forced to go private. However, we should not worry—the fifth NHS recovery plan in four years will definitely sort it all out. When it does not, there is still time to fit in a few more before the election.

NHS nurses, doctors and ambulance workers are not fooled. Neither are 800,000 Scots who are stuck in pain on an NHS waiting list. They deserve more than the SNP’s hollow apologies and half-baked plans that never get delivered. Is it not the case that, after 18 years in charge, if the SNP had a plan to fix the NHS, it would have done it by now?