By stewartb
We know that the British Labour Party and its media allies in Scotland for the Union would have voters here believe that any shortcomings, all problems in Scotland’s public services can be laid at the door of the SNP Scottish Government.
So it’s good to see comparisons between Scotland and Wales – in education, health and social care, housing, poverty levels, unemployment; economic development and yes, local government funding etc. All can be scrutinised in order to assess the track record of the British Labour Party government in Cardiff during the extended period of Tory rule in Westminster: we in Scotland need to know more about the record of the government in Wales in advance of the 2026 Holyrood election.
To add to the good example in the main blog post, the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) published a statement on 24 September headed ‘Additional Investment urgently needed for social care to help mitigate increasing NHS pressures ahead of winter’.
From the statement: ‘As the Welsh Government prepares for another challenging winter in the NHS, working closely with partners, the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) is calling for increased, urgent investment and parity across the entire health and social care system.
‘… delayed hospital discharges and rising complexity of need are clear indicators of the strain the whole system is under.’ (Delayed discharges in Labour-run Wales? Surely not!)
The WLGA adds: ‘Councils are already spending beyond the funding provided for social care to provide much needed care and support services and without additional resources, delays in the care system and the knock-on effect on health services will only worsen, with vulnerable individuals left waiting for essential care and support.
‘Councils are increasingly concerned about the mounting pressures faced by social care services, which are already straining under workforce shortages, increasing demand, and inflationary pressures. Without immediate and sustained investment, the ability to deliver timely care and support to those who need it most will be severely compromised.’ (How could this be permitted by a British Labour Party government?)
Councillor Charlie McCoubrey, Health and Social Services Spokesperson for the WLGA said: “We can’t keep relying on quick fixes; we need to ensure the right levels of investment are available to ensure we have a properly joined-up system that prevents hospital admissions, helps people stay independent, and makes sure they can leave hospital when they’re ready, with the appropriate care and support in the community.’ (So Wales under a British Labour Party government in Cardiff doesn’t have all this in place already? Shocked?)
” … we’re calling on the Welsh Government to make long-term funding for social care a priority, so we can make sure the whole health and care system keeps working for our communities.”
What happened to solidarity, to comradeship? Why have those British Labour Party politicians who for years have been decrying the Scottish Government not shared their insights and their ready solutions with Party colleagues in power in Cardiff?
Or could it be the issue is more fundamental than the colour of the party in power – it’s the devolution settlement, it’s the Union that is at the root of the problem!
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Wales is underfunded. They voted for Brexit and lost out. You can live in Wales and work in London. Proximity to London. Westminster reneged on a tidal renewable scheme. £1Billion. HS2 Wales did not get£4Billion of consequentials.
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Labour in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, Labour’s SOS Ian Murray and also the BBC in Scotland will all pretend that Wes Streeting did not declare on national TV (on a sister channel to BBC Scotland) that the UK government is the source of many problems for devolved governments via the “decisions they make as a UK government”.
Of course Wes Streeting would now insist that was only relevant under a Tory UK government and at the time of making this point on the Laura Kuenssberg programme he was only doing so in order to defend the Welsh Labour devolved government’s poor performance in their NHS.
He probably could not have been as shocked as many a Scot was when she, Kuenssberg, cast up the fact that Labour did not apply this same logic (excuse) for Scotland but instead they , the UK Labour party, always blamed the SNP only.
It was a very rare moment of defence for the SNP from a BBC person though I suspect it was done more to defend the Tories than the SNP. (the added bonus being it exposed Labour’s hypocrisy).
Alas that exposed hypocrisy did not have a negative impact for Labour in the subsequent UK GE , where in Scotland , Labour managed to get 37 Labour MP’s elected here in Scotland. (although that I suspect was more as a result of the concerted effort made by the media in Scotland on behalf of the Labour party -especially the BBC- in the lead up to the UK GE).
The truth for Scotland is that no matter which pro UK party rules at WM the impact for Scotland will always be negative as they, the various UK governments, just cannot have any success achieved or kudos given to the Scottish government.
So in order to try and do this they , as a UK government , attempt to impose barriers, restrictions, debilitations and ultimately make decisions that are only made by them to try to prevent Scotland doing far better than any of the other nations within the UK. (also when Scotland does perform better than other nations that is never acknowledged by either the media or the opposition parties, in fact the opposite is the case).
So yes the UK is the real problem for Scotland because they , as a state via their various governments, deplete our resources for their UK while also constantly promote the non fact that Scotland is totally reliant on their UK to survive.
As apparently we, Scotland, need them, the UK, far more than the UK needs us.
Which one could easily dispute via all of the time, money and effort others , like the various UK governments, put into trying to keep Scotland a part of their UK.
They forget of course to note that we, Scotland, are currently a part of that UK and so contribute towards it which then leads many of us to suspect they are really stating we , Scotland, need England more in order for us to be sustained as a country. (as in Scotland that they prefer to relegate to only being a Region within their UK and not a country).
In fact their assumption is that only England needs no other nation within the UK to survive. However the inconvenient truth is that England relies on resources sourced from both Wales and Scotland, which as part of the UK, they, England, currently get for free.
It’s just a pity that more in Scotland either refuse to see the truth or are far too apathetic to bother about it or even care. (as evidenced by their still voting for pro UK parties in elections and too their lack of belief and support for independence).
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