THE UK Government doesn’t need to actually name instances where it has delivered for Scotland, it’s quite happy to just make them up instead.
As The National’s Stephen Paton highlighted late last year, some of the instances where the Tories down in London claim to have #deliveredforScotland truly defy belief.
Take when it claimed Scotland’s water will be “cleaner, safer and more sustainable” thanks to the UK’s commitment to extend its Blue Belt scheme. Sounds great.
The UK Government is acting now before it’s too late. Millions of square kilometres of oceans around the world will be cleaner and safer for wildlife thanks to the UK’s commitment to extend its Blue Belt scheme. 🐠🦈🐢🦑🐚 pic.twitter.com/crsLhGTBxf
— UK Government Scotland (@UKGovScotland) October 8, 2019
Except if you dig a little deeper, and learn that the Blue Belt extension applied to the UK Overseas Territories, thousands of miles away.
So the UK Government delivered for Scotland indirectly, by delivering for elsewhere.
Much in that same vein then they might claim that Westminster often delivers for Scotland, by delivering for England.
Nevertheless, some poor old soul down at the Scotland Office has been tasked with filling an entire website with examples of how the UK Government delivers for Scotland. In case you haven’t guessed, that website is deliveringforscotland.gov.uk.
READ MORE: Tory MP makes stunning admission about Brexit during BBC's Debate Night
The official website lists areas where Scotland should be thankful to be in the UK. These include “superfast broadband” (just don't tell some of the nation's rural areas) and the “state pension” (ignore that it’s the worst in the developed world).
One interesting inclusion to the list of areas in which Scotland has benefitted is “Brexit”.
What benefits could the UK Government possibly say Scotland has taken from the disastrous and mismanaged exit from the European Union?
Apparently, nothing at all. The link just brings up an error telling us PAGE NOT FOUND.
That makes sense at least.
When we asked the Scotland Office about that, they replied to say a “minor technical error on the Delivering for Scotland website has now been resolved”.
So, have they replaced the error page with an explanation of how Brexit has #deliveredforScotland?
No, they just deleted it altogether. Much easier that way.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel